Unwind the upper back, 35 min
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
― Charles Darwin
I love this lesson if I have been sitting too long. It unwinds the upper back in some amazing ways. The idea is to create a continuous sense of contact across the back, not only up but also across and in circles.
When the muscles are held, the contact hops and jumps instead of being in continuous contact.. Think of a rolling pin rolling across the counter versus a box: one is in continuous contact, one is going clunka-clunka from corner to corner.
Which one is using more effort?
In this lesson, Moshe links the upper back, pelvis, and head in many variations. My students love this lesson. Anyone with tension in the spine will appreciate it. You are rolling up the spine for some of the movements, so rest often and take care of yourself. It’s worth playing with.
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(From the Healthy Spine section in the FeldenkraisTREASURY.)
Thought for July 11: How to learn
Moshe Feldenkrais wrote up ten short points on how to learn. Here it the first one, which I could spend a lifetime thinking about, especially the part about parasitic, superfluous action!
1. Do everything very slowly
I do not intend to "teach" you, but to enable you to learn at your own rate of understanding and doing. Time is the most important means of learning. To enable everybody—without exception—to learn, there should be plenty of time for everybody to assimilate the idea of the movement as well as the leisure to get used to the novelty of the situation.
There should be sufficient time to perceive, and organize oneself. No one can learn when hurried and hustled. Each movement is, therefore, allotted sufficient time for repeating it a number of times. Thus, you will repeat the movement as many times as it suits you during the span of time allotted.
When one becomes familiar with an act, speed increases spontaneously, and so does power. This is not so obvious as it is correct.
Efficient movement or performance of any sort is achieved by weeding out, and eliminating, parasitic superfluous exertion.
The superfluous is as bad as the insufficient, only it costs more.
No one can learn to ride a bicycle or swim without allowing the time necessary to assimilate the essential and to reject the unintended and unnecessary efforts that the beginner performs in his ambition not to feel or appear inadequate to himself.
Fast action at the beginning of learning is synonymous with strain and confusion which, together, make learning an unpleasant exertion.
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