Side Clock: Hips (Patrons)

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This lesson can be studied on its own, but you may enjoy, over a couple of days, 1) exploring Side Clock: Shoulders (and Intro to Hip), then 2) experimenting with your own improvisations as recommended in that lesson, THEN 3) going on to this lesson.

Uses the image of a clock face on your mat to explore precise movement coordination, developing freedom and skill in the hips, lower back, chest, and more, with nudges toward improvisation.

Average Challenge   side-lying 

42m
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Before you begin read this for practical tips and your responsibilities, and check out Comfort & Configuration below.

Recorded live in a Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement (ATM) class, this lesson is copyright Nick Strauss-Klein, for personal use only.

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Tip 1 – Interrupted?

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Tip 5 – Discomfort

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Tip – Pause the recording

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Tip – Complete the Movement

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Tip 4 – Padding

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Tip – what to wear

Study tip: Wear loose, comfortable clothes that are warm enough for quiet movement. Remove or avoid anything restrictive like belts or glasses.

We offer over 50 free lessons, but this one's just for Patrons. You can learn about it in the free lesson notes and comments below. To access the audio, join The FP at the Patron level. Learn more

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  • Comfort & Configuration
  • Clarifications
  • Curiosities
  • Context
  • Related Lessons
  • Source

This lesson was presented in a standalone live class, but for more context – or if you find it difficult to stay comfortable – try Side Clock: Shoulders (and Intro to Hip) first.

When you’re encouraged to roll your hips backward while lying on your side, it’s not intended that you actively lift the top knee away from the bottom knee. It may lift a little if it does so passively, not with efforts of the leg muscles.

Around ten minutes into the lesson when you’re lying on your right side and you’re asked to “reach down with your left hand and hook the front of your left knee,” your palm rests simply on the left side of the left knee. The fingers reach around the front, below the kneecap.

In the spirit of offering learning options and encouraging your ATM improvisation skills, this lesson purposely uses quite different variations for the two sides. You can create your own additional variations, too! On subsequent listenings you may enjoy any or all of these possibilities:

  • Reverse lefts and rights when I say which side to lie on
  • Try the other side first when I give the choice
  • Pause the recording and play with remembered variations from the other side (for example the “hand-on-the-knee / hand-between-the-knees” can be explored on the other side)
  • Experiments that are entirely your own

This lesson is found in Patron Treasures, our exclusive collection of lessons for Feldenkrais Project Patron-level donors.

It also appears in our Pelvic Clock “Primer”.

It was recorded during the Patrons Year in Review + ATM Zoom Event on January 7, 2021. Patrons can view the update and after-lesson discussion here.

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2 Comments

  1. Michael Keenan on January 30, 2021 at 5:25 pm

    My clock curves at 3 & 9, like a Pringle chip…something fun to play with! Thank you.

    Reply
  2. Colby Nolan MBA on June 23, 2025 at 12:29 pm

    When I initially thought of clocks, I initially pictured wall clocks–the type you would see in classrooms in the 1960s. Or perhaps the type behind Walter Cronkite. I know, I know. I’m dating myself.

    However, the lesson functioned better for me if I used the image of a much smaller clock-face, so I switch to a watch. In fact, a “ladies watch” worked better than a “man’s watch,” at least initially. Nick often encourages us to go smaller and smoother, so why not?

    Toward the end of the lesson, I could switch to a clock the size an old-fashioned wind-up bedside alarm clocks: the type with the two bells on top and the central clanker. I could eventually use a bigger clock, but only via “silly” movements, and only a few times in each direction. My bias was clock-wise while on my left side, and counter-clockwise on my right side.

    Thanks Nick!!!

    Reply

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