Sitting and Turning with Length (26m)

Part of our Getting Oriented collection. Our free collection called Essential Lessons for Easier Sitting is closely related.

Learn how to make sitting more comfortable as you improve turning and twisting. Access and enjoy your full length in motion even while seated, including head and eyes, pelvis and knees, and everything in between.

Most Accessible  chair-sitting 

26m
Save
Favorite
What's this?
Share
Join the FP

The audio player for this free lesson is below. First, have you noticed how most free websites are funded by annoying internet ads, but this one isn't?

Skipping the ads doesn't mean we don't have costs. Our annual budget is typically over $25,000 in direct expenses for technology and part-time staff, in addition to Nick’s 20 hours per week.

How is The FP ad-free? Our 50+ free lessons are a crowd-funded labor of love!

However, only a tiny percentage of our 5,000 monthly visitors donate to support our vision. Please join the Project and help us share Feldenkrais as widely as possible!

Patron benefits include 85+ more lessons for $21/month or less, about the cost of a single in-person class!

Or simply support the free lessons you love: donate as little as $3 and we'll thank you with Member benefits .

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.

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 – 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!

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’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 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 – 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.

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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 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 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 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.
  • Comfort & Configuration
  • Curiosities
  • Context
  • Related Lessons
  • Source
  • Download
  • Alternate Version

You’ll need a simple, level, non-rolling chair, with a firm or lightly upholstered surface. Find a chair that’s an appropriate height for you, so that when you’re seated at the front of the chair your hip are slightly above the height of your knees. Knees are bent simply, at least hip-width apart, and your feet stand on the ground underneath them.

If your feet don’t reach the floor easily, stack something firm under them, or under your bottom if your knees are higher than your hips.

To learn more about the planes of movement mentioned in this lesson and some healthy guidelines for sitting, check out About Dynamic Sitting.

In lessons 3 and 4 (and their intro talk) I make reference to “celestial gravity.” I’m indebted to Feldenkrais Trainer and master Zen teacher Russell Delman for this beautiful image, which I was introduced to in his Embodied Life II collection of lessons, available for public purchase. Terrestrial gravity is the center-of-the-earth gravity we think of usually. Celestial gravity refers to the many aspects of being human that lift us up, including our evolutionary journey rising away from ground-level living.

Finding ourselves more and more often at our maximum skeletal height, elegantly suspended between terrestrial and celestial gravity, has a profound influence on our joy and comfort, our ease of movement, and the effectiveness with which we function.

Claiming our full graceful length more often is one of the many goals of Feldenkrais study.

This lesson is found in Getting Oriented, our introductory collection of Feldenkrais basics for newcomers (and longtimers looking for a “tune-up”).

Our free collection called Essential Lessons for Easier Sitting is also great for Feldenkrais newcomers looking to build healthier sitting habits.

Members and Patrons. Learn more or login:

Members and Patrons. Learn more or login:

Members and Patrons. Learn more or login:

Patrons can listen to Getting Oriented tracks 5-7 (the Access Your Axis talk and lessons) without interruption as a 70-minute workshop recording.

Tried It? Liked It?

If you like what you heard...

  1. Join the Project! You’ll support our free lessons while enjoying awesome donor benefits
  2. Sign up for our twice monthly newsletter featuring free lessons and new lessons
  3. Spread the word: Simply copy this page's web address to share this free lesson

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

6 Comments

  1. Joan Oliver Goldsmith on March 14, 2020 at 11:40 am

    I find it very useful when keeping the eyes still and moving the body around to take off my glasses. We glasses wearers are trained to limit our gaze to where it can focus through the lens, but of course the eyeball can move a great deal farther than that. Because I’m very nearsighted, I place a bright object about 10 feet in front of me at eye level, so I can focus on that even though I can’t see any details.

    Reply
    • Kate Ruckman on February 3, 2024 at 11:07 am

      Those are some very helpful suggestions thank you Joan. I wear glasses as well and in the earlier lessons I remembered to take them off but did not this time. I will try it again without the glasses

      Reply
  2. Muriel Soriano on October 4, 2020 at 11:29 am

    Hi Nick, these short lessons are such good explorations and reminders! I hurt my back a couple of weeks ago with yoga, and the re-organization of my bones is invaluable! thank you so much for helping me to get better.

    Reply
    • Nick Strauss-Klein on October 4, 2020 at 11:35 am

      Fantastic – thanks for letting me know! I agree: short lessons can be a lifesaver. Soon you’ll find yourself playing with little bits of these seated lessons spontaneously while you’re doing regular life chair activities!

      Reply
  3. Wyn on May 29, 2023 at 5:09 am

    I’ve just begun this course of lessons and the difference in my posture and suppleness is already palpable. As a singer I have especially noticed the benefit of a constant awareness of the relaxed breath – it’s been quite revelatory! Thank you.

    Reply
  4. Kate Ruckman on February 3, 2024 at 11:09 am

    That was extremely interesting especially the last standing part because it had been quite painful in the last lesson when I did the initial twist, and my right knee complained. This time when I was standing and feeling the length and curve I could move much more freely and turn farther. When we thought ourselves heavy my knee complained loudly again! That is a very useful tool Thank you

    Reply

Leave a Comment