What's happening at the Feldenkrais Movement Insititute?
This newsletter is for Feldenkrais® practitioners, trainees,
and interested members of the public around the world.

 Spring 2007

Frank Wildman, GCFT, PhD Educational Director

• Lesson: Safe Bending
  While Sitting
• How to do the lesson

What's new?

• Professional Training
  Programs & Workshops
• Workshops
• Newsletter Archive

Professional Training Programs:

• 4-Year Feldenkrais Training class ongoing in
  Milan, Italy

Frank Wildman, PhD., GCFT trainer
Another four-year practitioner's training will begin on August 2nd in Milan, Italy. For details, please see the web site. Consider making this a working vacation, particularly if you need to do any makeup training. Please see the web site for more details.

• 4-Year Feldenkrais Training class ongoing in
  Kyoto, Japan

Frank Wildman, PhD., GCFT trainer
Another four-year practitioner's training will begin on April 27th in Kyoto, Japan. For details, please see the web site. Consider making this a working vacation, particularly if you need to do any makeup training. Please see the web site for more details

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Safe Bending While Sitting

Many people suffer the most severe injuries to their back doing simple things like bending down to pick up a dinner napkin, or a pen that they’ve dropped on the floor. This can happen because the muscles are not as used to contracting at full length as they are when a person bends over from a sitting position. This lesson is a wonderful preventive measure for back strain, and it just might improve your sitting posture as well.

1. Sit in the middle of your chair with both feet flat on the floor and the palms of your hands on your thighs, near your knees. Place your feet just slightly in front of the knees.

2. Slide your left hand down the outside of your left leg toward your foot, only as far as it’s very easy to go. Massage back and forth down towards your foot, back up to your knee, and along the side of your leg to your hip. Massage slowly and carefully several times until the movement feels clear and easy. Rest and feel the difference between the two sides of your body.

3. Do the same massaging motion with your right hand, over your knee, towards your ankle and then up over the hip. Do it as thoroughly as you did with the left hand. Rest. *Awareness Advice: Be sure your feet are fairly wide apart, both for this massaging action and throughout the lesson, as it will help stabilize you and give you better balance. You wouldn’t want to fall out of you chair, would you?

4. Now take your right hand and put it on your left knee and begin to massage down towards the foot and back again. Rest. *Awareness Advice: There are two ways to do this. You can either push with your left foot into the floor as your hand goes down and up or you can rest your left hand solidly on the left thigh and use the muscles of the left arm to assist you as well. If your back bothers you, use both the left hand and the left foot for support.

5. Put your left hand on your right knee and massage down towards the foot and back again, as you did on the other side. Rest.

6. Now take your left ankle and place it over your right knee and take your left hand between your legs and begin massaging the back of your right calf, up and down with the arm between your legs. Try reaching over the left leg and massaging the front of your right leg a few times as well. Uncross your legs and rest.

7. Repeat the same massaging action with the right foot on your left leg. Rest.

8. Now stand your right heel on the front edge of your chair and massage your left leg with your left hand. Massage both sides of the left leg, towards the foot and away. Rest.

9. Repeat the same movement on the other side with your left foot on the edge of the chair, while massaging your right leg with your right hand. Rest.

10. Now sit towards the front of your chair and bend your knees enough so that only your toes remain on the floor. Can you slide your left hand down towards your left heel, or perhaps even further. Go up and down several times. Rest.

11. Try the same movement with the right hand reaching towards the right heel and foot, on the right side.

12. Again, sit with both feet wide apart on the floor, both palms on both knees. Now explore sliding both hands down the front of both legs, towards the floor and back again. Rest in sitting. You may find it easier to sit in your chair now.

*Awareness Advice: Occasionally repeating any ingredients in this lesson will help you to avoid major difficulties that lead to sometimes serious back pain.

Enjoy the lesson!

Frank Wildman, Ph.D., GCFT

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• Go Slowly. Time is an extremely valuable tool in the Feldenkrais Method. The movements you are learning may seem unusual and unfamiliar to you. You will need time to assimilate them, to feel the way your body is moving and changing. Do not rush! Pause whenever you feel like it and repeat movements you find pleasurable or want to experience more fully.

• Insist on Comfort. There is no reward in doing any of the movements in an uncomfortable position. Gently alter the position in whatever way makes it comfortable for you. I want you to enjoy the process of the movement as much as the result. If it hurts, it’s not helping you (“No pain, no gain” does not apply in this method!) Never try to overcome pain, if you feel it. Pain is a signal that your body is asking you to find a new way to move. Answer it with gentleness and respect.

• Don’t test your limits. The Feldenkrais Method is not about seeing how far you can move , how high you can lift, how long you can stretch, Your goal should be to discover how your body achieves a movement so that you can learn to make that movement easier. Your movements should always be light, and as effortless as possible. Imagine how good it will feel to do simple mobile tasks without trying hard, without working.

• Use your imagination. Take the time to do different movements from these lessons inyour head only, before doing them in practice. Allow the movement to become very clear and lucid in your mind, like a scene from a movie. Imagine a movement before attempting it can make an enormous difference in your ease of motion. You may find that your body responds to your mind by moving as if it is replaying the imagined movement, with almost no effort at all.

• Rest frequently. The movements in these lessons, while gentle and pleasurable, may cause slight strain because you are using parts of muscles you may not have used in a long time, or in ways that are not familiar to you. Rest often during each lesson. You cannot rest too much. Relax and let the movement settle in, enjoy the feeling. Who knows – it could become a habit.

• Take the lessons with you. Throughout your day, pay close attention to how a lesson affected you. One way to do this is to keep a notebook and write down what you have felt from the lessons, and how it influenced the way you performed everyday activities. Be aware of changes in the way you reach, walk, sit, and think. Putting your sensations into words builds a new sensory vocabulary and expands your body awareness, increasing aliveness and changing fixed habits of thinking and feeling. A lesson doesn’t have to end with its last movement let the learning process linger and grow.

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