Rolling and Hips Like a Baby (Patrons)

Back-lying. Free your hips, shoulders, chest, and back as you explore rolling and weight shifting. Designed to help you add suppleness to your movements, expand your mental image of rolling in internal and external ways, and peek into the developmental neurological value of rolling and the substantial improvements available to most adults.

Average Challenge   back-lying  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.

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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.

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 – 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 – 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 – 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.

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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 – 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!

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.

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!

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

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.

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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.

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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
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  • Related Lessons
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Emphasized later in the lesson but true from the beginning, too: whether you’re lying with legs long, knees bent, or knees over your chest, always allow some comfortable space between your legs. They never need to be held close together in any back-lying position in this lesson.

One student wrote in the Zoom chat after this lesson “Delicious! I would call this the Cinderella lesson, from cinder blocks to cylinders!” This fantastically useful comment – which says so much about improving rolling – gets some play in the lesson we recorded the next week: Side-lying Twisting, and Rolling Recap (Patrons).

This lesson is found in Patrons Monthly, our growing collection of new lessons for Feldenkrais Project Patron-level donors, one or more added every month. It also appears in our Rock & Roll! (and Rotate) Deep Dive.

Audio was captured on my offline professional equipment during a live Zoom lesson on May 12, 2020, then edited for flow and clarity.

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11 Comments

  1. c j on August 14, 2020 at 3:13 am

    Wow, what a wonderful lesson. Thanks Nick

    Reply
  2. Chris Sigurdson on August 14, 2020 at 9:18 am

    I’ve been away from lessons for awhile. Busy with other physical activities. Your message intrigued me and I did this one. It was exactly what I needed to integrate and relax all my recent muscle activity. So totally pleasant and fluid. My new go to lesson. Thanks.

    Reply
  3. Hazel Rudich on August 14, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    Many sensations reminding me of decades ago in my crib. Lovely lesson

    Reply
  4. chris andersen on August 16, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    Super soothing. Just the pleasure I needed after a lousy night of sleep. Very grateful for this huge support in my life.

    Reply
  5. Mila on September 20, 2020 at 12:14 am

    Wonderful lesson! Can’t wipe the grin off my face as I enjoyed myself so much. Thanks, Nick.

    Reply
  6. Cheryl Mahin on September 21, 2020 at 9:59 am

    I’ve been outside and away from Feldenkrais . Appreciated the mindfulness it requires to follow the movements and to imagine them. Thanks Nick

    Reply
  7. Lauri Dippel on September 24, 2020 at 10:41 am

    Hi Nick – This one is terrific, as usual- and a lot of fun! A perfect companion to
    “Legs As Free As A Baby’s” . Thanks for the great work!

    Reply
  8. cyntia gaido on February 17, 2022 at 12:30 pm

    Beautiful lesson!! The rolling of the head, the shoulders, the pelvis, the hips, the spine, playing with gravity sensing the body as one throw the movement. Thank you very much.

    Reply
  9. Katherine Wheeler on December 26, 2022 at 4:24 pm

    Another wonderful lesson. I always come away feeling like I’ve had a full body massage. The fibromyalgia takes a backseat and I get on with my life. Thank you so much for guiding me into using my body and mind to allow myself to heal, reset and rebalance. Life changing.

    Reply
  10. Melo Brophy on August 26, 2024 at 7:06 pm

    The beginning of this lesson, rolling the legs and the arms and the head… and then simply asking how can I roll myself like a baby creating the same quality of sensation was an “aha”. It re-organized me, and rolling like a baby felt like a leaf blowing in the wind, lightly, swirling, gently landing.

    Reply
  11. Judith on October 27, 2024 at 10:05 pm

    Beyond wonderful. Someone said “delicious” . . . absolutely. Ready for sleep. Thank you so much.

    Reply

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