A Feldenkrais Blog

Dear Students:
Moshe Feldenkrais chose to use movement as a vehicle to help people learn how to transform their ways of thinking, feeling & behaving. I believe one of the reasons he based his method on teaching “awareness through movement” is because body language reveals volumes about the soul of a person.

This is why I share with you the silent movie, Metropolis, so you can become familiar with what (non-verbal), expressive human beings look like. One of my students, Greg Sipe enthusiastically told me about this 1927 classic picture, and motivated me to check it out.  Greg is a ballroom dance instructor so I had lots of fun sharing my thoughts about it with him the past few weeks. 

The film instantly caught my attention with the first act, Shift Change because of the pure physicality of the actors, (view at 0:4:11). I can honestly say it is one of the most intriguing performances I’ve ever seen and the actors were only walking as a group on & off the set.  They were able to portray the slight & profound difference in the way factory workers carried themselves when entering the “depths of earth” compared to the ones exiting it.  Look closely to see if you can tell what the men were feeling & thinking by how they moved at the beginning versus the end of their shifts.

I wish to point out some other scenes that left me marveling at the main actress’s ability to fully express her state of mind & emotions. Words like actor, artist, dancer & pantomime only touch lightly upon how to describe her.  She played herself as a saint-like leader at the beginning of the story (view at 0:52:19 & 0:56:43), and later as an evil imposter of herself, (view at 1:46:36).  She contrasted the good & wicked behaviors of the characters she played by softening her gestures & motions and then by turning them into sharp, chaotic movements.  Her facial expressions were so precious that I can find no words to help you imagine how capable she was in creating them.

I was also delighted to see this actress precisely embody terror, (view at 1:04:15).  You might mistakenly think she physically over exaggerated her reaction in this scenario, but I assure you she did not.  She masterly demonstrated how terrifying feelings shake up the entire nervous system.

Metropolis was considered to be controversial when it opened & I believe it’s message has just as much relevance today as it did back then.   I hope this post inspires you to watch the entire movie.  I viewed it in 15-30 minute intervals and was surprised by the unfolding story-line & the exquisite movement of the dramatic actors, each time! Peace!
~Donna

Dear Students:
I am excited for you to view a video about a simple way to energize your garden called, Electro-culture!
In 15 minutes, Matt Roeske talks about how to increase the magnetism of your soil for farming & gardening.  This is done by using a stick with copper wire wrapped in a clockwise direction around it, called an atmospheric antenna. He explains how cooper wire can easily attract nature’s life force towards you & your plants and it’s many benefits.

I love the fact that by placing an electro-culture antenna about six inches into the ground near trees & plants, eliminates the need to use any pesticides, fertilizers or manure!  Just think about how the Earth would benefit if everyone started utilizing this miraculous tool! Harmful products would become null & void and nature’s energy would help human beings, vegetation, animals & insects to prosper.

Last summer I made some copper antennas and noticed they attracted more birds, bees & butterflies to my flora than the previous year.  My herbs & vegetables thrived & I am sure they were filled with more nutrients because of it!

2024 Feldenkrais Workshop Schedule: 
1.Head, Neck & Shoulders: Sunday, March 17 @ 1-4 pm 
2.Organizing from your Head to Tail: Sat.May 18 @ 1-4 pm
3.Organizing from Ankles,Knees & Hips: Sat.July 20 @ 1-4pm            4.Standing & Hopping: Sunday, Oct. 20 @ 1-4 pm                           For more details click here.

Visit Matt Roeske’s website, Cultivate Elevate to discover more ways to enhance your health & well being. May electro-culture help you create a vivacious yard & a rejuvenated body! Peace!
~Donna

Dear Students:
Moshe Feldenkrais wisely said, “Health is the ability to realize our avowed and unavowed dreams.” [Avow = to acknowledge, to openly declare].  Throughout the years, I have found this to be an accurate way to measure my physical, mental & emotional progress.

An example of one of my avowed dreams is that I wish to help build an off-grid, self sustaining community where I can create a garden paradise homestead with liked minded neighbors. Recently, friends who knew about my desire, sent me a video (to the left) that shows how a man with a similar idea turned his avowed dream into a living reality.  Watch Jim Gale walk through his property called, Galt’s Landing and marvel at what he created.  I love how he used his concept of eliminating lawns to help him grow prosperous & abundant food forests throughout his land. 

An un-avowed dream that was awakened inside of me over the past few years, arose due to the censoring on mainstream media. My passion to stand up for freedom of speech & use my website as a way to get information out to people, is something I never imagined would become necessary.

Today in order to help save peoples’ lives, I share Barry Young’s story with you. Barry is a New Zealand, senior data base administrator who decided to go public with high level health information, when he became alarmed by the vaccine information he was observing in his country.  To hear about what motivated him to speak out despite knowing he would be harshly treated, click on: Reality Check Radio, Barry Young: Covid-19 Data Whistleblower: Dec. 11, 2023.

May you get closer to discovering & living your avowed & un-avowed dreams!  Peace to all on Earth!
~Donna

Dear Students:
The Introduction to Moshe Feldenkrais’s book, The Potent Self, is entitled “Love Thyself as Thy Neighbor”.  If you read closely you will notice that Dr. Feldenkrais reversed the order of the words “thyself” and “neighbor” in this commandment.   I share this with you, hoping it will help you to maintain your health & peace of mind during this holiday season.

I have observed that most people become too exhausted to enjoy the holidays because they push themselves harder than they would push their worst enemy.  If this behavior sounds familiar to you, listen to what Moshe Feldenkrais further says in his introduction: “Love thy neighbor as thyself” should not always mean that they themselves are worse than any neighbor…” 

Have a wonderful holiday season.  I hope Moshe’s words will stay with you and remind you to slow down, take lots of breaks and treat yourself kindly.

Feldenkrais Class Schedule & Day Change in 2024:
4 week winter break: no classes Dec. 19 & 26, 2023 and Jan. 2 & 9, 2024;
Beginning on Wed. Jan. 17, 2024: Feldenkrais classes will meet on Wednesdays @ 11 am (instead of Tuesdays) – for more details click here.

May you actively discover the positive energy behind, “Loving Thy Neighbor As Thyself” & “Loving Thyself as Thy Neighbor”.  Peace to All on Earth!
~Donna

Dear Students:
I appreciate Marshall Rosenberg the creator of Nonviolent Communication, A Language of Life, much like I appreciate Moshe Feldenkrais. Both men gave us life changing methods that when practiced can lead to inner & outer peace.

Dr. Rosenberg taught people how to empathically listen because he knew that without heartfelt connections, conflicts could not be resolved. He said, “You see if we are using nonviolent communication and we learn how to empathically connect with what is going on in other people at any given moment, the other person cannot not communicate with us.  Because even silence is a very loud powerful message.”

Marshall explains more in the video above, about how he empathically connected with a young woman who was too afraid to speak to him.  He kept feeling “what was alive in her” during her silence and in a fifth session she was able to awkwardly give him a written message.  Because his patience & loving manner reached her heart a healing relationship began. 

Dr. Rosenberg’s Definition of Violent Communication: judging others, bullying, having racial bias, blaming, finger pointing, discriminating, speaking without listening, criticizing others or ourselves, name-calling, reacting when angry, using political rhetoric, being defensive or judging who’s “good/bad” or what’s “right/wrong” with people; ~Nonviolent Communication, a Language of Life, back cover.

In the other video (below), Rosenberg is interviewed and shares on topics ranging from how he created A Language of Life, to his vision for creating peaceful societies.  Enjoy reading some intriguing quotes that came directly from the interview.

Dr. Rosenberg’s Inspiration: “I wanted to look for people who were educated in a way that helped them to enjoy giving to other people no matter what the people around them were doing. And it was from studying such people that I saw that they used a different language than the one I had been educated to use.   They used a language of life, a language that helped them connect the life that was going on in themselves & other people.” . .

Marshall Rosenberg’s View on Domination Structures: “So for example if you want to have domination you need to teach people to think in moralistic concepts such as: right/wrong, good/bad, normal/abnormal and teach them that the authorities know which of those words is which – so who’s good, who’s evil, who’s right, who’s wrong.  So you shape peoples’ mentality that way and then they make good little boys & girls and good little citizens in domination structures.” 

Dr. Rosenberg’s Vision: “So what we really need are to create structures that support life rather than create this division to begin with.  So yes, until we get those structures in place we do need to do a lot of reconciliation work.  But we’re interested in primary prevention which means radically transforming the domination structures on our planet.  A domination structure being defined as a government where a few people dominate many for their own advantages.” 

Marshall Rosenberg on Restorative Justice: “Restorative Justice is a very radical concept because it means instead of punishing people we need to look at crime in a total context, a total community context, and we need to get the victim & the perpetrator & the community all involved in a healing and restoration of things to a place that is good for everybody.  And to be conscious that punishing a person is just going to make a society worse.”  

May this post & last month’s post help you learn better ways to relate to yourself & others throughout the holiday season.  Peace to all on Earth!
~Donna

{*I am sharing this post from March 2018 again because I have been referring it to so many people.  With the smoke & other pollutants in the air the Sinus Rinse featured in the video, is very helpful in cleaning out the sinus passages!}

Hi Students:
Recently I was experiencing sinus problems so I delved into my archive of Awareness Through Movement lessons and found ones that helped me to open up my clogged nose.

I feel so fortunate to have a plethora of Feldenkrais lessons available to me whenever I face a physical hurdle.
With gratitude, I will share two of the lessons that helped me during my next workshop called, Exploring the Sinuses on Saturday, April 28, 2018.  {*Click here for details about my workshop on Oct. 14, 2023.}

I did use other ways to drain my schnoz and the video included here will show you an invaluable tip that my sister taught me!  The ingredients that you will need are:  filtered water, iodine, xylitol (from Birch) & (fine) real salt.  I find this rinse to be much more effective than the nettie pot!  Watching the video can surely change your life when you need to clean out your sinuses.

And last but not least, nettle tea (loose leaf) gives me relief from sinus pressure when I need it.  Nettle is one of mother nature’s miracles that I am very grateful for.
Bring some tissues in case you need them on April 28th and be ready to learn more about your sinuses!
~Donna

Dear Students,
Each moment in life requires a unique & different way to breathe based upon how you are moving, sensing, feeling & thinking. With this in mind, I created an  Awareness Through Movement exploration for you to experiment with this summer. The mini-lesson can help enrich the quality of how you engage in activities from quiet to vigorous ones, based on how flexible your breathing parts are.  It is designed to teach your diaphragm to move in many directions like a balloon. This can make your ribs become more malleable so you can move air in & out of your lungs more easily!  Discover how to change your rib-cage into a rib-basket by simply using your awareness & imagination to direct your breath.

Breathing Exploration:
During this lesson move gently into the position explained and stop where you feel most comfortable. Breathe as directed, in a natural manner using awareness and curiosity to guide you. After each movement sit back in your chair and rest before going to the next one. Have fun and enjoy! 
1) Sit at the edge of your chair and place your hands on top of your head with your elbows out to the sides. Move your head and elbows to the left and stay where you feel comfortable. In this position direct your breath sideways into the right side of your ribs, many times. Imagine your right lung expanding towards your ribs near your armpit, in the middle and near the lower ribs. Sense that when you inhale each rib on the right side moves further away from each other. Notice what happens to the ribs on the left side. Rest. Now try the same exploration on the other side.
2) This time, sit and hug yourself with your hands on opposite shoulders with your elbows crossed & resting against your chest. With your head and eyes, look down towards your belly, round your back and roll your pelvis backwards. Stop where you feel most comfortable. Direct your breath towards the floating ribs near your lower back area and downward towards your pelvic floor. Sense the ribs in the lower back area on both sides, widening on the inhale and narrowing on the exhale.
3) Sit and place your hands on your forehead with your elbows facing forwards. Look up with your head and elbows and allow your pelvis to roll forwards so your tailbone will face the back of your head. In this position, direct your breath towards your chest and upwards towards your clavicles. Sense when you inhale, your sternum from the inside of yourself moves away from your vertebrae between your shoulder blades.
4) If you want, I suggest to try other positions to explore breathing in.  Be creative & have fun making different shapes with your body.
5) Sit back in your chair and observe how your breathing has changed. Walk around and observe your breathing. Notice throughout your day how your breathing changes depending upon your activities, and your emotional and mental state of mind.

May breathing explorations give you more adaptability in your life & demeanor. Peace!
~Donna

Dear Students:
Nose drawing, is another Bates Method technique that I like & is easy to do any where.  It requires acting as if a writing utensil is glued to the tip of your nose, so you can draw or trace objects with it.  It is a simple way to improve eyesight as the process softens the extra-ocular muscles where they attach to the white part of each eyeball, called the sclera.  Those with supple eyeballs can instantly look at something close up and then far away with clarity.

 

While moving your nose in space, the key ingredient that can enhance your sight is using your imagination. When you strive to feel & imagine the shape your nose is creating it teaches you how to passively sketch with your eyes instead of voluntarily moving them. Sketching is a vision habit that people who see clearly do instinctively. You can develop this effortless way of tracking with the eyes, so you can internally form a picture that results in normal vision. Nose drawing is a great way to interrupt the bad habit of staring & fixing the eyes when you are trying too hard to see something. 

While you are drawing, the oscillating motions of your head can lessen muscular tension around the base of your skull where facial & visual nerves reside.  This can effectively relax the eyes.  Letting vision come to you in a relaxed manner can help you to see better.  Watch the video with Nathan Oxenfeld for more details. 

Nose Drawing Explorations: 
{Choose one or more of the suggested explorations each time you nose draw. Gently move your head with eyes opened & then closed while drawing. If you experience any discomfort, slow down & make smaller motions.  If you feel pain, stop immediately & rest.}
1. Imagine your nose is a long paint brush & is contacting a wall in front of you.  Begin by simply painting a horizontal line with your favorite color, on the wall back & forth.  Focus on how you are painting the line onto the surface.  Make it smoother & simpler and notice if the line changes.  Let your eyes passively sketch as you attend to the line you are painting. Notice if you move your head more gracefully when you paint with your eyelids opened versus closed.
2.Now pretend your nose has a feather at the end of it and create a line in space to the left & right.  Notice if the quality of your motion is different from painting with a brush.  Then draw a vertical line & diagonal lines & become aware when you loose the image of the feather moving in space.
3.Next choose a pencil to write with onto a piece of paper in front of your face. It can be a square, a triangle, a circle, or figure eight.  Strive to sense the pencil touching the paper throughout the entire shape.  How long can you track the pencil mark? 
4.This time, write some letters of the alphabet with a crayon.  Feel how writing with a crayon changes how much pressure you use as you pretend it is contacting paper.    
5. Pretend your nose has a light ray coming out of it and trace the outline of an object such as a building.  Imagine a gold beam touching along the edges of the building.  Now see a red beam scanning the curvy parts of the trunk of a tree.  When you become more skilled trace the branches of the tree &/or fill in all the details of the building.  As a result you may become a better artist the next time you actually create with your desired medium.

When practiced on a regular basis, nose drawing can change your way of looking at the world.  May you playfully imagine your way to better eyesight! Peace!
~Donna

Dear Students:
I wish to introduce another Bates Method technique called Sunning, which is an easy way to enhance the vitality of your eyes.  It requires letting sunlight bath through your closed eyelids while moving your head back & forth for a few seconds or minutes at a time. View the video with Nathan Oxenfeld for more details & information.

 

The eyeballs are unique as they are organs that absorb light into the body.  Sunlight regulates many human functions including vision, the internal clock, sleeping & eating patterns. On the other hand, because the optic nerve is stimulated by light, too much artificial lighting from digital devices & L.E.D. lightbulbs can lead to vision problems, anxiety & sleep disorders. Studies show that when people are not exposed to enough sunlight during the winter, they can become depressed, moody & fatigued as a result. 

If you are light sensitive, know that you can gradually learn how to tolerate the sun through simple means and receive it’s many benefits.  To begin, I suggest to spend time outdoors each day & slowly wean yourself from wearing sun glasses. When you decide to remove your sun glasses, a good way to adjust to the natural light is to softly blink your eyelids, shade your face with a hat and/or sit under a tree. 

When you choose to Sun your Eyes, be sure to start slowly. Sun for only a few seconds at a time in the beginning and build up to a few minutes until your neurological system adapts.  Always listen to yourself & remember to only move in a manner that feels pleasant.  If you become light-headed, or feel dazed it is a sign that your vestibular system is overwhelmed so stop immediately.  An effective way to rest is to Palm your Eyes as I described in last month’s post.

Sunning the Eyes Exploration: 
1.Stand or sit while facing the sun with your head & eyes at the horizon & eyelids closed.  Turn your head left & right only as far as you can comfortably. Focus on letting your arms loosely dangle like pendulums as you slowly rotate. If the sun is high in the sky, move your head 10° higher & continue the gentle motion. If your neck muscles get tired return your head & eyes to the horizon and proceed. Do this for as long as it feels calming to your eyes and your being.  Do not exceed more than 5-10 minutes at a time. Pause & keep your eyelids closed & stay with your head & eyes at the horizon & your nose at the mid-line. 
2. Next imagine that your nose is a paint brush and draw a horizontal figure eight (the infinity sign), in space, slowly & ease-fully.  Notice if the circle on each side of your nose is the same size & shape.  Which side do you draw a clockwise circle?  Become aware of what part of each eye receives more sunlight when you are at the top of a circle compared to the bottom or to the left or right side. [If you get any discomfort, dizziness or nausea while doing this, stop & rest.  Skip ahead to step 5].
3. Reverse the direction of your figure eight.  Do you prefer going this way? Is it more symmetrical in form or less than the previous way you were moving? Notice which circle is drawn counter clockwise. Which side is more round? Pause with your eyes closed. 
4. Again turn your head left & right and feel if the quality of turning has changed.  Do you go farther with less effort?  
5. Slowly bring the exploration to a close & palm your eyes for a little while.  When you open your eyelids, blink often as the eyes get used to more light.  Notice the clarity of your vision & the vibrancy of the colors you see.  Has it changed? Do you carry your head & eyes in a different relationship to the horizon?

May you allow the sun’s rays to soothe your body & soul everyday! Peace.
~Donna