Reintegration of the left shoulder
“In the Feldenkrais® Method, each person already presents the ideal body, the ideal way to move. For may of us this is a difficult concept to grasp. We take pain, "poor" posture, or limited movement as symptoms of something wrong. Yet each and every person makes the best choices possible given his or her perception of choices.
Change is most possible in this realm of "perception of choices." The practitioner's task is to create conditions for more choices. It is not to correct errors, right wrongs, or straighten people out. The practitioner's task is elicit from the student new means of action and judgment.”
From “Learning How to Learn,” by Dennis Leri
I’ll be honest, I am really tired this week so there won’t be much in the comment section here. Because I am tired, I wanted to do a lesson that didn’t require a lot of movement.
This shoulder lesson was perfect. You can just let the skeleton respond to the movements of the arm. At the end, my whole left side felt wide, long, and light, almost like it was floating. The chest softens and the whole upper back becomes flexible. (This is a one-sided lesson; Don’t worry, the learning will transfer to the other side.)
Please make very small movements and don’t force anything to happen. It’s a paradox in Feldenkrais that we don’t have to “do” the movement so much as let ourselves be moved. We all think we have to reach or push to our limit to feel good about the task we have “accomplished” but here, the accomplishment is in the listening, not the doing.
More lessons:
This lesson is from the Gentle lessons for shoulder release series in the Feldenkrais Treasury.
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Quote of the week:
“Awareness is the consequence of using thought to improve action and action to improve thought. It is awareness that improves our connection to others and enhances the quality of our lives. ”