With the Feldenkrais method
At the end of my group lesson, where you end up lying on your back and lift your head, one of my participants had an aha-erlebnis. “Aha! I can also do it this way?!”
During the lesson the attention first goes out to other body parts than the head. Because raising your head from a lying position is a tough job. So I instructed my participants to bend the knees and to put their feet flat on the ground. And then to first put the left hand underneath the head and to use your left hand to lift your head.
With attention and guidance from my side, you can experience what else moves in your body than just your head or your neck. A group class is a small search through the body: if you lift your head slightly with the help of your left hand, do you also feel that something happens in your shoulder, your pelvis or that your body weight moves to one of your feet?
Choice to move
When I’m finished talking, I give the participants the opportunity to feel the gravity again when they stand and walk. And to share what they have experienced during class.
Often people experience that they have discovered a choice in how they can move body parts in different ways. Or that movements go easier because they have felt how they can do it differently!
And that is how one of the participants spoke about how he now has the choice to hold a book differently. He reads a lot and at the end of the day he would always have neck complaints because of looking down into his books. “Now I can bring my book up from my shoulders instead of bending my head and neck to read!”
Feldenkrais in the week of 16th – 24th of April
Would you also like to learn how to move more efficient? Amsterdam based Feldenkrais practitioners give free introductory lessons during the Amsterdam Feldenkrais week of 16th – 24th of April 2016. For more information check: www.feldenkrais.nl or have a look on Henk’s website: www.henklinde.net
Photocredits: Nicoline van der Pas