Difficulty: Average Challenge
60m
Curiosity, Not Mastery: Three Dimensional Shoulder and Hip Circles (Patrons)
Familiar ATM explorations are cast in a new light as we discover how the torso interacts with the ground and reshapes itself three dimensionally to generate action in faraway parts of the body. Later, a few playfully elaborate variations humble us all, but the goal is curiosity, not mastery. Notice how much change takes place, how much more ease and control is created, when "failure" is lighthearted. Framed with brief explorations of the diagonal relationships of walking.
31m
Essence for “Experts”: Whole Body Arms (31m, Patrons)
A review version of this lesson. Organize action from your head, spine, and tail, and refresh their functional relationships with your shoulders. Then it's time for the arms: twist, roll, reach, and circle them while sustaining whole body awareness.
63m
Long Belly, Strong Back: Expanded Workshop Version (Patrons)
A 3-minute talk introduces the workshop. Then, after a few explorations in standing, you'll lie down and dive into quiet, precise movements of your pubic bone, sternum, scapulas, and sitbones designed to organize your spine and hips for powerful action and easier uprightness. Late in the lesson, juxtapose your new skills with common movement habits that diminish our abilities and confidence: do you press the ground or lift up and through? Are your hips in front of the action or behind it? The more clearly you sense these differences in all that you do, the better life gets.
60m
Head Under the Gap, Supine (Patrons)
A new approach to a classic Feldenkrais lesson originally designed to clarify extension patterns in your shoulders, thoracic, and neck. After briefly introducing its challenges, this version backs up and uses the context of our Long Belly, Strong Back lessons to build pelvic and spinal support for the eventual return of arching and turning your scapulas and sternum with a bridged hand. Great for posture, breath, athletics, confidence, and groundedness. Framed with brief standing explorations.
60m
Advanced Connecting Arms and Legs: Equal and Opposite (Patrons)
In this version, this classic side-lying lesson is framed by back-lying riddles designed to more explicitly connect your learning to gait and ground reaction forces. As you integrate various actions of your feet and legs with your pelvis, torso, and arms, you’ll rediscover the buoyancy and joy of walking with your whole self!
58m
The “Morning Prayer” Lesson (Patrons)
With the hands together like a child praying, learn to move them up and down in front of you first in lying down, then sitting, then kneeling, gradually expanding this gentle movement into a larger and larger action. Details of the scapulas, spine, atlas, tongue, eyes, and floor support are investigated. Framed by brief explorations in standing.
57m
Lifting Up and Through
Back-lying, mostly one knee bent, one foot standing. Develop an action of lifting your hip forward in a grounded and distributed way as you learn to draw clear support from the earth up and through you. Great for stability, strength, and confidence in walking, and all upright movement. Framed by experiments in standing and walking.
58m
A Spiral of Length and Power (Patrons)
Back-lying, one knee bent, one foot standing, learning to lift that hip and spiral out of the ground into diagonal lengthening. Clarify your hip joints and create lightness, power, and eventually the seeds of explosive athletic action as you learn to distribute muscle tone proportionately throughout your whole self. Then enjoy an unusual inchworm-like experiment. Framed by brief explorations in standing.
31m
Two Sitbones, Two Sides of the Pelvic Floor (31m, Patrons)
Chair-seated. Get to know your sitbones (illustration in the Curiosities tab), then sense that you have two diaphragms, and discover more awareness and control of your pelvic floor through gentle weight shifting experiments.
62m
Whole Body Arms (Patrons)
Side-lying. Learn to reach, roll, twist, and circle your arms with better whole body support from your shoulders, chest, and all the rest. Framed by standing explorations designed to demonstrate how the freedom of the neck, shoulders, chest, and pelvis benefits balance.