Movement Intelligence

Efficient Movement

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 14:51:00 +0000

The Body is a Collective Entity, Every Part Needs to Do Its Part

A recent participant in a Feldenkrais class came in with a very painful knee and a bursitis diagnosis, but as soon as she finished the exercises she felt nothing in her knee and her whole body was looser and more relaxed. She was thrilled and began to take several classes a week and continues to see improvement.

Similarly, a man entered class with lower back pain and a feeling of extreme tightness there. He said he was considering a chiropractic analysis and adjustment, but during the course of the lesson felt some major ‘clicks’ in his back – he had self-adjusted his spine. It happened inadvertently, and he went from feeling tight, stuck, and restricted in that area to loose and relaxed.

Pain in specific areas can be likened to a tightly clenched fist. Everything around it clenches up to compensate. As all those other areas let go, his lower back let go.

Feldenkrais is about generalizing movement throughout the body so that no part is doing too much, and no part is doing too little. As other parts of the body relax, participants feel less pain and more movement and ease. As other parts of the body become more movable, the injured, painful parts of the body relax and heal.

Winter Immune Challenges

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 13:42:00 +0000

Although winter is known as a time we are most susceptible to getting sick and we often blame the cold weather for this, we may be more to blame than we thought. As the temperature drops, it becomes more and more tempting to curl up on the couch and eat comfort food all day. The problem with this is that it renders us more sedentary and what we consider “comfort” foods are not always the most nutritious choices. In addition, the holidays often become excuses to make unhealthy choices as we consume more refined sugars and alcohol.

If you’re one of the many people who seem to be prone to getting sick, particularly during the cold season, you may want to reconsider your winter habits. According to nutrition response testing, your body knows what it needs and when it is deprived of these necessities, it acts out. This will put your body in a state of acute stress, which will leave certain systems of the body, such as the immune system, weaker.

Now that the holiday season is over, it’s time to own your health and stop making up excuses. Nowadays, we’re so accustomed to seeking quick fixes that fit into our hectic daily lives. However, when it comes to your health, making a quick and easy isn’t always the path to take, especially if you’re looking for long-term results.

There has been some controversy over whether or not the flu vaccination is a beneficial option and while some believe it’s the only way to avoid the flu, others believe that the risk of flu vaccines are not worth it and seek to find other alternatives. The best way to prevent the flu, as well as any virus, is to nourish the body with whole foods. Some of the best preventative foods include healthy fats, such as omega-3s and monounsaturated, and lacto-fermented food, such as all-natural yogurts. More importantly, it is crucial to avoid any sugars or refines carbohydrates as they blunt the immune response. Foods rich in fat-soluble vitamins work wonders for the immune system. For example, cod liver oil, if taken every day, is a highly recommended preventative whole food. It can also be used during time of illness, in which case you would have to increase the serving size from about half a teaspoon per day to 3 teaspoons per day.

Medical science has proven that good nutrition is the most important factor in supporting the immune system. In fact, there are many recent discoveries in the healing power of some whole foods and herbs. For example, it has been established that protein malnutrition is related to many immune diseases. Deficiency of high-quality protein, such as eggs and fish, may lead to depletion of immune cells and inability of the body to make antibodies against foreign invaders. In addition, the recommended amount of all vitamins and minerals is necessary for your immune system to perform at its optimal. This doesn’t mean you have to spend time calculating the amounts of each vitamin in each of your meals. A diet rich in whole foods and very low in processed foods should ensure that you’re getting what you need.

A telltale sign of malnutrition is frequent colds and other immune-related ailments. In a way, getting sick is your body’s way of telling you that all is not well and that you need to make some adjustments to your diet. If you want to avoid the unpleasant virus or infection in the first place, Nutrition Response Testing ™ (NRT), a study of how the different points on the surface of the body relate to the state of health and to the flow of energy in each and every organ and function of the body, uses your own body’s signals to determine what you need. You can read more about NRT on our website.

For more detailed information about the connection between the immune system and nutrition, read the following article from the Journal of Clinical Nutrition: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/66/2/460S.long

The Social Nervous System, a New Addition to the ANS

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 19:50:00 +0000

Three Parts of the Autonomic Nervous System based on the work of Stephen Porges, PhD.-A PolyVagal Perspective

This article is based on a 4 day Advanced Cranial Workshop I attended October 24-27th 2013 in NYC with Katherine Ukleja DO, BCST , The Vagus and Emotional Expression.

Many of you have heard of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), the part of the peripheral nervous system that acts as the control center of the body. This system is largely involuntary and controls functions like heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, and urination. Well, it has recently been discovered that the ANS contains an additional component, the Social Nervous System. This new addition to our body’s control center allows us to read the environment and respond to threats appropriately.

There are two branches of the ANS, the parasympathetic and the sympathetic. These two divisions typically work in opposition to each other. The parasympathetic branch is known to promote a “rest and digest” response and is responsible for slowing down our bodily functions, such as heart rate, with the exception of digestion, which is enhanced by increased peristalsis, or muscular contractions, in the gut. On the other side, there is the sympathetic nervous system, which plays the role of the “fight or flight” response. This division increases the body’s energy output, through increased heart rate and respiratory rate, and inhibits peristalsis, thereby inhibiting digestion.

The newest addition to the ANS, the Social Nervous System introduced above, is a new branch of the vagus nerve and is technically called the Ventral Vagal Complex (VVC). This division operates in response to safety and is responsible for self-expression, orientation (turning our neck and head), listening, speaking, calling/asking for help, and communicating in general.

The vagus, the nerve that travels from our brain to our gut, allows us to be in touch with what’s happening inside our bodies. This communication between the brain an the gut is called interoception, or as Stephen Porges puts it, our “6^th sense, what we call ‘gut feelings’ or instincts.” Not only do the nerves in our gut communicate with processing centers in the brain, they also communicate with the heart (our emotions) and the motor branches of the face and throat to regulate self-expression. This is why your heart aches when you’re emotionally hurt and why your facial expressions display what you’re emotionally feeling.

These nerves play more of a role in psychological feelings than was previously acknowledged. The gut is stimulated by external stimuli, which it then relays to the brain to be integrated. This area in the brain is the key brain area for empathy and is responsible for awareness of feelings and emotions from the body. The information it receives either stimulates or inhibits the release of certain hormones and neurotransmitters; this regulation is called negative feedback.

Have you ever wondered how instincts work? These reflexes stem from neuroception, the sensory arm of the social nervous system. This is how we are able to detect safety or threat. For instance, our ability to read faces is a survival function that allows us to differentiate between friend or foe. Since the VVC communicates via nerves to the face, throat, and heart, it is adaptive in that it permits us to listen, signal for help, get more oxygen to the brain, and modulate heart rate. In addition to survival adaptations, this part of our nervous system plays a role in our ability to feel empathy and happiness by allowing us to assess another’s emotional state and connect with others.

Your facial expressions are of extreme significance; they are the link between exteroception and interoception. As a baby, this and crying was your only form of communicating with your parents in order to convey your needs. Since babies solely rely on their caregivers for survival, the acts of crying, fussing, smiling, etc. are extremely essential for their needs to be adequately met. The less these needs are met by caregivers, the slower the child is to fully develop and self-regulate. When the baby’s needs are not attended to, she will experience stress, which will eventually stimulate cortisol, a stress hormone, release from the adrenals. A build up of this stress hormone is not only detrimental to the child’s health, it can psychologically blunt their emotional development and cause them to be avoidant, making no eye contact and being withdrawn from human contact. This inability to show emotion will persist well into the child’s life and cause social anxiety, as well as health issues, such as an increased risk for heart disease.

Another important part of proper development of the social nervous system is the ability to feel empathy, which gives us a sense of connection and belonging, and is the basis of human bonds. A child with an underdeveloped social nervous system may grow up to be isolated and depressed, or even become aggressive. An impaired social nervous system results in misinterpretation of safety or threat. It also results in a weakened interoceptive “6^th sense,” which will damage the ability to tune into our inside feelings, inhibiting us from feeling pleasure or pain.

The work of Biodynamic CranioSacral therapy is interactive; it permits you to get to know your own material through your own body, or your sensations and feelings. This will allow you to meet the history of another human being from a neutral place, holding them with presence and lightness. It will allow your inherent treatment plan to emerge, primary respiration to ensue, and their nervous system to come into balance.

Lyme Disease

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:57:00 +0000

As many of you know Lyme disease has become very prevalent in our area. It is a very insidious spirochete that buries itself deep into the tissue and frequently mutates, so you never know if you ever have gotten rid of it. It has become more widespread , with the onset of the much hotter temperatures.

I myself recently came down with a case of it. My symptoms were headaches and a persistent tight band that started underneath the base of my skull and went down the left side of my neck into my left shoulder. Almost felt like a band within the connective tissue that wouldn't let go. Others may experience flu like symptoms, brain fog and joint pain. Left untreated it can enter into the Central Nervous System and wreak havoc.

Weeks of this (atypical for me) neck pain propelled me into the doctor's office where a blood test revealed a much higher titre level for Lyme disease. I did a course of antibiotics, but still felt pain and tightness in my neck and couldn't turn my head to the left. A friend told me about his success with high frequency radio waves that penetrate the body and break apart the cell wall of the pathogen. Remember the opera singer shattering a wine glass with her voice? I have been experimenting with the frequencies and have seen great healing results. It felt like my body was being cleansed at a very deep level. Think of this as deep detoxification, cleansing the body of the Lyme disease spirochete and other coinfections.

Nutrition Response Testing has been invaluable in knowing what my body needs. I truly feel having been feeding my body high quality organic food for the past 2 years, as well as taking whole food supplements and powerful herbs, has strengthened my Immune System. All have been important in healing Lymes.

Tips

Avoid deep wooded areas.
Do not lie down in the grass.
Be protected-cover yourself completely if you decide to go into a wooded area.
Get checked by a friend after being outside.

Keeping Ourselves Company

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:05:00 +0000

Embodiment in the Present-Compassion for Ourselves

As far as pacing we need to put some red flags in our awareness so when a certain behavior starts happening we can know oh, I'm going too fast. I need to slow down and catch back up with myself. The red flag could be oh I'm starting to get irritable or I'm beginning to feel afraid or lost. Or I'm losing touch with what is happening around me. If any of those things start flaring up we can say oh I'm moving too fast and take steps to slow ourselves back down.

Mindfulness, slowing our breath, grounding physically, checking in with our young self from adult awareness all bring us back to present time which is where it is most comfortable to hang out! Also using adult eyes to look around us and actually see where we are is a very powerful tool.

Beth W. write "Over the last six months doing Feldenkrais and receiving CranioSacral Therapy, I've seen how it's impacted different parts of my life. I'm in a weight lifting program, and I feel that I'm able to do it safely and with more ease because of the way my body is moving. I'm sitting up straighter in chairs and standing taller without realizing it; it's just happening! It feels great. What has surprised me the most is to see that I also feel better emotionally. I feel more "with" myself without effort. I am deeply grateful to have met Ed, because I'm accustomed to traveling to New York to find a practitioner with his range of skills. I can't say enough about his work and the power it has to change lifelong patterns of poor habits and emotional and physical stuckness."

Awareness thru Movement

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:27:00 +0000

Awareness thru Movement translates into Awareness Inside Movement-
feeling where you effort, feeling the absence of effort.
You have choice, you understand the difference.

Allowing your skeleton to support you so that you come into alignment.
Your muscles become less contracted; movement becomes easier.
You become taller, stand more erect, feel lighter.

Healing the Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:36:00 +0000

Opening the constricted heart.
Feeling what's underneath the tight, constricted chest.
Feeling the sensations moment to moment.
Making space/taking space for me and the other.
Re-educating the little one.

(Notes from my last Biodynamic CranioSacral Therapy session)

When life's stressors seem to take over, the body’s feeling tones are the key to wholeness

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:01:00 +0000

You're so frozen with fear or grief or some bodily hurt. You can't function well. You're not even aware that you're in fear or grief. You know something is wrong, you're overwhelmed and your body hurts. Your work life feels as though it is slipping away. Relationships are faltering and yet you feel powerless to effect change. You're not truly home, truly present in your circumstances and in your body. You're not in reality, you're in your head.

Over the course of many years I have observed this tendency of fear to take us away from the feeling tones and sensations in our bodies. Patients who have come in with all kinds of functional health problems-headaches, neck and back pain, digestive problems, insomnia-all have a basis in not being able to access frozen parts of themselves. Parts that had been traumatized physically or emotionally and were walled off from consciousness.

Resolution came for these clients when they were able to experience themselves directly through their body, during the course of a Biodynamic CranioSacral therapy session. Once they could "feel" themselves and perceive the attendant sensations and emotional tones and feelings lodged in the body, they were on their way to healing.

I believe that the critical piece for healing of life’s stressors and traumas is providing a proper holding field in order for this to happen --a relational holding field where you feel contained, acknowledged and most of all safe. Where it feels safe for you to drop down and rest in your body, without anything or anyone impinging on your system.

Life is movement. The discovery of CranioSacral is the discovery of tidal movements within the body. The CranioSacral therapist isn’t manipulating, but only holding a wide field of awareness, attuning to this motion or any restrictions to this motion within your body, so you can eventually come back into your body. You can begin to differentiate the present adult healthy consciousness that is distinctly separate from the overwhelmed part and hold that with warm-hearted attention.

The CranioSacral therapist holds the larger Field, a neutral place, that is safe and loving, so you the client can begin to feel yourself, come back into your body and feel the sensations and feeling tones that are underneath the trauma. So that you can access true Health and release and reintegrate the traumatized part of you. This Universal field is a loving holding field that can hold you in all its expanse, like the ocean. You can rest in that field, settle, breathe, feel and come back into yourself.

When you come back to yourself and your body’s felt sensations and feeling tones, you feel alive again, reconnected to the stream of Life. I have helped clients take this journey of healing, and it is inspiring to me to see this reawakened connection. And I have taken this journey myself.

When you connect to the felt sense in your body, then you know what to do, because your Intuition is functioning again. You’re connected! To yourself, to your fellow human being again, to Source! And you’re connected to your natural knowing. It takes being held—and held in a safe holding field, a connected holding field with another present human being to reconnect to yourself. To know yourself from the body, from within, as Buddha said. A deep knowing.

Gratitude-It Lives in Your Body

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:59:00 +0000

"If the only prayer you would say in your life is “thank you” that would sufﬁce." - Meister Eckhart

At this time of the year, itʼs a good idea to focus on what we have to be thankful for and to let go of any resentments and bitterness. Take a moment and think about a time you felt touched by Life...a smile, an act of kindness, a moment of vulnerability. Recall all the sensory rich details of this moment, when you felt touched by Life. Where were you? Who else was there? What were you doing? Were there sounds? What were the sensations and feelings in your body?

Implicit in being touched by life, often lies the feeling of gratitude. Moreover when we feel connected to ourselves, we often feel connected to others around us. What would happen if we consciously practiced gratitude?

At a workshop I was in recently, we practiced this exercise. I recalled how it “felt” in my body when I remembered being greeted by a fellow participant. I hadnʼt met her yet or exchanged words, and she greeted me warmly, when I stepped inside the dorms we were staying in. She said “oh youʼre Ed” having heard my name mentioned before. And proceeded to engage me in lively conversation. I felt at once seen and comforted by her warmhearted attention. Later in recalling the scene, I felt once again the tingle in my body and good feeling spreading throughout myself. Another words recalling the event that touched me and the sensations and feelings in my body, brought on another dose of gratitude and a smile to my face.

The Best Kept Secret

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:31:00 +0000

It’s Tuesday, and I just got back from Jaclyn’s Feldenkrais Awareness Thru Movement class, and I can’t help thinking why isn’t everybody doing this work? I feel in a totally different space than when I arrived for the class. I feel open, relaxed, and my perspective has been enlarged. Another words I feel at ease with myself physically, mentally and emotionally.

So simple, so elegant; learning to move in an easy integrated way, so there’s no strain anywhere in the body.

My mind relaxes in accord with my body.

My fellow classmate and I are talking on the way out. She says nobody knows about this work. How is that possible? Anyway I want to inform you about the best kept secret in the Universe. By learning to sense and feel what is going on in your body and paying attention as you move; tense muscles let go, aches and pains recede and movement enlarges. Like Magic!

I get up feeling lighter, smiling, liking myself more.

Try it-you’ll be hooked.

Reputation

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:16:00 +0000

" Reputation"-

After a refreshing visit to the beach and ocean, I stopped off at a local Cafe in Ocean Grove, NJ. The owner mentioned it's his "reputation" that keeps customers coming back. And keeps him busy throughout the year.

It's "the fresh roasted coffee", he said. Just look at the date the coffee was roasted the next time you buy coffee, to see how fresh it is . That's the difference in taste. That's what brings out it's vim and vigor. Same for his baked goods-freshly baked.

I thought about that word "Reputation" a few minutes and what it means.

At FeldmanChiropractic we take pride in our long term results with patients. We bring ourselves to the session without any preconceived ideas, trying to see what is needed in this particular situation.

Exploring with them freshly each session, not repeating well worn techniques.

It's similar to the freshness of the cafe owner's coffee. We bring awareness and unbiased attention and that makes for powerful results with our clients.

Unconditional friendship with oneself

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:26:00 +0000

I wanted to share this quote from a workshop Pema Chodrin taught at Omega called "Smile at Fear". It has helped me enormously. I'm paraphrasing.

"The biggest obstacle to unconditional friendship with oneself.

In fact to living a sane life is fear of feeling; fear of feeling what you're feeling.

Fear of feeling unwanted, uncomfortable feelings.

Losing our fear of feeling what we're feeling.

Opening to, turning toward's one's feeling.

Not reacting against what you're feeling.

Not acting it out or repressing it.

Being fully with the experience.

In order to have friendship with oneself."

Respect

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:50:00 +0000

After my tutorial in Biodyamic CraniSacral Therapy, Saturday July 23rd, 2011 :

I am reminded once again, why this work is so powerful; why it holds such a special place in my heart.
It reminds me of all the things we spoke about in today's session with Shannon, but at a" felt "sense.
Another words; "allowing the person to be as they are." seems to me so respectful. So humble.
"Being in my midline" really means being in my center-where I am truly respectful of the other person and myself..
Being in my core gives the client space.
"Finding the quality of the holistic shift"-allows me to perceive the client's wholeness, but I , in turn enter into that state of wholeness, as well.

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:13:00 +0000

Moving with Ease

The Feldenkrais Method is based on the principles of Judo, which is to move with minimum effort and maximum efficiency, not through muscular strength but through increased consciousness of how you are moving.

This was born out during my week at Hampshire College in Amherst , Ma., July 8-13th ; where I participated in the 2011 Annual meeting of the Feldenkrais Guild.

Through Workshops in Awareness Through Movement (Hooking the Big Toe was one 2 day workshop) and learning about the roots of the Feldenkrais Method in Judo-Art of Falling and Dynamic Stability, I came away invigorated, stimulated, ( only slept about 4 hours a night!) and revivified!

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:06:00 +0000

Learning to deeply connect with our clients:

A successful outcome for clients means that they have felt acknowledged, received seen and heard by you, the therapist. How does the practitioner achieve this and feel enlivened by the session?

First and foremost is Presence. In the body, the mind is settled; all personal concerns, as well as technical skills are “put behind the curtain”, (a phrase Rollin Becker, D.O coined) resting firmly in the moment with you. You as a client can sense that, and so you begin to settle.There is a sense of safety, as one begins to let go.

As the practitioner, are you attentive to your breathing? Are you allowing yourself to experience your breath just the way it is, without trying to change it? What is the quality of your mind? Are you anxious or calm? What are you feeling in your body? Hurried or rushed? Tense or constricted in some part of you? Are you aware of anything in yourself that is preventing you from being fully present in the moment with your client?

“Contact” is everything that happens from the first telephone call to the time the client enters the office up until you apply your healing hands or therapeutic problem solving skills to the person. So much of our work as healers is to listen. But before we can listen to what this Being is presenting, we need to be aware of what’s happening within us. This listening to ourselves is happening through our breathing, and through the sensations and feeling tones in our body. We are attentive to and aware of our thoughts, but it’s through the body that we settle. Then we come into a place of Being-ness. Then we can begin to resonate with the person across from us (and sense what’s going within their minds and bodies). It is from that place of Beingness that we relate as Human Beings. We relate on an inter-being level. And in order for that to be successful, we must negotiate the connection, the physical and attentional boundaries with our client. We need to check out with our client; are you ok? Am I too close on a physical or energetic level? This is perceived by the client both through our physical hands-on contact and through our intention. Our client may feel crowded in by our intention to fix, to be helpful, even though physically we are giving lots of space. Once our client feels met, safe and seen, she can begin to drop down and make contact with herself,and the sensations and feeling tones in her body. And that’s when the clients own Healing Intentions can emerge.

What is the client’s role? She is a willing and able co-creator in the session, whose input and participation is necessary if we are to fully “engage” her system. She needs to feel into and make contact with herself, on a gut level ( the seat of the second brain). Learning how to create this “holding field” and nurture this connection is fundamental to being in the moment. It affects our work with clients, and enlivens every connection in our lives- our spouse, child, employee or boss.

Edward Feldman, D.C.,R.C.S.T. offers transformational individual sessions and mentors other practitioners in the art of making contact. He can be reached at feldmanchiropractic.com or 609-252-1766.

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:09:00 +0000

At my last Biodynamic CranioSacral therapy module, we worked with the process of Ignition.

There are three Ignition processes that take place for the newborn as we enter the world.

Conception (Ignition) is about Coming into Being; the Ground of Being-feeling received.

To be. Heart Ignition is about the Embodiment of Being-there is a direct relationship to Mom in the womb, the womb is our world. This about being received in my Being by the other.

Finally Birth Ignition is about our orientation to the outer world, ignition of our Life Force as a separate physiological being. The empowerment of being.

How can we be ourselves and not take things so personally? If we have boundary problems, have a sense of being invaded by our partner, it is because as a little one, we needed to be held. There was as Winnicott states: a good enough holding environment. We needed to feel and sense that someone was present. Not too distant. Not too far. This is very early stuff. If Mom was unable to "hold" the infant in the womb, we might as a survival mechanism become the "good" child, helping Mom. We become the caregiver of Mom. In the process, we become someone who can't take care of ourselves, protect ourselves later on. We need to re-own our own goodness and strength without feeling guilty.

The goal of therapy is to recreate a holding environment that's more trustworthy. That is safe. Allowing us to feel seen and received. Allowing us to heal the terror of the feeling "I don't exist." During the the processes of ignition, the re-creation of these incompleted processes allow healing to take place.

post Feldenkrais lesson

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:51:00 +0000

What are the after effects of a Feldenkrais lesson?
Take the case of Louise , a 73 year old retired school teacher with chronic right hip pain and sciatica, a head tilt to the right and and shortened rib cage on the right.

After the lesson, her pain was gone. She stood tall. Her head was planted firmly on her shoulders, her chest was wide and open. Her back was straight and long.There was a sense of symmetry to her that wasn't there before. She was organized more clearly around her midline, the center of herself.She felt calm, and open and centered. her feet felt more solidly planted into the ground. Normally chatty, she wanted to go home and be with the changes she was experiencing in her self.

Accessing Resources-Liquid light

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:58:00 +0000

We're at our quarterly Biodynamic CranioSacral therapy training segment, and the exercise is to access our resources to help titrate a pain in the body. To connect to the pain and stay in the Present at the same time, so as to titrate or lessen the suffering there. The key is resonance, feeling safe between you, as the client and your practitoner. So you can tell them what you need-i.e. her touch is too strong, she's crowding you with her intention. All in the name of client comfort and ease.

So after we've established a good relational field, I drop down and access a resource. What is a resource? A person, place or thing that gives you a sense of ok-ness-that you're allright just the way you are. So I access my resource-the beach, the ocean and immediately feel supported. A sense of spaciousness and freedom engulfs me and I feel totally free. Good start. So I bring my resource to a place in my body (my diaphragm) and again feel the sense of spaciousness there.

Now I direct my resource to my knee which has been bothering me for several months and still occassionally locks up on me, despite physical therapy and manipulation. I bring this quality of spaciousness to heal my knee. I don't go in too much or too fast. I don't want to overwhelm my painful knee. I just bring my expanded sense of spaciousness to touch on this painful knee. And then back off and go back to my diaphragm where the resource resides.

And you know what? It starts to let go, my knee starts to do what it needs to do to resolve the forces that had been placed on it whilst digging holes to put in lots of new shrubs and perennials. I had irritated the medial joint line of the meniscus and it had not integrated into the rest of my body.

I do this repeatedly. Coming up to the edge of my painful knee and then going back to my diaphragm where the spaciousness of the ocean resides. I go back and forth several times and finally I begin to feel a luminosity engulfing my knee. Liquid light ( the cerebrospinal fluid?) penetrating my knee and resolving whatever has ensnared my knee. It's gone, The painful dark strain of the medial meniscus has been replaced by luminosity. It feels clear of debis.

Finally I visualize/direct my resource to my knee, only my attention goes way down to my left foot. My left foot feels like it is getting longer and longer and is receding further and further away from me.A great sense of lengthening has occurred. I get up to walk around and check it out, and my left leg feels substantially more substantial. I can rely on it and the fear of it locking up and getting further damaged is gone! In fact it feels great.

Reflecting on Sitting Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:43:00 +0000

People often ask me what is the difference between Feldenkrais and chiropractic. Or even how is it different from yoga? In a nutshell, in the Feldenkrais Method, we are not trying to improve a function, i.e. sitting or reaching or looking up or bending forward. Rather we are interested in the process. How did you get to the function, to the final result, to the end point you are seeking? It is the elements in the process that constitute the function that is important. For instance, learning to sit in a dynamic way means that the ribs and chest are accessible. One initiates movement from the pelvis and hip and large muscles attached to the pelvis. There is a dynamic interplay between the parts of the Self that go into dynamic sitting. Such that the head is free to float, as one person commented upon standing up after we finished the sitting lesson.

By the way the head is not an appendage stuck onto the shoulders but is part of the spine. It sounds funny but to watch people move, it’s as if the head is separate and stuck on the shoulders as if by a finishing touch made by God. Another words when the spine and hip joints bend to one side, the head follows. It's intimately connected to the rest of the spine. When you shift your weight from sit bone to sit bone, the force travels through the spine, through the rib cage, through the chest and shoulders and into the head. The body is an interconnected whole, that moves dynamically as one unit when you move or sit or stand or walk or reach for something. When you bend down to look at something or look up, the whole spine bends, which includes the bending of the hip joints and lumbosacral spine (the lower back), the middle of your back, the breastbone or sternum, and the head and neck. Another words the whole body is moving together-doing one thing in a unified way that makes for efficient, easy to do, pleasurable movement.

Getting back to the question how is the feldenkrais method different from yoga or practically anything else? We purposely make it easy for the Nervous System to make connections. Your Nervous System connects the external environment to the Internal environment. You can't move without sensing, feeling, and thinking (perceiving). What are the conditions necessary to create learning with the environment?

How do you create the optimal conditions for learning?

By paying attention, moving slowly, pausing between movements in order for the nervous system to refresh, making small movements, reducing your effort. All of the above quiets the nervous system and makes it easy for your brain to pay attention and so bring about change. This allows for new possibilities of movement to emerge. As if by a discovery process and you are the scientist, observing your own body. This is what makes the Feldenkrais Method distinct and improves your ability to do whatever you choose to do.

Our minds and our bodies

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:52:00 +0000

Recently I came across some sound tapes that promised instant enlightenment-the depth of meditation that it would take a serious zen meditator 10 years to achieve..... in a single setting.
The problem for me is Embodiment. Is my mind caught up with my body or vice versa?
I may feel all floaty and good afterwards, but am I, can I function in the world and relate to others?
Can I give myself over to my work life?
Another words can the depth of my experience integrate into all facets of my being? We are just beginning to realize how plastic the brain is. That the brain can form new connections. But it needs the right conditions to learn. We need to effectively communicate with the brain .I believe the person needs to" feel " how to put the pieces together from the input it is getting. It is not a passive process. In fact it goes under the heading that the mind and body are One. Indivisible.
Just as the brain needs new information to stay vital and alive. It needs movement to form a connection between our Nervous System, our muscles , our skeleton and the environment around us. More than we may realize, we need to ground our expanded minds into our body.

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:53:00 +0000

Function is key-excitement vs satisfaction

How many times do we get seduced by the excitement of something new-whether it be a relationship, a new thing to buy, a new job, the Internet?

I believe that what drives most addictive behavior is excitation without emotional contact. Another words, we're seduced by the excitement of something outside ourselves that pulls us into what Buddhists call attatchment or clinging or desire.

Rather than being in contact with ourselves , we're pulled outside of ourselves by the promise of some reward-we'll feel better, safe, have momentary pleasure, or we want to get rid of our pain, escape ourselves.

I think it's important to watch our excitement, as it arises .Observe the sensations in our body. Are they pleasant or do you feel gripping, fearful, tense, anxious, uneasy? What passes for excitement may be some other emotion or sensation; that if you pause long enough to get in touch with yourself may stop yourself from entering/fostering some unforseen/unproductive consequence.

Remember function-the ability to healthily experience life and pleasure and be productive and satisfied at the same time is the key.

Welcome.

noreply@blogger.com (Ed) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:05:00 +0000

Hello. Welcome to my Blog, thank you for visiting.