Joyful Lifted Rolling (Patrons)

Starts with an exploration of grounding in standing. Then very simple side-lying movements gradually expand toward rolling. You'll learn to extend and gather the limbs on one side of your body, then the other, as you coordinate larger rolls with increasingly skillful control of your flexors and extensors. All this creates a profoundly lighter sense of your body and mind. Starts with a two-minute talk reviewing the major principles of grounding for liftoff.

More Challenging  back-lying  front-lying  side-lying  standing  transitioning or rolling 

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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.

Tip 3 – Head Support

Study tip: It helps to have a large bath towel nearby when you start a lesson. You can fold it differently for comfortable head support in any configuration.

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Tip – LESSS is more

LESSS is more: Light, Easy, Small, Slow, & Smooth movements will ease pains and improve your underlying neuromuscular habits faster than any other kind of movement, no matter who you are or what your training is!

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Browser/device size and audio player

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Tip 4 – Padding

Study tip: Comfort first! Carpeted floors usually work well, but it’s great to have an extra mat or blanket nearby in case you need a softer surface in some configurations.

Tip – Complete the Movement

Study tip: Complete one movement before beginning the next. You’ll improve faster if there’s enough time between movements that you feel fully at rest.

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.

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Tip – skip a lesson

Study tip: If you can’t find a comfortable way to do the initial movements or configuration of a lesson, it’s ok to skip it for now and go on to another lesson.

Tip 5 – Discomfort

Study tip: If a configuration or movement causes any increase in discomfort, or you feel you just don’t want to do it, don’t! Make it smaller and slower, adapt it, or rest and imagine.

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Tip – Rewinding

Study tip: Many instructions are repeated. If you get a little lost, rest and listen. You’ll often find your way. Or use the rewind button on the page or your mobile device.

Tip – Lesson names

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Tip – Directions are Relative

Study tip: Directions are always relative to your body. For example, if you’re lying on your back “up” is toward your head, and “forward” is toward the ceiling.

Tip – Pause the recording

Study tip: If you’re really enjoying a movement and want to explore longer, or you just need a break for a while, pause the recording!

We offer over 50 free lessons, but this one's just for our Patron-level donors. You can learn about it in the free lesson notes and comments below, but to access the audio you’ll need to join The FP as a Patron. Learn more

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

A lower friction surface is very helpful for this lesson. Don’t use a sticky yoga mat.

Flexible head support options are helpful too, if you need head support in side-lying. Most people do, especially at the beginning of this lesson when you can’t lie on your arm. Use a large bath towel that you can fold to different heights, or have a few small firm pillows nearby.

On a subsequent listening, remember the question asked at the end of the lesson: see if you can track the two different ways of rolling as they are gently introduced. One is folding into side-lying from lying supine. The other is expanding into side-lying from “dead bug.”

After a few listenings, if you have lots of space and can safely enjoy the challenge, you might experiment with rolling continuously, keeping your head lifted at a consistent altitude, and eventually (perhaps) not touching the ground with your sequentially folding and unfolding limbs.

Don’t worry if that sounds impossible! Even just playing toward these ideas in your approximations may be very interesting and powerfully organizing.

And if you’re reading this but you haven’t done the lesson yet, forget I even mentioned these advanced variations! They’re hard to even imagine until you do the lesson.

This lesson is found in Patrons Monthly, our collection of lessons exclusively for Feldenkrais Project Patron-level donors.

It’s also in two of our Deep Dive courses: Grounding for Liftoff and Rock & Roll! (and Rotate)

Recorded in an FP Weekly Zoom class on Sept 26, 2023 during a course called Resilience, then edited to improve flow, clarity, and sound quality in this permanent audio version.

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1 Comments

  1. Julian Wieser on June 11, 2024 at 5:19 am

    Thank you so much for your beautiful guidance of my attention! i loved your encouraging words. And thank you for the metaphorical images, they helped to see that which is happening.! Thanks you for your work, i don’t know where i would be without people like you!

    Reply

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