Coordinating eyes, tilting knees, 37 min
I love this lesson not only because it releases the neck, but it also focuses on the inner and outer worlds, dividing one’s attention between the inner sensations and the outer environment.
You cross one knee over the other and make very small movements of tilting the knees, head, and shoulders in many ways.
At the end, the arms are behind the back, which also lets the low back settle. The whole mission is to challenge the soft, quiet movement of the eyes while attending to the inner and outer worlds.
My new favorite lesson. Very soothing, gentle, and down-regulating as well.
(AY266)
For more like this, see Eye and Neck lessons in the Feldenkrais® Treasury.
Thought for May 2nd: Harmony in Action
In his short ten-point article on How to Learn, Dr. Feldenkrais writes:
A performance is nice to watch when the person applies himself harmoniously. This means that no part of him is being directed to anything else but the job at the hand.
Intent to do nicely when learning introduces disharmony. Some of the attention is misdirected, which introduces self-consciousness instead of awareness.
Each and all the parts of one’s self should cooperate to the final achievement only to the extent that it is useful. An act becomes nice when we do nothing but the act.
Everything we do over and above that, or short of it, destroys harmony.
* * *
Notes on doing from Zoe:
We are planting seeds. You may not feel the gestalt of all the connections in the skeleton today. But having the question there is something you can return to so that someday you will feel it. It will become clearer. Don’t worry now if you don’t feel all these things. It is enough to know about these questions. So often we don’t attend to our own comfort.
If the doing of the thing is more important than the finding out what we’re doing, then we’re going to learn less. So make the learning, the attending to oneself, the main thing. When the quality of attention improves, the quality of the doing will improve anyway.
quote(s) of the week:
“We've been trained in a culture that tells us the way to succeed is through action. Being and doing are two parts of who we are. The doing part is guided by the being. If we can be in a good place, we can do better. If we are not focused on how grounded we can be, we are spinning our wheels in action.
We can access true power in our life if we can be in a place of centeredness and peace. The foundation for connecting with others is connecting to yourself.”
― Dr. Vivek Murthy, former Surgeon General of the United States
“Our cognitive abilities matter, but how we deal with life is important. We often give up not because of our ability to achieve, but because of our inability to deal with our feelings around the content or feedback.”
― Dr. Marc Brackett, Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence
I love these hearing more about these inspiring thinkers on Brené Brown’s podcast, Unlocking Us. I think I listened to each one three times.
Dr. Vivek Murthy, Loneliness and connection
Dr. Marc Brackett, Permission to feel