Thinking and Breathing (Patrons)

The illustrations mentioned in the recording are below the audio player and lesson notes.

Back-lying and seated, improving awareness and use of the whole breathing apparatus by directing attention to specific anatomy while experimenting with "stepped" breathing and different body configurations. Starts with an essential anatomy lesson that cultivates concepts and imagery used throughout the ATM lesson.

Most Accessible  floor-sitting  back-lying 

58m
Save
Favorite
What's this?
Share

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 – 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 – 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 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 – 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 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – Comments

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

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 – 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.

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 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 – 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 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 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.

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

If you are a Patron, please log in:

  • Comfort & Configuration
  • Clarifications
  • Context
  • Related Lessons
  • Source

Later on in the lesson you’ll be sitting on the floor. You may wish to have a chair available. instead. Other considerations and adaptations are mentioned just after you’re asked to lie down, after the anatomy lesson.

In the cross-legged seated “healthy slump” portions, the weight of your head (and your arms, if you choose to have your hands hanging on the back of your head) is used in part to help you feel the muscles of your back relax and lengthen more as you explore. Over time your head may sink a little lower on the exhales, even as you may also discover it rising slightly with the inhales.

In this position, the breath expansion of your front is limited by your roundedness. Comparatively, there’s more room for air in the back of your lungs. The lungs are in fact as close to our backs as our fronts, though we rarely think of breathing “backwards”. You may find spontaneously more awareness of breathing in your back after this lesson, and that’s a great curiosity to pursue.

This lesson is one of 12 in Moshe Feldenkrais’s 1972 book Awareness Through Movement. The Feldenkrais Project has a complete collection of lessons from this source.

It also appears in our Deep Dive courses called Breathing with Vitality and The Pelvic Floor: Less Is More.

It was recorded during our quarterly Patrons call on October 15, 2021. We recommend studying from this edited audio version, but Patrons can also view an unedited Zoom recording that includes some discussion with students before and after the lesson. Find it here.

Members and Patrons. Learn more or login:

While taught in my own words, this lesson comes directly from Moshe Feldenkrais’s 1972 book Awareness Through Movement. Members and Patrons can access more information on other sources I used, and changes I made.

Members and Patrons. Learn more or login:

Here are the screenshares mentioned in the anatomy lesson that begins this recording:

The two lungs are really quite different sizes. The right lung has three lobes and is larger. The left has two lobes, leaving room for the heart. The bronchi branch out to the lobes of the lungs from the base of the windpipe. image source

lung schematic

The diaphragm is vaulted when it’s relaxed, and flattens down when you inhale. 

When you inhale the sternum rises, the chest thickens and broadens, and the diaphragm tightens, pulling down toward its connections with the lumbar spine.

On subsequent listenings you may wish to begin at the ATM lesson, which starts just after the 9-minute mark.

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

8 Comments

  1. Fern Chester on October 21, 2021 at 2:54 pm

    I have scoliosis to right so I found the lesson a little harder on the right side or to rephrase easier on the left.Did Moshe address scoliosis?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Nick Strauss-Klein on November 2, 2021 at 12:45 pm

      Yes. It’s also expected that everyone will find noticeable differences between the sides based on their own history and habits (not just that all humans have asymmetrical lungs). Scoliosis can generally be helped through exploring a broad variety of Feldenkrais ATM lessons, since spinal structure is affected by our muscular habits, which we tend to see change significantly over time with Feldenkrais study. For specific personal recommendations you may wish to find a local practitioner for 1-to-1 work.

      Reply
  2. Ann Thomson on November 10, 2021 at 3:53 pm

    I thought this was an inspired lesson. I have a copy of the Feldenkrais book but the detailed introduction with the videos made the lesson so much easier to feel aware of what was happening .Many thanks for this one Nick. Ann

    Reply
  3. jean kirk on November 11, 2022 at 4:51 am

    Are any lessons directing help for trouble sleeping

    Reply
    • Nick Strauss-Klein on November 11, 2022 at 9:31 am

      [2024 UPDATE: Our new “little dip” of Six Lessons for Anxiety may be our best answer to this question.]

      I haven’t taught directly to this topic but better sleep, and getting back to sleep more easily, are a frequent effect of Feldenkrais study. To maximize that benefit you might…

      • – Try studying ATMs right before bed. If it’s hard to pay attention at the end of the day try the shorter ATMs in our Getting Oriented and Patrons Monthly collections.
      • – Try bits of breathing lessons before bed, or when trying to get back to sleep.
      • – Practice the ATM techniques in the Rest and Recharge lessons (blue box) in our Breathing with Vitality Deep Dive.
      • – You can also Google “Feldenkrais Sounder Sleep System” to find some other practitioners’ more specifically-targeted work.
      Reply
  4. Margaret Marcuson on August 24, 2024 at 10:34 am

    I learned so much about breathing anatomically and experientially. I’m a singer so this is extremely helpful. The information about breathing and longevity was fascinating.

    Reply
  5. Anna Lovenjoy on August 29, 2024 at 11:17 pm

    What a great lesson for stretching and noticing the rib basket and the lungs! I never knew about the size difference between the lungs, and there are some great descriptions creating visuals that helped me understand the inside of my body better. very cool. I really noticed some stuck spots and loved all the exploration with the diaphragm.

    Reply
  6. Siobhan Hannah on September 26, 2024 at 2:57 pm

    Very interesting lesson 🙏
    I felt my left side much easier than the right , especially with the side sitting at the end . However , now after completing the lesson my whole body is way more comfortable and balanced than usual .
    I’ll do it again in few days .
    Thank you for the beautiful delivery .

    Reply

Leave a Comment