Hand to heel, softening the ribs, 34 min
I am really, really into the ribs right now. I love how they allow us to breathe easier, stand more upright, and feel light and comfortable as we move through space.
If you sit at work, try this lesson. Go slowly and feel how it moves you rather than trying to “do” the movements. Let the lesson just happen.
Here is a wonderful overview on how to relate to your learning.
What are the principles of the Feldenkrais Method?
To understand the principles of Feldenkrais, we must first understand what Moshe Feldenkrais saw as the elements of high-functioning movement. They are:
1. Good posture is the ability to move in any direction without hesitation or preparation
2. Clear skeletal support: the bones below move to support the bones above.
3. Evenly distributed muscular effort/tone (proportional work: the big muscles do the big work, small muscles small work)
4. Every movement is generated through an equal and opposite force delivered to/received from the ground.
5. Force must travel up and through the skeleton (longitudinally), not across it. Avoid shearing forces.
6. Head and eyes are free in the activity.
7. Breathing is free in the activity.
8. Reversibility: the ability to organize for action or its suspension or reversal at any moment.
How do we improve movement?
It is these principles that all Feldenkrais practitioners use in educating their clients. They are:
1. A person can reorganize function in response to learning or trauma. Neuroplasticity – the ability of the brain to be rewired by the input it receives.
2. Increased awareness of how you move is the key to reducing unnecessary effort
3. Differentiation – making the smallest possible sensory distinctions between movements – builds sensorimotor distinctions
4. Slow movement is the key to increasing awareness, and awareness is the key to learning
5. Reduce the effort whenever possible
6. Novel and non-habitual movements provide variation that leads to developmental breakthroughs
7. Even the smallest movement in one part of the body involves the whole self
8. Many movement problems, and the pain that goes with them, are caused by learned habit, not by abnormal structure
Whether it’s a hands-on session or a group class, practitioners use these principles to help their clients improve their movement, posture and balance, while helping to reduce pain, tension, and unnecessary muscle contraction.
More lessons:
This lesson is from Flexible ribs, flexible life in the Feldenkrais Treasury.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe here for hundreds of movement lessons to do at home. You can dip in for a couple months and then dip out again. It’s a wonderful resource to stay mobile and healthy.
Download more lessons from my audio shop.
Quote of the week:
“The aim of the Feldenkrais Method is a person that is organized to move with minimum effort and maximum efficiency, not through muscular strength, but through increased awareness of how movement works.”