Arms integrate with chest, 32 min
Thoughts on controlling the shoulder
This week has been busy with a move to a new studio and lots of holiday dinners. I am really over large, heavy meals!
Working in the new studio is a dream. It’s a big, open space with lots of windows. I love my colleagues here. I’ve been teaching long hours, and one long-term client today had the trickiest time letting go of gripping around her shoulder (without any idea she was doing it, of course).
We all grip unconsciously. It’s the nervous system protecting us on some level, but it’s exhausting. I tried all my tricks of sneaking up on the nervous system to help her feel safe to let go of the tension. Pulling or saying, “just let go!” never helps; you have to support the pattern in many configurations, over and over again.
As we were working together, I started thinking about why we control things. Usually it’s because we are afraid of what might happen if we let go.
Not just in movement, but in life.
Consider that: All our habitual muscular patterns and attitudes are designed to keep us safe and reduce anxiety. On a biological level, it's fundamental to survival. If you were completely safe, you wouldn't be afraid to fall. At some deep level, I think we know when we're trusting and when we're not.
When we’re afraid to take a step forward, we try to control it. When we trust, we simply move forward without hesitation.
Imagine feeling open and free versus closed and imprisoned. We gain mobility, spontaneity, and possibility when we let go.
But trust has to be a concrete sensory experience, not a cognitive one. It doesn't matter how much therapy you've had or how much you've talked things out, if you don't feel completely safe on your bones, your muscles will continue to grip.
Finally, my client’s arm shifted. She had been feeling unstable recently and her ribs were bracing, which we all do when we feel unsafe. This caused her shoulder to pinch and her arm to feel stuck. She couldn’t lift her arm because it “ran into” her rigid ribs. Once her ribs moved more, she could move her arm as well.
I’m teaching on side-bending this month, so expect a lot of ribs lessons!
More lessons:
This lesson is from Light, easy arms under the Arms and Hands section of the Feldenkrais Treasury.
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Quote(s) of the week:
“In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention.”