20 lessons from Mia/Gaby

A brilliant overview of the method from Mia Segal and Gaby Yaron, two of Moshe’s first students. These are often touted as “beginning” lessons for both teachers and students, however they are as sophisticated and subtle as any of the complex AY or Esalen lessons.

Covering many variables of human movement, I always find these lessons more and more satisfying and fulfilling with every bend and turn. Experiment, play, and experiment again to enjoy a newfound flexibility and coordination.

Although this is all my language and teaching style, the lessons are presented as originally taught by Mia and Gaby.

1 Classic flexion, 31 min

This first lesson is a beautiful, slow exploration of folding the spine. You clarify how your back makes an impression on the floor in many angles. It’s funny, the more you learn about the floor, the easier your movement becomes. It’s a wonderful lesson for lengthening, flattening, and widening the whole trunk. You’ll feel taller and lighter after this.

Note: It’s optimal to do these first two lessons as a pair close together.

2 Extension using diagonal lines, 36 min

These first two lessons are a matched set. Here, you resume the folding forward pattern from the previous lesson, feeling where your back presses into the floor.

Then, you do many movements folding backward on the front, activating the back muscles with more and more clarity, first with the head on the hand, then along the diagonal with the long arm and leg. Through many variations, your spine starts to spread the movement from the center outward toward the limbs, maximizing the power of your trunk.

Plus, the back becomes so flexible you don’t even have to think about moving it! It just bends on its own for whatever you need to do in life.

3 Counter-rotation in side lying, 33 min

The beginning of the twisty-foldy-bendy ribs lessons, of which there are a few in this series. This lesson combines rotation—which lengthens the spine—with a lot of flexion, which reduces the “grippies” of the chest. Your shoulders will flatten, your breath will expand, and the floating, light arms are just a bonus. One of the yummiest lessons out there.

You lie on the side with the arms extended at shoulder height and bring the arm to the ceiling with the head and eyes. In many ways it’s a classic rotation lesson, touching on all the brilliant variables that are sure to unwind tension in the spine and upper back.

For more lessons like this, see the twisting section.

4 Coordinating flexors and extensors, version 1, 35 min

Another beautiful wiggly ribs lesson, including lengthening the spine and softening the upper back. A classic version of Coordinating Flexors and Extensors, which is a fancy way of saying you can even out the muscle tone in front and in back. The gentle twisting back and forth starts to unwind tension throughout the ribs and spine.

Here you start to challenge the shoulders to lift and lower from the ribs instead of over-using the shoulders themselves. This is a theme throughout this series.

Such an amazing lesson for feeling tall and light, with an easy swing of the ribs and shoulders. If you’ve had a rough day at work this is the lesson for you.

For more on coordinating flexors and extensors, see:
76 & 77 Coordinating flexors and extensors
87 Tilt knees, rotate spine, fold chest
91 Tilt knees, roll chest and head
211 Eyes, neck, arms, triangle
3 Tilt the legs and free the neck (Esalen version)
380 Gentle twisting with flexors and extensors
43 Tilt legs, lengthen arms

5 Extension for low back strength (version of bendy hip), 34 min

Another rotation and extension lesson, this one on the front. Here you activate many variables in how the back muscles arrange themselves to lift the head and arm. This is good for all of us because how many ways do we really use the back in daily life? We’re pretty habitual. This lesson takes you out of your habit as many possible permutations are activated.

At the end, there is a wonderful movement of the leg in the hip socket where you have to use all these patterns. The constraint is strong, you have to figure out how to rotate and extend the spine or the leg doesn’t move!

Constraints are there as a learning tool so go slowly. If you are gentle, the spine will start to unravel all its hidden contractions, leaving you long and tall with a liberated bobble head on top.

A different version of the same lesson: 79 Bendy hips and spine, 41 min

6 Extension and balance: Pivoting from stomach to side sitting, 36 min

Such a fun lesson of using weight shift and rolling to come up to sit. Once your brain senses the obvious logic of the eyes following the heel and rolling over the fulcrum of the hip, it’s an effortless, fluid, smooth rolling movement that many people find yummy and satisfying.

As you learn what it means to rotate the legs in the spine, the chest with the head and eyes carrying you along, it feels like you’re integrated throughout your whole self.

Because any hesitation or excess effort is immediately apparent, it has the effect of smoothing out all your movement no matter what you’re doing, swimming, cycling, walking, running, doing laundry, whatever the day brings. Plus, it’s a fun thing to show your friends and family.

For more tilting leg and strong back lessons, see:
78 Low back strength, tilting legs on stomach
80 Arms frame head
326 Slow tilting of legs
9 Tilting legs on stomach to locate your center
317 Tilt legs to come to sit from belly

7 Effortless side bending (with rotation and integrating leg), 31 min

This is a super-size combo lesson, illustrating how improving one plane of the spine (like twisting), improves another plane (like side bending). Continuing with our theme of softening the ribs, you start by rolling the pelvis side to side on the back.

Then you lie on the side and test side bending, feeling the ribs and asking what the hip can do for you today. The majority of the lesson, however, is rolling and twisting on the side, sliding the long arm and hip in many variations.

After all that, you go back to side bending…then back to rolling the pelvis between the hips. Notice the rolling of the head and the super wiggly ribs—yet again. This lesson illustrates the strategy of cycling through a number of variations and then returning to the starting place.

Now ask yourself, “What is the difference that makes a difference?” as Moshe says.

8 Pelvic circles on back, 29 min

One of my favorite lessons I give to almost all my clients. Discovering how the ribs and the pelvis are connected is eye-opening for most people. This lesson has a lot of pelvis rolling on the back, then pelvis rolling with one leg draped over the other, then with the knees wide. The wiggly ribs allow the pelvis to improve its swivel and the hips to soften. It’s like a row of dominoes falling over, each one affecting the next.

Such a wonderful lesson for the low back, hips, and easy walking.

9 Side bending and hip rotation on side (rotate long leg), 30 min

Another good combination lesson with side bending and rolling. First, test side bending by lifting the head. Then, do many variations of flexing the ankles and toes with a long, straight leg on the side. Believe it or not, this helps the leg integrate into the back. Feel how your leg is lighter.

Then, on the side you rotate the long straight leg and feel it spread to the hip and ribs. Finally, lift the head and leg in the air and rotate forward and back from the toes. It’s such a lovely swishy movement in the pelvis once you feel the clear skeletal connection helping you balance in each direction.

For more like this, see:
32 Connect the hips and the spine, part 1, 23 min and part 2, 29 min (rolling long leg for balance)
163 Leg swing and footprint, 38 min (AY380)

10 Hip and shoulder circles on the side, 35 min

Here is a classic exploration of how to let go of tension and allow movement. This misinformed idea that everything has to be isolated does not serve us in daily life. It is useful for performance, like dance, or working a single muscle group, like weight lifting. But it’s a recipe for injury if you try to inhibit movement in your daily life.

In this lesson, you define each plane of the hip and shoulder, all the while attending to your belly, breath, jaw, neck, and ribs for any excess tension. Then you move the hip and shoulder in circles together, and then opposite. The paradox in this process is that if you think too hard about the movement, it doesn’t work. You have to feel your way into it. Then, just let loose and be wiggly and mobile and joyful.

This lesson is wonderful for walking, as well as alleviating stiffness in the spine, hips, and neck. For maximum walking ease, it’s good idea to pair this with the next lesson, rolling and side bending on the back. Try doing both in one session for the best input.

11 Side bending and extension on the back (reach for the heel), 32 min

This lesson has it all: It should be side bending, extension, and rolling. With lots of variables so lower the tone in the low back, it’s a good “pancake” lesson to feel the spreading of the spine and low back.

Here you stand one leg with the opposite arm overhead. As you rotate and lengthen up the spine, lengthen the long arm a little more. Then you lengthen the arm alongside the torso toward the foot. As you are side bent, you roll the hips many ways, then bend and fold the toes and ankles! This really resets the tone of the back.

There are many, many variables in this lesson, all are designed to be smooth, yummy, and restful. A lovely lesson to do before or after a walk, or to prevent stiffness.

A good follow-on lesson for hip and shoulder circles. Try doing both in one session for the best input.

12 Coordinating flexors and extensors, version 2, 23 min

Another gentle, yummy unwinding lesson where lots of rotation in the lower trunk and then the upper trunk invites a lengthening and softening.

With the knees bent, you drape one leg over the other and sink down to the side of the top leg, like ballast. Test what’s easy, without pinching, pulling, stretching or straining. With this clean sample, do the lesson and then come back to the sample movement. With the same variable of no strain, do your legs sink further with no effort on your part? What happened?

Everything is coming to the lengthening party: The ribs, upper back, shoulders, jaw, belly, and spine. Now, you rotate and lengthen with your whole self.

13 Rotation with one knee in front and seesaw, 25 min

“Where do you stop moving? What prevents you from moving further?” It’s fascinating to ask what makes something a limit. It could be pain, disorganization, or an idea or assumption we have of what’s possible (the most likely culprit, in my experience).

In this lesson, you lie on the side with one knee in front. Extend the arms out in front of you, lengthen the top arm forward many times, listening for what stops you. Then, lengthen the knee forward and pull it back. What stops you? Is it a real or an imagined stop? This experiment is about giving yourself permission to move.

Then, you start rotating around your trunk, bringing the arm behind you with the head and eyes many times. Finally, do a seesaw of the arm behind and the knee in front, which opens and widens the chest and back, without any stretching, of course.

For more like this, see the twisting section.

14 Side bending by sliding head and lifting hip, 22 min

A classic side bending exploration where you slide the head to the side and lift and lower the hip. Then, you slide to one side, stay there, and breathe into the long side of the ribs.

This lesson helps you distribute the bend through each vertebra, so you’re not overworking or under-working anywhere in the trunk, which is the holy grail of Feldenkrais: Distribute the work!

Soft ribs are a bonus for this lesson, as we need soft, bendy, flexible ribs for breathing, walking, bending, reaching, and more.

For more like this, see the side bending section or the ribs lessons. Especially compelling is Gaby Yaron’s Integrating the chest series, which she developed to help her recover after a severe car accident.

15 Side bending by lengthening and shortening leg, 27 min

This is wonderful for moving your hips and feeling ease in walking, in fact, for anything that uses the trunk—which is everything.

This lesson asks you to lie on the side and lengthen the leg, but you don’t grow longer leg bones so how do you lengthen it? Hint: It’s from the middle. This invites you to sense that the leg resides in the middle of your torso and is not “out there.”

You will refine the use of the trunk in increasingly subtle ways through sliding of the leg. And, because the leg is part of you, this refinement spreads throughout your entire self. You will feel wiggly and light in the pelvis and hips after this, and it will seem like you have more strength, but that’s just good organization, not extra effort.

Here is a follow-on to this lesson where you come to sit by lengthening the leg:
356 Lengthen leg and hang head, part 1, 32 min
357 Lengthen leg and hang head, part 2, 20 min

16 Rotation on side by pressing ribs with fingers, 27 min

The most amazing twisty-bendy-foldy ribs lesson ever. It is so counter-intuitive that your brain can’t grasp after old habits and it lets go of the grippies. I love these kinds of lessons where they sneak up on you with novel patterns and shapes. You will feel like a hip-hop dancer after this one! Tension will drop away you didn’t even know you had.

In this lesson, you lie on the side and rotate many ways, including toward the floor and behind you—yes, that’s right, over the shoulder that’s on the ground. Then, you do a lot of variations with twisting and folding. You’ll be amazed at how the breath opens up, the belly lets go, and the back flattens. Don’t listen to me, test it for yourself.

See below, #18 for another good twisty-foldy lesson.

For more lessons like this, see:
144 Flexible sternum, look under shoulder, 29 min (AY217)
145 Softening sternum, tilting knees, rolling head, 37 min
364 Side bending by pressing ribs, 43 min (AY218) (more complex but my students love this one!)

17 Expanding ribs by lengthening arms overhead, 20 min

Such a gorgeous, yummy, opening-up kind of lesson. You turn the interlaced hands away as you lengthen the arms overhead. Then the ribs, middle back, and spine lengthen more and more by inviting each part of your back to participate.

You spend a lot of time sliding the elongated arms side to side and tilting the knees, which invites rotation as you lengthen. As long as you are incremental in your exploration and above all, do not stretch, the back will stop gripping and shortening.

Feel the soft shoulders, open ribs, and long spine!

For other lessons like this, see:
409 Lengthen spine, roll arms overhead, 50 min (the traction lesson) (AY468)
173 Super light arms lengthen whole self #1, 2, & 3

18 Flexion in upper chest, smoothing out the shoulders, 17 min

Another twisty-foldy lesson for the ribs, good to do with the previous two lessons, 16 & 17. Here you soften the shoulders and upper back like crazy. It’s also an elegant exploration of hoisting vs. levering, one of my favorite learning strategies. As you sense how lifting and pressing more equally improves your relationship to the floor, you realize you didn’t have to work so hard to lift in the first place! As Moshe always said, “The floor is your teacher.”

Then the musculature evens out in front and in back, and the upper back flattens and softens. You’ll spread out like cookie dough in the oven, as one of my clients says.

This is a wonderful chest-opening lesson for people who hunch over a desk or who naturally roll their shoulders forward in standing.

For more like this, see:
304 Soften back to prep for rolling by moving knee away from chest, part 1 & 2
337 Basic diagonal trajectories with dots at shoulders and hips, 41 min
338 Gentle folding to multiply choices, 35 min

19 Rotation on stomach by tilting legs, 20 min

An amazing lengthening lesson for the whole spine. Any time we rotate, we also lengthen and increase the space between each vertebrae. If you’ve been sitting all day at a computer or traveling in a plane or car, try these movements to unwind and reactivate your back.

You lie on the front side and tilt the legs with the head in different directions. You fix the legs together so as you tilt, you activate the back muscles with the knees and ankles close together. With each tilt, feel the ribs opening up and the spine between the shoulder blades starting to say hello.

When you stand, feel how tall you are!

For more like this, see:
21 Tilting legs on stomach, 35 min
317 Tilt legs to come to sit from belly, 41 min
326 Slow tilting of right leg part 1, 29 min and part 2, both legs, 25 min

20 Integrating shoulders on stomach, sliding head side to side, 31 min

This should be called the “wiggle lesson” because it’s about giving yourself permission to wiggle all the way down to the feet. We often break up our movement into small pieces not because we can’t move, but because it doesn’t occur to us to allow our whole selves to participate!

Oops, did I just give the secret away? Yes, I did. Because ALL of Feldenkrais is about how to use your whole self in every movement. The question is always, “What moves?” We often think moving the shoulders couldn’t possibly include the hips, pelvis, ribs, and legs. But it does, as long as you become aware of your image of action.

You might think, “Of course I move my whole self!” But until you shift that thought into a deeper, integrated knowing, it’s just a thought.

This lesson is amazing for scoliosis, and for anyone your shoulders and neck will thank you. You’ll be swing-ier, lighter, and definitely wigglier.

For more like this, see:
212 Ear to hand, relate neck and upper back, 40 min
233 Ear to hand with fluid neck and eyes, 39 min