Part 3: Super light arms, lengthen whole self, 32 min
Thought on Balance
Balance is that elusive key we all believe would unlock life's perfection.
We want work/life balance, family dynamic balance, emotional balance, health balance, checkbook balance, tire pressure balance in the snow.
Except nothing is static, all is in flux.
In terms of the musculoskeletal system, when our balance is challenged, our muscles must contract to counteract the pull of gravity.
Constantly contracted muscles are both fatigued and rigid.
Keeping ourselves upright requires constant adjustments. Dr. Feldenkrais writes, “adult standing, or human balance, is not derived from static principles. It is a continuous regaining of unstable equilibrium from which the center of gravity is constantly drifting, even while standing still.”
This dynamic shifting is part of life: we are breathing, our heart is pumping, and our blood is circulating. These things are never static as long as we are alive, therefore our balance is constantly in flux.
Dr. Feldenkrais continues to say that any movement can be Judo, any movement can be “Feldenkrais,” any movement can bring about the “correct physiological way of doing.”
The mechanics of Judo, Feldenkrais, skiing, planting a garden, raising kids, or playing piano are incidental the the how, to the way we attend to ourselves.
He says that once the higher controls are present—once the “way” of doing is refined—new tasks no longer present a problem.
See “how” you do this lesson, refine how you sense yourself as you move. The movement, the task, is not as relevant as the how. The how is all of life.
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Note that this lesson is the follow-on from last week. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do all three in order, you can do this one first.
To do them in order, see below under “Recent posts.”
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This lesson is from Light, Easy Arms in the Feldenkrais Treasury.
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Quote(s) of the week:
“Allow children to be happy in their own way, for what better way will they find?”
“Thus we never see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its contraries, nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it.”