Awareness Through Movement #485

Holding the feet with both hands - with Marianne Rivington...

… who wrote us a note for this lesson:

“I find Moshe is offering us a bit of a puzzle to work out with this lesson,
and although I do not feel I have completely solved the puzzle logically..
somehow, after doing the lesson,
I found that when I was sitting to put on my shoes and tie them,
it was MUCH easier.

Then in this same position I experimented
with lowering my shoulder to my knee,
crossing my arms behind my lower leg
and exploring where I could place my hands…
on the floor, on my foot…
and my ribs felt much freer afterward,
which told me that on some level,

*my nervous system had understood*.

It took me several attempts to figure out
that my arms needed to cross behind my lower leg…
and I began observing where in myself I could find length,

by relaxing the back of my neck, ribs , shoulders, abdomen, breathing…
to assist my skeleton get more support from the floor
and then imagining pushing the floor *away*… through my foot.

Here I attempted to illustrate this rather novel position:

I found that lesson #486 Holding the Chair and hopping
offers some continuation and clues about how the hands hold the foot.

A quote where Moshe describes that the source of this lesson is from a student…

“It will be of interest to you that this lesson
comes from one of the students who you do not know.
She sat here, laid there, and placed both hands like this.
She held one here and one there.. the same foot.
One of you, and she was amazed that afterward
when she tried to teach it to her students,
there was no way that any of them could achieve it.
None of her students were able to do it.
I said to her, “I will show you how it is done.
I will try it and we will see if we will achieve it in the same lesson.”
But the idea is hers - the manner of holding the foot.
She sat like this, introduced both hands and took the foot…
the same one and with both hands, the same foot…
one like this and one like that.
Like this, she sat on the floor, lifted, and took it out.
Okay. The idea is hers.
It is possible that it can be done with everybody.”

As I continue to work with this lesson it is gradually evolving from feeling like an unsolvable steel link puzzle to the sensation of a cat winding around my legs..

As with all awareness though movement explorations
please proceed gently, stay within your comfort.
IF a movement instruction sounds difficult or cuffing ,
please pause,
notice your response ,
and how you feel about yourself when feeling confused…
is it possible to respond with calmness, kindness?”

Marianne.

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Enjoy learning more with, for and about your Self with Marianne :)