Part 1: Super light arms, lengthen whole self, 40 min

Learning and Smiling

One of my favorite quotes by Moshe Feldenkrais is:

“One has to set about learning to learn as is befitting for the most important business in human life; that is, with serenity but without solemnity, with patient objectivity and without compulsive seriousness. Clenching the fists, tensing the eyebrows, tightening the jaw are expressions of impotent effort. It is possible to succeed in spite of these faults only at the expense of truly healthy joy of living. Learning must be undertaken and is really profitable when the whole frame is held in a state where smiling can turn into laughter without interference, naturally, spontaneously.”

SOSzoe birchJanuary 24, 2020breath, spine, postureComment

Low back on a blanket, 28 min

Why Humans Stop Learning

I have been thinking all week about why artificial intelligence is artificial and how humans learn new skills in the context of our deeply ingrained sense of self.

At some point, and for many reasons, humans will stop differentiating patterns. Instead, we think, “This is good enough. I’ll just put up with this pain/dysfunction/challenge forever.” The narrative is set.

SOSzoe birchJanuary 17, 2020breath, spine, postureComment

Shoulders slide across ribs like a sphinx, 30 min

On Sitting up straight

It’s not wrong to slump over for a while, it’s just tedious. To stop doing that pattern, I get on the floor and remind myself that I can move my shoulders and ribs in other, better, more dynamic relationships.

In a similar vein, I’ve recently been telling my clients to do Feldenkrais after getting off the couch in the evening. Going straight to bed without doing fifteen or twenty minutes of movement in your spine is a recipe for disaster.

SOSzoe birchJanuary 10, 2020breath, spine, postureComment

Arms integrate with chest, 32 min

Letting go of the shoulder

We all grip unconsciously. It’s the nervous system protecting us on some level, but it’s exhausting. Pulling or saying, “just let go!” never helps; you have to support the pattern in many configurations, over and over again.

SOSzoe birchJanuary 3, 2020breath, spine, postureComment

Folding with the tanden, 36 min

On Highly Sensitive People

Sometimes the holidays are rough for folks who count themselves among the highly sensitive people, which is about twenty percent of the population. Regardless if that’s you or not, this lesson will help drop down into sensing yourself.

SOSzoe birchDecember 27, 2019breath, spine, postureComment

Drumming the knees, 35 min

On slouching

People always think slouching is bad. It’s not. It’s only bad if it’s your only choice.

SOSzoe birchDecember 18, 2019breath, spine, postureComment

Eyes left and right, palming the eyes, 34 min

Notes on self-image

The self-image is defined as the parts of ourselves that we have learned to sense. “Learned sensing” slows down by the time we’re about fourteen. As adults, we live with an incomplete self image and rarely make a point of clarifying our sensations, with the consequence that we often intend to do one thing and in fact do the opposite.

SOSzoe birchDecember 13, 2019breath, ribs, spineComment

Release tension with three short movements

On Resilience

Here is a sentence from Moshe Feldenkrais that has deeply affected me over the years: All habitual muscular patterns and attitudes are developed to bring safety and abate anxiety. What does that mean? It means we are sensibly protecting ourselves all the time.

SOSzoe birchDecember 5, 2019breath, ribs, spineComment

How to take a natural breath, 28 min

Notes on learning

From early childhood, we are taught to strain ourselves…This habit becomes so ingrained in us that when we do something and it comes off as it should—just like that!—we do generally feel it was just a fluke—it should not be that easy—as if the world were not meant to be easy.

And we then even repeat the same thing, to make sure this time we strain ourselves in the usual way, so that we feel we really have accomplished something.

—Moshe Feldenkrais, The Potent Self

SOSzoe birchNovember 29, 2019breath, ribs, spineComment

Hand to heel, softening the ribs, 34 min

SOSzoe birchNovember 22, 2019breath, ribs, spineComment

Painting the face with five lines

SOSzoe birchNovember 15, 2019breath, ribs, spineComment

Simple pelvic clock for easy mobility

SOSzoe birchNovember 8, 2019breath, ribs, spineComment

Seesaw twisting to unravel stress

SOSzoe birchOctober 30, 2019breath, ribs, spineComment

Hoop arms overhead, free the shoulders

SOSzoe birchOctober 17, 2019breathComment

Lengthen the side with breath

SOSzoe birchOctober 11, 2019breathComment

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