How to improve movement by sensing, testing, and sensing again

How we live each day is how we live our lives, and each day is the cumulative effect of numerous big and small actions.

These actions are in response to sensations. Have you ever ignored how you feel just to get something done? We all have. We override sensation even when we know the resulting action will be neither effective nor efficient.

How we respond to our sensations affects our health, our relationships, and our ability to function. By ignoring our sensations, we miss the possibility for feeling and living better.

Having been through chronic pain myself, I've thought about this a lot: How do I become aware of my sensations, and how can I choose a less painful action based on that awareness?

Put another way, why on earth do we keep repeating a movement strategy that creates pain?

Often it's because we don't know how to change what we're doing. We think we have no choice but to suffer. I ignored pain for a long time. I tried to maneuver around it by changing the sensory input in various ways with different doctors, PT, medication, yoga, Pilates, working out, and other lifestyle shifts. Before I found Feldenkrais, mostly I just lived with it.

For creatures with a large capacity for higher-order thinking, we humans are remarkably dense when it comes to finding better ways to move!
Unknow yourself

One way to choose a different action is to "unknow ourselves." That's what I cal letting go of the story line we tell ourselves about what we should be feeling to be considered a good person, a productive person, a valuable person, or whatever it is. Rewiring your narrative is becoming more open to the self that you are and having compassion for that. I used to, and still do, use the words, "of course" to offer space for discomfort or pain. I'd think, "Of course this movement feels muddy, clunky, and blocked. I've had years of pain in my back and I don't know how to move well yet."

To my clients, I might say, "of course you're feeling tense and can't breathe, look at what you've been through!" You can't expect yourself to be different than you are in this moment.

My teacher, Dennis, used to call this ruthless self-inquiry. It does take quite a bit of courage to step into that space of observation, inquiry, and awareness.

In fact, just the other day someone said to me, "You're very inquisitive!" so it's possible that 24 years of Feldenkrais has spilled into all areas of my life! Or, I was like that in the first place and Feldenkrais just gave me a ready-made venue for asking more and more questions.

In any case, asking questions is the starting point for more authenticity and growth in any direction.

Here are some jumping-off places.

Suggestions for moving better

First, get better at sensing.

“Better” means an honest and courageous assessment of the truth of your experience. Start by defining a vocabulary. For example, movement could feel:

thick, heavy, muddy
staccato, jerky, rough, bumpy
short, narrow
exhausting, weak
achy, pinchy, burning
fuzzy, foggy, absent, missing, disconnected
stuck, trapped, blocked, jammed
clunky, restricted, awkward
unsupported
uneasy, unsafe, untrustworthy
contracted, complicated, small, withdrawn

Or, it could feel:
light, smooth, flowing
fluid, easy, simple
grounded, awake, aware
connected, whole, expressive
available, balanced, present, open
supported, stable, safe
powerful, integrated, energizing
lengthened, tall, wide
liberated, unblocked, released, relieved

Everyone has their own way of describing their experience to themselves. The main thing is to find a way of distinguishing experience (A) from experience (B) for yourself.

You'll notice these are subjective and not mechanical notations. As your experience improves, the mechanics will also improve.

(However, it's not a given that when mechanics improve, your experience improves. It could get much worse! Forcing an objective idea of "good" mechanics onto your personal history of patterns, injuries, and habits could come at a high cost to your function and comfort. Plus, external notions of "right and wrong" compromise your ability to find your own adaptive solution. Please, let go of the idea of perfect mechanics. Instead, focus on your lived experience and use your brain's innate ability to learn. By doing so, you will become adaptable, high-functioning, and vital instead of mimicking someone else's notion of correct.)

Second, consider these two frameworks into your learning:

The variables framework:
What is the speed, trajectory, timing, and force of your movement?

How fast are you moving? Slow it down and test.
It what direction are you moving? Change it by a few degrees and test.
When are you moving? Alter the sequence and test.
How much effort are you using? Do less and test.

The tracking framework:
Where does movement travel through your bones?

For example, when you're lying on the floor and you move your leg, does your low back move?
When you move your head, do your shoulders move?
When you move your pelvis, do your ribs move?
When you move your arm, does your spine move?

Discover the consequence of each movement by directing your attention to a specific area and inquiring: What moves? Then move your attention around as you continue to move an arm, or a hip, or a shoulder. Remember, you cannot be too inquisitive!

By combining a courageous assessment of your sensory experience with movement variables and tracking, you can discover many ways to move better all day long.

Third, now we can try a test:

Extend one arm out in front of you or to the side, doesn't matter. Place your other hand on top of that arm's collarbone and don't let it move. Rotate the extended arm on its axis until you use up the slack and run into the fixed collarbone.

What does it feel like? Stuck, blocked, painful?

(In fact, many people use their arms without moving the rest of the skeleton until the poor muscles tighten into knots or get injured.)

Now rotate the arm and let the collarbone move after you use up the slack. What does that feel like? Smooth, fluid, accessible? Continue to expand your awareness until the breastbone moves, the ribs, the spine, the other shoulder, the head, neck, the eyes....How is it now?

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