Lengthening the Arms, Freeing the Scapulas (33m, Patrons)

Back-lying, knees bent, arms often resting loosely upwards on the floor, and in self-hug position at other times. Lengthening the arms, differentiating the head, and expanding the mobility and self-image of the shoulder blades (scapulas).

Most Accessible  back-lying 

33m
Save
Favorite
What's this?
Share

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 – What’s New

Community tip: See what Nick and other Felden-fans are interested in right now. Check out What’s New at the bottom of our homepage for recent blog posts and listener comments.

Tip – Comments

Project tip: Leave a lesson comment below! It’s a great way to give feedback or ask a question, and it helps google find us so we can achieve The Feldenkrais Project’s vision!

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 – Technical Difficulties

Tech tip: If you have any trouble with the audio player, reboot your browser. That solves most issues. If not, try another browser or contact us.

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!

Tip 2 – Social Sharing

Project tip: Try the social buttons below. Please help us to achieve our vision: spreading the life-changing benefits of Feldenkrais study as widely as possible!

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 – 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 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 – Lesson names

What’s in a lesson title? Lessons are about an hour unless a shorter duration is shown in the title. Thanks to our donors they’re freely offered unless marked “Patrons” – those are how we thank our Patron-level donors.

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.

Tip 1 – Interrupted?

Study tip: Interrupted or don’t have enough time? You can return to the lesson later today or tomorrow. Read how best to continue your learning on our FAQ page.

Tip – Join!

Join the Project! Members and Patrons see streamlined lesson pages, and can access My Journey (the and above), and the Related Lessons tab below.

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!

Browser/device size and audio player

Tech tip: On mobile or tablet? Once you start playing the audio, your device’s native playback controls should work well.

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.

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.

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

If you are a Patron, please log in:

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

When you lay your arms overhead, they should each be loosely straight and resting on the ground, with hand/forearm/elbow not airborne. Defer to whatever position you can find that matches these two guidelines and is still comfortable for you, even if your arms need to be far apart. They don’t need to be near your head, or symmetrically arranged.

Later in the lesson, if the self-hug position is difficult for you as described, you can make the hug as loose as necessary to suit the comfort of your shoulders. If you can’t reach your shoulder blades, hold your ribs and draw on them instead. Just don’t cross your arms – they are stacked on top of each other in the self-hug. (If you cross them, they get in the way of each other when you reach to the side.)

In all movements go slowly in “both directions,” meaning move gradually into each movement and gradually as you return home.

During the self-hug step, on the second side, the intention for the reaching arm is the same movement direction described for the first side: across your body and up your mat. It’s a diagonal movement.

Check out the Curiosities tab in the lesson notes for Effortless Arms and Shoulders for a deeper discussion of Moshe Feldenkrais’s ideas about work versus effort.

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

It’s edited audio from a lesson taught in the September 2019 video conference for Patrons.

Members and Patrons. Learn more or login:

Members and Patrons. Learn more or login:

Got a question for Nick, or a thought about this lesson?

Use the comments section below! Public comments build our community and help search engines find us.

horizontal-squiggle

4 Comments

  1. Lorraine on April 11, 2021 at 2:53 am

    This lesson makes me want to explore further. I’ll try some of the related lessons.

    Reply
  2. judi clinton on January 5, 2024 at 8:49 pm

    I’m recovering from a torn rotator cuff 5 weeks now, and this is a great way tofind how to move around the limited shoulder and experiment with different angles of lengthening, so that arm is not straight elbow, but still doing many variations out of gravity.

    Reply
    • Nick Strauss-Klein on January 7, 2024 at 7:36 am

      Excellent, thanks for sharing! Yes, with the arm supported by the floor, elbow bent as needed, there are great options in this lesson to safely explore what movements are possible as you heal.

      Reply
  3. Hanneke De Witte on October 14, 2024 at 12:18 pm

    This is my new favourite lesson. I had a functional integration session a few weeks ago where the practitioner worked with my shoulderblades and surrounding areas, and it surprisingly brought about some sort of emotional release. I happened to do this lesson a few days later and have come back to it multiple times since. It’s my new go-to for any sort of tension release, I don’t know how, it’s like magic 😉 but it instantly lowers my heartrate and vastly improves headaches and neckpain. Perfect length as well, to not feel the internal pressure of having to commit to a full hour.

    Reply

Leave a Comment