Sitting and Turning with Length (26 min, chair-seated)

Recorded live in a Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement (ATM) class, the lesson below is copyright Nick Strauss-Klein, for personal use only. All our audio lessons are ad-free and 100% donor-supported.

Before you begin read this for practical tips and your responsibilities, and check out Comfort & Configuration below. Click the other lesson note tabs if you’re curious.

Tried it, liked it? Join the Project as a Member or Patron! You’ll ensure the sustainability of this site while enjoying our donor benefits. To keep up with new and featured free lessons and other Feldenkrais Project news join our email list.

MEMBERS & PATRONS: To access the Source and Related Lessons tabs below, please login then use your browser’s back and refresh buttons.

Improve turning and twisting while seated in chair. Access and enjoy your full length in motion even while seated, including head and eyes, pelvis and knees, and everything in between.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tech tip: On mobile? Depending on screen size, the audio player appears differently. Try landscape mode or start playback then use your phone’s audio controls.

Study tip: Wear loose, comfortable clothes that are warm enough for quiet movement. Remove or avoid anything restrictive like belts or glasses.

Study tip: Many instructions are repeated. If you get a little lost, rest and listen. You’ll often find your way. If you need it, use the 10 seconds back button.

Join The FP and help us share Feldenkrais with the world! If you already have, thank you for your support! Our Members and Patrons get amazing donor benefits – learn more.

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!

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

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!

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!

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

Comfort & Configuration
Curiosities
Context
Related Lessons
Alternate Version
Source
Download

You’ll need a simple, level 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 call us heavenward, 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.

Finding this graceful length more often is one of the many goals of Feldenkrais study.

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

This lesson was recorded in an introductory workshop I called Move Smarter, Safer, and Stronger with Feldenkrais: Access Your Axis.

Cross-references to other related lessons in our free-for-everyone and Patrons-only collections are a “thank you” benefit for Members and Patrons. Please login or join the Project to view related lesson titles, links, and discussion.

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

Please login or begin or renew Patron-level donation to the Feldenkrais Project to access our Legacy and Alternate Lessons collection.

Nick’s discussion of his lesson sources are a “thank you” benefit for Members and Patrons. Please login or join the Project to view them.

Members and Patrons. Please login or join the Project to download this lesson’s MP3 file.

Comfort & Configuration: You’ll need a simple, level 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.
Curiosities: 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 call us heavenward, 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.

Finding this graceful length more often is one of the many goals of Feldenkrais study.
Context: This audio recording is found in Getting Oriented, our introductory collection of Feldenkrais basics for newcomers (and longtimers looking for a “tune-up”).

This lesson was recorded in an introductory workshop I called Move Smarter, Safer, and Stronger with Feldenkrais: Access Your Axis.
Related Lessons: Cross-references to other related lessons in our free-for-everyone and Patrons-only collections are a “thank you” benefit for Members and Patrons. Please login or join the Project to view related lesson titles, links, and discussion.
Alternate Version: Patrons can listen to Getting Oriented tracks 5-7 (the Access Your Axis talk and lessons) without interruption as a 70-minute workshop recording.

Please login or begin or renew Patron-level donation to the Feldenkrais Project to access our Legacy and Alternate Lessons collection.
Source: Nick’s discussion of his lesson sources are a “thank you” benefit for Members and Patrons. Please login or join the Project to view them.
Download: Members and Patrons. Please login or join the Project to download this lesson’s MP3 file.

We all thrive when more people are doing more Feldenkrais. Please share this resource!

3 Comments. Leave new

Joan Oliver Goldsmith
March 14, 2020 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
Muriel Soriano
October 4, 2020 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
  October 4, 2020 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