Dear friends,
Last week I began the first in a series of 12 extraordinary Awareness Through Movement lessons designed by an Israeli Ph.D. who has a deep understanding of Dr. Feldenkrais' method. She works closely with Dr. Feldenkrais' remaining original students and has devised some of the most interesting and effective lessons I've had the pleasure to learn and give.
Below is a quote about Lesson #2, the lesson we will be working on during the first week of March, 2011. It is focused on rediscovering and improving the movement of the head, neck and upper chest/back. The lesson builds upon the first lesson which helped us lengthen the extensor muscles and develop more upright posture in the back --by exploring bending in the middle, i.e., the work of the flexor muscles in the front. The result (of Lesson #1) was a surprising and delightful effortless and beautiful, upright posture.
Some aspects that we will touch upon in lesson 2, noted by Dr. Shelhav, are:
*Synchronized movements of the head and eyes
*More coordinating action of the flexors and extensors
*Shaping the curves of the cervical and lumbar spine
*Improving the lifting of the head
"The movement of the eyes in this lesson have an effect on the tone of the muscles in your neck. Tension in the neck makes lifting one's head more difficult...
In order for people to communicate with their environment it is essential that they can easily lift their head. The environment arouses their curiousity and thus stimulates further development. All the components which improve as a result of this lesson, harbor within them the potential for further development."
Dr. Feldenkrais' ability to deconstruct human motor development and serve it back to us in digestible, extraordinarily useful bites, was brilliant, unrivaled. My only dismay is that more people do not have, or make use of, access to this extremely effective, imminently practical and now readily available teaching.
Best wishes,
Carole
