Our Little Dips explore a theme of Feldenkrais learning, then illustrate it with one or more lessons. They always include at least one free lesson. Little Dips are first published in our newsletter.
For me Feldenkrais is about building self-knowledge, self-esteem, self-trust, and self-empowerment.
From the interview below with a student who has done ALL our lessons!
A note from Nick
Several readers sent kind and curious notes about my July “semi-sabbatical” with my wife. Jen and I studied the innately embodied nature of attention and learning. We explored how this somatic reality is harnessed by the Feldenkrais Method, Mussar (a Jewish contemplative tradition for changing habits), and non-dual meditation.
All three practices are concerned with our capacity to sense and refine ourselves and our relationship with the world, leading to a more mature, satisfying, and effective life. It was absolutely fascinating exploring the links between them through daily reading, discussion, meditation, and Feldenkrais ATM lessons together. I look forward to sharing more of what we discovered in upcoming newsletters and teaching!
Some links between Feldenkrais and meditation are explored in one of my favorite pieces of long form content at The FP, the Self Empowerment Workshop linked below. You’ll also find one of our most contemplative explorations, “The Morning Prayer Lesson,” and an uplifting (and FREE!) closely related chair-seated lesson.
Speaking of doing lots of Feldenkrais, recently a Feldenkrais Project Patron shared this lesson comment indicating that he had done ALL 160+ lessons at The FP!
I emailed Simon to ask if I could send him some questions about his experience. The written interview below is the result. It’s an amazing story of what happens when we make time for deep study.
In peace,
Nick
An interview with Simon Wacker
Shared with his permission. Boldface marks my emphasis. -Nick
How did you get interested in Feldenkrais, and how did you find The FP?
After years of mostly sedentary living during the day, and intensive climbing and juggling in the evenings, I ended up having a knee injury and two surgeries. My body was super tense. My rib basket was like armor, rather than just a cage. A juggling friend of mine successfully practiced Feldenkrais to heal nagging shoulder pain no one was able to explain. He suggested it to me.
I had a personal session and it was a revelation—I had never felt so whole and relaxed in my life. The effect didn’t last though and I needed to come back again and again until my mind-body accepted this new state of being.
I told a friend I used to dance with that I was looking for a great online resource for Feldenkrais, and she suggested The FP.
How did you end up studying all the Feldenkrais Project’s lessons?
After the first lessons I was hooked. I loved the quality of the lessons: The clear language and pronunciation, the build-up and flow, the length to dive deep, and the overarching lesson development. And I felt the effect in my mind-body, so I kept doing at least one lesson daily.
As an open source software enthusiast, I liked the idea of The FP to provide a substantial amount of lessons free of charge and further ones for a minimal range of money. At one point I ran out of free lessons and I wanted to also study the Patron donor lessons, so I became a donor.
Listening to audio recordings instead of joining a live in-person or online class allowed me to relax more deeply into the setting by not having to be somewhere at a specific moment in time, by not needing a sufficiently fast and stable internet connection, and by not being seen or in communication. It also allowed me to go at my own pace by pausing the class in between or extending my research afterwards. I was also motivated by the related lessons to keep studying when a particular concept intrigued me.
Did you go collection by collection or jump around?
I first studied the free lessons collection by collection. Then I studied the Patron-level donor lessons also collection by collection, except for the Patron Treasures. Then I studied Deep Dive by Deep Dive. And finally I discovered that there are some lessons that are only Patron Treasures. So I ventured in there to do the last missing ones. [Thanks to Simon’s feedback we’ve made this more clear at the top of Patron Treasures. -Nick]
After all this Feldenkrais study I’m curious about differences in your health, your sense of well-being and confidence, relationships… any spheres of life that have changed.
I’ve learned to treat myself kindly and to accept how I am in the world, and to change my living situation to my wishes, instead of trying to change myself and teeth-grittingly accept my circumstances.
I’ve learned to slow down instead of rushing through, and wandering with my mind into the past or future.
I’ve learned to trust and let go and choose the lighter and easier and novel path instead of holding on and struggling through.
I’ve learned to find joy in the small treasures like a garden with bees, butterflies, and flowers and sensing my body in motion and relationship to gravity.
Somatically, I experience myself more refined and embodied. In any moment I sense my whole body and its location in space. When I move I tend to use more of myself and distribute the task evenly across my whole body.
Emotionally, I feel more colorful and nuanced.
Spiritually, I feel more whole and connected to myself and the world. My mind-body seems to be in a finer relationship to the environment than before, or I sense it in a finer way.
Mentally, I find quiet easier and can rest in the moment and my perceptions of it.
Relationships: I ended some friendships because they didn’t feel right
Touch: I am more aware of when touch feels good to me or when it feels like my boundary is stepped over.
Being: I’m happy and positive. I look with confidence into my present and future. That seems rather novel after some troublesome years.
What kept you coming back to the mat?
Most of the times doing a lesson felt like coming home to myself, gave me a specific time-frame for self-awareness, allowed me to just be here and now, opened my inner eyes to the beauty of being in a body, rejuvenated the interest in myself, and reengaged me with the mere joy of self-discovery. Often after a lesson I felt refreshed, determined, and at ease, and I lived my day-to-day life with more lightness and self-awareness and noticed the positive effects of the study on my movement quality.
I enjoyed the journey. It gave me pleasure and purpose and self-connection. And the journey is ongoing.
Do you repeat lessons? How do you anticipate using The FP going forward?
A lesson never feels “completed”. Often when I revisit a lesson I discover something novel that sometimes is inspired by other lessons that I hadn’t done yet on the previous visit, or by my other state of being awareness when beginning and during the lesson, or by my heightened awareness to minute details I missed in previous visits (because of being preoccupied with other demands of the lesson like understanding the movement invitations in the first place).
Nowadays when I want to do a lesson I search for a specific keyword, sometimes by physical challenge level [That’s one of our filters on our lesson search. -Nick] and venture on from there. I often open tabs to related lessons for the days to come. I’m also happy when new lessons arrive in the Patron Treasures collection.
What would you say to others who are considering more intensive self-directed Feldenkrais study?
Follow your curiosity and instinct, and find your own way through the lessons that feels satisfying and joyful and inspiring.
At some point start to invent your own lesson snippets and whole lessons and gain back your self-efficacy. For example, when I want to learn a contemporary dance or soft acrobatic move, I break it down, bring it to the floor, and try to learn pieces and connections in this safe environment. And sometimes I’m reminded of a similar idea from a lesson and then repeat that lesson or parts of it.
For me Feldenkrais is about building self-knowledge, self-esteem, self-trust, and self-empowerment.
***
Huge gratitude to Simon for sharing this, and giving us permission to share it with you! Following up on his theme of self-empowerment, we hope you enjoy the workshop and lessons below. -Nick
Self Empowerment Workshop
Bonus video content for our Members & Patrons
This workshop is great for reviewing or introducing the Lifting Up and Through sequence we recommended in our “Make Your Own Sabbatical” post. It is a literally uplifting celebration of finding inner strength with Feldenkrais! Feldenkrais teachings on these themes are at the core of our Grounding for Liftoff Deep Dive, which includes most of the lessons from both of these posts.
The self empowerment talk is a beautiful synthesis of everything you’ve talked about before but infused with the wisdom you’ve gained from both Feldenkrais and mindfulness over the years. It’s a skilled and succinct articulation of many wisdom teachings.
– Chris Sigurdson
The “Morning Prayer” Lesson
A Patrons only lesson
My rendition of a beloved Moshe Feldenkrais original. This lesson picks up themes of the workshop above and also explores ideas related to our sabbatical: how the body can lift up the mind.
With hands together like a child praying, it starts with small movements in supine, then develops into profound lifting and lowering movements of “praying”.
I felt a sense of wonder and awe and gratitude. That was a very profound lesson.
– Alun
Driving and Dynamic Sitting – Chair Practice
Always free!
This lesson shares some of the lifting-while-turning ingredients of the studies above.
While at first I groaned as I love my lying down lessons, the amount of learning I gleaned for my [horseback] riding (and driving too) made this another one of my favorites I will be coming back to again and again.
– Laurie