Workshop: Spinal Support and a Powerful Pelvis (Patrons)

This full workshop recording presents two short talks and two lessons on the theme of Spinal Support and a Powerful Pelvis. Patrons can listen to the full, uninterrupted workshop on this page. All users can access the separate, edited tracks in our Getting Oriented collection.

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 – Directions are Relative

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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.

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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 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 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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Tip – Pause the recording

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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!

We offer over 50 free lessons, but this one's just for Patrons. You can learn about it in the free lesson notes and comments below. To access the audio, join The FP at the Patron level. Learn more

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Lesson 1: Whenever your knees are bent and feet are standing, let them be about the width of your hips and your knees quite bent (if your knees allow that) so that your lower legs are “standing” near vertical. Later, when one foot is standing and the other leg is long, if you find your standing foot frequently slipping, you might find a way to increase the friction under your foot so you don’t have to work to keep it in place.

Lesson 2: 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 knees are slightly below the height of your hips. Knees are bent simply, comfortable space between them, with your feet standing on the ground underneath them. Stack something firm under your feet if your feet don’t reach the floor easily, or your bottom if your knees are above the height of your hips.

Many people will find that their sense of the weight of their sitbones is uneven at the beginning of lesson 2, especially if sitbone awareness is new to them. Notice how it changes over the course of the lesson.

You can read more about ideas mentioned in Talk 2 and Lesson 2 in a post I wrote called About Dynamic Sitting, including the planes of movement mentioned in the lesson.

This audio recording is found in Legacy and Alternate Lessons, which features other versions of some of our recordings, available exclusively to our Patrons.

All users can access this workshop’s separate, edited tracks in our Getting Oriented collection.

This recording was made in a workshop I called Move Smarter, Safer, and Stronger with Feldenkrais: Back to Basics.

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1 Comments

  1. Gail Fishman on November 21, 2019 at 5:42 pm

    Hi NIck, I enjoyed the first Comfort and Configuration. I liked the intro conversation and found the body scan a little long. Love the length of the practice and how impactful it is and how you invite us to feel what feels good and what feels supportive. None of this seemed in draft form, seems ready to roll! Thank you! Love it when my sacrum can speak to my spine!

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