Micro-movementsusing the Feldenkrais® Method of SomaticEducation
Felt sense through Body
1 – 2 pm – Balance
2:30 – 3:30 p.m. – Awareness through Movement
Feldenkrais® is a system for learning new actions through movement to increase ones function and quality of life. There is no dogma or self-image attached to this system of independent self-learning. This means it introduces a focus upon what you can do, not what you can’t. It reduces limiting beliefs by increasing focus of attention in the the present moment. As an empath I can trust the Feldenkrais® experience as it deepens my inner understanding, clarity and skeletal support through perception. It taps into the same dynamic of inner support that I trusted as a baby to stand up and begin talking my first step.
I recommend it to everyone longing to be free of the past and to shift the fear of the unknown future. I especially recommend it for those who have been given labels and now identify with them. The only way to transformation is through a new action.
The birth experience between my son and I was the incentive for me to pause, take stock and step outside of the herd mentality. It wasn’t out of personal philosophy, rather inquiry and wanting to make the best choices versus following along just because it was what everyone did. It may not have been the most obvious daring action I ever took, but it was the most inwardly daring thing I ever did. I didn’t seek support through mom’s and babe groups due to being to open energetically after the birth, it would have been over stimulating. Instead, I sought out different practices that could help bring balance and have calming influences. It came down to two choices that strongly resonated with me. These choices were the traditional Iyengar Hatha Yoga being offered through the downtown YMCA and the Mindfulness Meditation being offered at the Shambhala Centre in Market Square.
Having a toddler and expecting a second I could only manage one of those two at that time. I chose mindful meditation practice as it had an inward focus of attention to expand connection in time and space. I experienced an inner disconnect in the yoga practice as my experience of it was that it was outwardly focused through how it was directed. At that time one practice had less focus on self-image, and right and wrong ways of doing things which meant one was inquiry and personal observation. What it triggered though was a longing for a structured retreat to experience deeper inner connection. I chose my children.
My devotion to my kids brought about teachings far greater than any other pursuit I may have longer for. I wasn’t sure why at the time, but I kept telling the universe that I needed the teacher to come to me, I needed the teaching in a language I understand, I needed the teacher to have years of integration in what they offer, and I needed the teaching in a way that can include my care for my kids. In checking back into this experience, it is with recognition that the universe manifested exactly what I declared I needed.
Two educational methods presented themselves, one after the other that were stripped of all dogma and focused upon the practical steps to achieve and tap into the glimpse of life connection that was first identified in mindful meditation. Both these methods came via people immersed in the practices since the 1940’s or earlier. For me, right or wrong, they were the western version of the oral history presented earlier of another culture’s philosophy. The difference for me is that they presented as living actions I could take to navigate life in real time events yet develop the bridge for connecting from the inside out. How? Through steps that bypass attachments to outside influences. The practice is on the inside of what is happening and less on outside ego stimulus. Don’t get me wrong, my belief is we need ego and that it is being used to misguide society. These two educational models, of course, are Nonviolent Communication and Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education. I practiced these two methods in the same structure I would have practiced the mediation that led me to them. The difference is that the practice is included in day-to-day life needs and wasn’t a separation from life. It was a practical daily practice.
Big obstacles were purposely put in my way, yet it was meaningful enough to fight for. For example, the first segment of the Feldenkrais training was on Salts Spring. Instead of staying on the island I travelled each day after getting little ones ready for school and returning to pick them up to make dinner. Luckily the remaining four years were presented eight blocks from our home. More ease greater challenges. We walked to school together and they could come and be apart of the training after school. It was the same with NVC, the intensives were local where I was able to manage both needs, participation, and children. I realize I have learned that if something is meaningful enough it’s worth it and I am recognizing the power of manifestation. The teacher came to my doorstep with deep roots to model the behaviour. They were who they said they were. Ha, I no longer want to go into the immersive experience of self connection as I believe that has occurred, I am inspired though to expand this concept of manifestation. One of the areas that I hope to explore this in is the arena of personal relationships. Of course, it is not something I would share as my commitment would be to the other party in this equation. I do believe it would radiate outwardly though in each of our lives in a way that demonstrates manifestation. It would be evident. I no longer have the distraction of children as I have left home! They left first and forced me to leave. However, manifestation in other life areas will be a focus for conversing on.
I cannot emphasize enough the art of personal committed practice that deepens inner connection. It’s a game changer. It could just change what’s going on in the world as we see it now.
A role model that that crossed my path I am grateful for is someone who demonstrated a quality of organic growth and success that is heart centered. It is someone I admire from afar and who knows of me from a distance due to her sister sharing the same unusually named practice as I. (Feldenkrais) After joining the Gettin Higher Choir I learned more of her story and observed how she was admired.
My interpretation of this is that she is one of the original innovative members behind the growth and development of Hollyhock Learning Center on Cortes Island and that she moved to Victoria for personal reasons. She had a passion for African music and began a small choir that started with six members. She had connected to music while on Cortes where she learned she could sing after being told throughout her childhood she couldn’t. It seems sharing music through song with others who also thought they couldn’t sing became her passion. When I joined the choir there were upwards of 600 members. By then she had a co-director and together they began teaching others how to direct community choirs in their style of engaging choir members to sing. People from around the world came to Victoria specifically for this learning and connection.
It was far more than singing that emerged from this venture as Shivon was introduced to a small village in Africa by someone from that village that no longer had any amenities. A fundraiser was created and she herself travelled to observe and present some needed help to this community. It turned into a long-term relationship where a well was drilled for potable water, a school and medical center were built, the kids were fed a meal daily, a fruit orchard planted, and a market was re-created through the proceeds of a yearly fundraiser. This expanded to embrace other villages through these fundraisers that included the newly trained community choir directors sponsoring a village. Community by community networking.
Along with a yearly fundraiser for Africa, Shivon, Denis, and the choir also did a yearly fundraiser for West Coast teenagers to sponsor a program to get them outdoors to experience survival training for self-confidence and esteem building. The choir had many activist type members, and a connection was made to invite the choir to sing at many events. Prior to retiring from the choir, I heard that she was being asked to teach leading from the heart through song to stimulate activists into an authentic experience of leading from the heart versus conflict. She and Denis have stepped down from the choir now and passed it on. What I experienced through my short engagement with Shivon, Denis and this choir is that the leadership was authentic, and it grew organically. As it grew it seemed it was from the inside out. There wasn’t any false self imagery it seemed, and the engagement spoke for itself. There were no attachments to the rich and famous, however some were invited to partner as guests of the fundraisers where friendships were created. I share this admiration of a role model as this is the only one, I have come across that reflects growth and success that is natural and organic. Its abundance didn’t seem to be forced but was a force. This is the essence I hold in my heart when it comes to coaching in all situations from leadership in business, family dynamics, educational models, institutions, and love relationships. It’s transferable.
One of the hardest behaviours to observe in coaching is witnessing someone attached to another for what they can get from them rather than what they can contribute. I have noticed that when the focus is not on creating an authentic connection its purpose is on creating a disconnection inside the others person’s mind where they hope to receive some personal gain. Sometimes it’s for competition as they don’t want to see the other succeed, or to gain monetarily and receive support, or simply not wanting to be abandoned in whatever addictions they share. Only a few times I have witnessed it be from hatred and rage or a belief the other person is not smart or good enough. Qualities that cannot be hidden from an empath.
I have witnessed gaslighting someone is never for the qualities of love like appreciation, respect, or empathy. It seems that once the cycle starts it quickly turns into entitlement or ownership of the other. People doing the gaslighting don’t get how these controlling behaviours are easily identifiable and visibly recognizable, especially by an empath. It’s felt emotionally by the person they are gaslighting however witnesses can easily observe the mental manipulation. The gaslighting is like mind control, or a false reality. It is very destructive and harmful. In some situationships it can last for years where the experiences become dark, lonely, and painful. The person on the receiving end either doesn’t seem to recognize it at first or they believe it will change.
Most people don’t go into relationships with the expectation to be on the receiving end of this type of behaviour so can be naive to it. An element of human conditioning is to trust. Initially a common reaction to it is shock, surprise, freezing or fighting back. Once the behaviour is habituated it seems to be internalized by the receiver where is transforms into feelings and damaging beliefs related to self-worth. Regardless of these fight, flight or freeze reactions they can be purposely stimulated for controlling the actions of someone to stop them from moving forward and acting. Over time the person being manipulated is noticeably drained, stressed, angry or depressed and often will seek artificial stimulants to cope.
Often the person on the receiving end of this manipulative behaviour will believe there is something wrong with them from the feelings that are stimulated by the gas lighter. Gas lighting often interferes with the receiver’s connection to what is meaningful and their values by creating doubts. Long-term reactions to this are a lack of self-esteem, self-value, and confidence. The joy for me in these over-the-top situationships has been integrating somatic learning models that cannot be manipulated due to the very nature of focusing on connecting to what is meaningful in the moment – one’s values. There is no focus of attention on someone speaking for another, being the teacher, therapist, or authority. Each learns how to speak for only themselves and listen without correction or convincing the other parties. There is no focus on telling the story to ascertain who is right and who is wrong. The key is to process the story using practical steps to integrate skills on how to communicate and accept differences where all parties are valued equally. I would have loved to have grown up in this type of cultural experience, however the gift of not living it became the purpose for exploring it and making discoveries for the past three decades.
I celebrate a transition I witnessed in someone I was able to work with who was deeply withdrawn from their vitality for life. I was lucky enough to be more fully engaged than normal with this student that meant I could influence their daily schedule. I slowly changed their daily sleep and waking patterns. In the morning I would open their drapes and with an energized voice sing out, “Good Morning.” I tell students it takes about two weeks to integrate new habits and sure enough it was about two weeks when entering the room to open the drapes this person threw back their covers and in a sing song voice sang out, “Good morning.” This was a celebration and a confirmation that the environment influences mental, emotional, and physical expressions. Remember the opposite is equally as true – attitudes and language that are a Debbie downer well, that becomes your energy. It is important to know the influences surrounding you.
Some of the qualities a Feldenkrais® practitioner engages a students to focus on and explore through movement are demonstrated in this pic. These qualities aren’t labelled or even discussed in classes and sessions as it is all through exploring the patterns of movement that shifts all functioning parts of the human condition. Yes through simple movement expansion. Simple and effortlessly. Generally, functional movement is taken for granted and one is not aware of how they transition from one posture to another (prone to upright). When you stood up and took steps for the first time it wasn’t through a thought process of organizing the right way before executing it, nor was it with unawareness and a lack of felt consciousness. A baby’s ability to roll over and sit up is an internal pattern of learning, not external. It involves all the somatic senses and the qualities of spontaneity with an attitude of exploring. Patterns of movement are the first recognizable accomplishments of a baby.
External patterns of learning are shaped by the environment, however internally processed through all functioning human parts, starting with the somatic senses of the physical body. All external information comes in through the the physical body and travels into the brain. A baby is high functioning and processes an inner stream of consciousness while observing and learning an external stream of consciousness. For example, to be able to come into standing a baby must feel their weight shift through the individual bones that move spontaneously in any posture transition while at the same time learning the nuances of those speaking and engaging with them. The baby’s response to what they are seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting influences their physical body responses such as muscle contraction and soft tissue, etc., that includes a reaction from their emotional body responding to tone of voice, body postures of others, and how they are being handled and nurtured.
The ability to think and respond is also an inherent ability however this develops from those in their environment that become their models. A baby’s learned response can be influenced by the mental concepts of others as they internalize and mimic them. As a Feldenkrais Practitioner one of the considerations is to silently understand this while engaging the participants to explore how to go beyond what they think they know. Each participant can do much more than they attempt through stuck patterns of belief and conditioning. The process of expanding their range of motion, flexibility and spontaneous movement also includes expanding their levels of emotional tolerance and increasing their brain function. It all begins with expanding and cultivating awareness that there is more to learn from inside versus seeking outside fixes, labels, and philosophies. Feldenkrais doesn’t replace or compare to other methods or models as it is an educational system for inner learning to be outwardly freer with less limitations.
January can be the time where it’s hard to rock past choices that weren’t in alignment with what makes you truly happy. Sometimes decisions are made from a mindset of what ones thinks is safe or from others bad advice, yet what is unknown is the long term effects of false safety choices. (Safety isn’t stagnant, it’s in ones agility) Long term effects begins to express themselves through the range of depressed and anxious emotions in one’s emotional, mental, and physical functions. It seems January is when the reality of the truth hits. After the glitter distraction of December with social engagements and the ra ra of New Year’s celebrations and goal projections, January can be when there is no denial. It’s obvious. The biggest recommendation I am currently sharing is for individuals to get back to the simple basics of committing to themselves. Rather than focus on an ego driven topics of the day the suggestion is to begin to privately set yourself up for success. The first step is to celebrate the wins and regret the losses. This begins with writing out 3 to 5 things at night of what you would like to accomplish the next day. That’s the commitment.
At the end of that next day reflect on the goals you accomplished and celebrate yourself by noticing how it feels. (yes, feelings can be the celebration!) For the ones you didn’t do pause and consider what you did do. Afterall life is spontaneous and there is more than one choice in any moment. So what did you do? Hold both regret and celebration for not meeting a goal but recognizing the unintended one. Pulling back this veil is the only way one can tap into what is meaningful making recognition of choices in the moment easier. An attitude will emerge with increased clarity of what is more meaningful, the goal or the distraction. Staying on track will become easier. It’s all in the mindset and shifting it for an improved way of being with self.
The bonus is that this pattern shifts habits and soon getting up in the morning is easier and brighter. It’s all in the intention. Intention creates motivation. So include an inner commitment to connect to self for integrating change from the inside out. Balance out the extroverted broadcasting that becomes the pedestal that can cause mental, emotional and physical crashes.
I have witnessed that the numbers of those with functional limitations that start from the ways of thinking match those with injuries and medical conditions in my Feldenkrais® Method of Somatic Education classes and personal sessions. These long term experiences of word and sentence structure in language integrates in unconscious function. They become hidden behavioural habits rooted in our cultural thinking patterns of the past that creates future anticipation. A physical injury or condition is obvious and conscious to those with these experiences and their healing network. The anticipation of expectation is unconscious and not as obvious to the experiencer or their healing network. These types of limitations are equally yoked. The key is to bring them into conscious awareness and expose them in an integrative way with no attachment of judging it or going into past stories. The nervous system is packing around the past therefore change is only in being able to catch the response. Becoming conscious of it as it is happening. This is the beauty for me in the marriage of conscious movement and conscious inner and outer ways of thinking and communicating.
Center for Inside Awareness 