Study tip: Wear loose, comfortable clothes that are warm enough for quiet movement. Remove or avoid anything restrictive like belts or glasses.
Recorded live in a Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement (ATM) class, the lesson below is copyright Nick Strauss-Klein, for personal use only. This and all our audio lessons are 100% donor-supported. Read this before you begin for practical tips and your responsibilities, and check out Comfort & Configuration below. Click the other lesson note tabs if you’re curious.
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12 Comments. Leave new
OMG the “Oye Vay Position” had me laughing so hard I eventually (after I could stop laughing) had to get up and “rewind” the mp3 because I had missed the directions that followed! I will forever refer to you and your description when teaching this lesson – thank you!
Yay! It’s so lovely when imagery connects and adds to the joy of study! Thanks for sharing.
hello nick, what’s the source of this lesson? i am feldy practitioner in Spain. I really appreciate your work. thanks
Since all our primary lessons are available to all our listeners, and our site is 100% funded by donation, access to lesson source notes is one of our incentives to donate and support the Feldenkrais Project. I hope you’ll consider joining the Project! Logged in donors will find the lesson source for every lesson in the blue tab titled “Source”, underneath each lesson’s audio player. Source notes are one perk among many other benefits for donors.
As I did this lesson my cat shared the floor with me. She was a bit annoyed that I kept rolling into her. Early in the lesson when I was rolling to sit and feeling quite pleased with coming to sit, just as I raised my head I caught sight of my cat. She rolled her back legs into the air, legs akimbo, back paws relaxed. Then, perfectly differentiated she rolled her front paws off the floor front legs stretched over her head, arched her back and rolled to the other side. One trial learning.
i adore your description of both the cat and the experience… thank you!
Awesome, freeing lesson. So interesting after a wrist and shoulder fracture over a year ago to see how I can allow more movement to all of me. Great lesson.
Because I have COPD, I noticed this lesson really relaxed my breathing. Sweeping the arms down and then up over my head while still on the floor made me feel like an angel. Blessings to you and thank you.
Lovely to hear, thanks for letting us know!
With the nodding and using the eyes with and counter to the movement–I find that the only way I can do this sort of thing and not tense up is to turn each position into one position rather than two. Put flashlights in the eyes and chin, make an X when nodding up and then a V when nodding down. if that makes any sense.
Super practice. Did it in the living room the second time where there was lots of room to sweep the arms. Very Martha Graham-ish movement.
Yeah, it’s fun to have room for this one! And as always, improvising around the directions and finding a comfortable way to do it is the name of the game. I wouldn’t be surprised if next time you play with something similar you find new ease with it.
I found a new way to think of the eyes and head moving in opposition. I sat on the lounge with my glasses on to read the comments and as I nodded my head down I looked up over the top of my glasses and as I nodded my head up I looked down at the bottom rim of my glasses.