I presented a two-hour workshop last Tuesday evening at Feldenkrais NYC that was titled Mindfulness/Feldenkrais. Mindfulness-related workshops have been taught previously at Feldenkrais NYC (and also under our former identity, The Feldenkrais Institute) several times before, but this was my first time presenting on this topic.
I have begun various forms and practices of mindfulness meditation many times over the past 40 years but none of the practices ever “stuck” for me before I began this current practice a little over four months ago. Since I made the decision (again) to begin a daily meditation practice last September, I have missed only one day of sitting to meditate. I am proud of that. I am always proud of anything that I manage to do involving an ongoing regimen of self-discipline because I don’t have a lot of that. If there is some external motivator like, “I’m doing this for my job,” or a predetermined time frame like, “I’m going to do [whatever] every day for a month,” I can usually stick to most things I set out to do when those external motivators or time limits are present. It makes me a little sad to admit that, in the past at least, simply beginning and keeping up with an ongoing practice of anything solely for its own sake (or solely for my own sake) has been extremely difficult for me.
But every moment presents another opportunity to change. I do my best to live with as few regrets as possible, to keep in mind as often as I am able, that many times, something that might be viewed as a past mistake can also be seen as a current opportunity to make a different choice. So, I feel that in regard to this still quite young personal practice of daily meditation, I’ve made that different choice. I make it anew every day. And I’m happy to say that, so far, my enthusiasm remains high. Most days, I look forward to my meditation periods. I see no signs that my enthusiasm is abating. In fact, if anything, I become more interested each day in engaging in the process and being a witness to what unfolds.
I believe that the biggest aid to changing my own mind and will about this daily engagement with meditation has been the teacher I’m following. I subscribe to the online meditation course called, Waking Up, created and taught by Sam Harris. The course (that seemingly, like all meditation practices, continues without end) is not free. I find the subscription fee well worth its $100 annual price tag and if money is a hardship, the course is made available for nothing, simply by making a request. What is free, if you’re curious and would like to try it out, is one month’s access to all of the Waking Up course. If you’d like to take a look, click this link to start your 30-day free trial.
The course can be accessed either through the wakingup.com website or by downloading the Waking Up app from the usual places. In case there might be some question about my motivation for this blatant promotion, I get nothing in return if you take a look, sign up, or anything else. I’m doing this because I find it helpful and I believe the more of us who engage in mindfulness practice, the better our society will become.
Oh, and yes, I have not forgotten that this is ostensibly a blog related to the Feldenkrais Method®, so more on my thoughts on the synergy between mindfulness meditation and the Feldenkrais Method in an upcoming post. Hope you are healthy and happy!
Saturday, February 1, 2020
Friday, August 30, 2019
Dynamic Sitting
No matter what you're sitting on, dynamic sitting will help!
FULL DISCLOSURE: If this post seems familiar, it is essentially a "re-posting" of something I wrote about five years ago.
It really makes no difference whether you purchased your chair at a yard sale for ten bucks or spent a thousand dollars at a tony office furniture store. If you don't know how best to sit, the extra nine hundred ninety dollars isn't going to make you much more comfortable.
No matter what you're resting your behind on, once you learn to sit dynamically, you'll find yourself sitting more comfortably for longer periods of time. The comfort of your back, neck and shoulders will improve now and for the rest of your life.
That's what my workshop, Dynamic Sitting, is all about. Come join me on September 17 at Physical Therapy & Feldenkrais NYC for a three-hour workshop in which you'll learn how to sit more comfortably in any chair.
For those of you who are in for the big bucks (or who have employers nice enough to purchase a great chair for you), we'll go over some simple adjustments you can (and should) make to get the most help possible from the chair you have.
I'll identify the most "optimal" sitting dynamics and help you to experience them. You'll learn how to use simple sensory cues to find your own best sitting position. Further, you'll learn how to make small adjustments while you sit so you no longer feel "stuck" or "frozen" in your chair.
And we'll do a series of Feldenkrais exercises that will make it easier and more pleasurable to adopt and maintain your newly improved sitting position.
Don't get me wrong. There are times when slumping or sagging on a nice, soft sofa or easy chair is just fine. But if you are unable to find comfort when you choose to sit more efficiently, your poor sitting habits will catch up with you (if they haven't already) and cause you unnecessary pain and distraction.
Join me at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, September 17 at PTFNYC to learn how to make sitting more comfortable now and forever. To register click here.
I hope to see you!
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Coming February 15, 2017
Between the Lines, a Feldenkrais®-oriented reading and discussion group will meet from 6:30-9:30pm on Wednesday, February 15 at The Feldenkrais Institute of New York. Admission is “pay what you like,” with a suggested donation of $10.00. All are welcome. In addition to the discussion, we’ll do an Awareness Through Movement® Lesson.
In our meetings of Between the Lines during 2016, the reading assignment was an entire book. The discussion was largely undirected by me, as I wanted to see what group participants were curious about after doing the reading.
During those 2016 meetings, we discussed books that were very much centered on what the Feldenkrais Method® is, how it works and how various movement habits and patterns affect not only physical comfort but the comfort and contentment of our entire “self.”
One comment I got from several people is that they would appreciate an evening that focused more on a specific topic. That seemed like a good idea to explore so that’s what we’re going to do on February 15th. Moreover, this time, the material will include some reading from Feldenkrais as well as some readings from other authors that I believe directly support Feldenkrais’ ideas about the human organism and its possibilities for improvement. This material is much more about why the Feldenkrais Method is structured as you know it and less about the how.
The reading assignment is in three parts: 1) the chapter titled “Subjective and Objective Reality” from Dr. Feldenkrais’ book, The Elusive Obvious; 2) Chapter 5 from Lynne McTaggart’s book, The Field; and 3) Chapter 9 from Tor Norretranders’ book, The User Illusion. The chapters from The Field and from The User Illusion are available (in direct violation of copyright laws) for download at this link. The files are stored on Google Drive. You should be able to read The Field excerpt directly from your browser window. You will likely have to either print or download the excerpt from The User Illusion as in Google drive, it appears sideways and there is no way to turn the image. If you download it and view it in Acrobat or another PDF reader, you should be able to rotate the image without difficulty.
In the reading from The Elusive Obvious, Dr. Feldenkrais asserts that much, much more of the capacity of the human brain is devoted to “subjective” reality processes (those that occur subconsciously) than is devoted to “objective” reality processes (those of which we are consciously aware). However, the average human spends nearly all of his/her time paying attention to objective reality. Feldenkrais felt that this leaves a gigantic part of human potential untapped. In creating the Feldenkrais Method, he attempted to give humanity a way to improve that vast part of our mind that most of us leave completely to its own devices.
It seems to me that most Feldenkrais teachers find themselves frequently trying to communicate to students why the way we work is so different from other physically-based healing or learning modalities. We are trying to explain that human movement is largely directed (or organized or assembled) in the subconscious and that by its very nature, the subconscious and all of its activity cannot be directly “known” by consciousness. We are trying to help our students improve something through a process of learning that is impossible to consciously monitor as it occurs. (We can consciously notice the effects of our work but not the actual process of improvement.) Further, physical organization is only a small part of what the subconscious controls and Dr. Feldenkrais knew that improving efficiency in the area of physical organization would bring about a concurrent improvement in the functioning of subconscious activity in general. Therefore, he truly believed that helping humanity improve subconscious efficiency was equivalent to helping the human race to evolve more quickly.
Norretranders’ book, The User Illusion, attempts to help us understand the nature of human consciousness. He, too, makes a clear distinction between the mind’s unconscious processes and consciousness. His ideas support those of Dr. Feldenkrais in intriguing ways that further encourage us to attend to and consciously “stay out of the way” (this is my interpretation) of our subconscious whenever it is reasonable to do so. The User Illusion can be a tough read. If you start the section and find it too dense, skip to the bottom of page 241 and read to the end of the chapter. That last section contains the information most relevant to our discussion. Then, if you want more detail on how Norretranders reaches the conclusions he comes to, you may want to go back and read the beginning of the chapter.
In The Field, Lynne McTaggart, goes even farther in bringing together research done by a number of scientists who are working on various projects related to quantum physics. The main thesis of her book comes from a thus-far unprovable hypothesis that there is a field of something (energy?) called the zero-point field that is, in fact, the “stuff” of which everything in what we would call “existence” is made. This includes matter in all forms, as well as thought, feeling, ideas—really anything of which one can conceive. Because the zero-point field is the basis of all that exists, there is no fundamental difference between what we perceive as material and what we believe is immaterial. Further, the zero-point field, because it is one thing, means there is a constant connection and communication between everything and anything that exists.
In terms of how this has affected my own practice of the Feldenkrais Method, it has turned one of our basic tenets: the possibility of “joining” another person’s nervous system, from a hypothetical notion to be sought after but never-to-be-attained (because of the seeming separateness of beings), into something that I can believe is not only a possibility but rather a certain occurrence whenever one has a clear “intention” to join another.
The chapter I have provided from The Field deals, in part, with some ideas of how certain parts of our brain function, of how information is processed in the brain and of how the outside world is “decoded” and interpreted by our brains. All of these things are ideas that directly support Dr. Feldenkrais’ idea that each one of our versions of “subjective” reality is a much richer and potentially more productive area on which to focus our desire to improve, rather than, as most learning modalities stress, maintaining a focus on what we can learn and “know” consciously.
I’ve highlighted some sections in the chapter from The Field. This was done for my own benefit and isn’t really meant to guide your thinking in any way. Generally (if I remember my intent correctly), I felt what I highlighted in blue had to do with the general topic of conscious and unconscious activity, and the yellow highlights were more directly relevant to the Feldenkrais Method.
If all this seems in any way daunting or too complex, please don’t let that dissuade you from coming. My only interest in creating these reading and discussion groups is to make what we attempt to do through the Feldenkrais Method more clear, simple and understandable. I hope to help you appreciate your own ability to make what may seem, at first encounter, to be highly complex ideas a part of your own, fundamental understanding of what it means to be a human being.
I very much look forward to being with you on February 15th.
Monday, November 28, 2016
The Feldenkrais Gym!
I'm teaching a three-hour workshop at the Feldenkrais Institute of New York on Wednesday, November 30 at 6:30 pm. The workshop is titled, The Feldenkrais Gym, and I've realized the title has the potential to cause some confusion.
I chose the title because of the diversity of activities available at nearly any gym. You can use aerobic exercise machines, lift weights, work with a personal trainer, take a variety of classes, swim (at some gyms), sit in the sauna or steam room, etc. I want the workshop title to evoke the variety of activities available at the gym. However, unlike going to a gym, where you choose your activities, at the Feldenkrais Gym, the teacher will choose what we all explore.
During 2017 at the Feldenkrais Institute, both Josh Wolk and I will each teach two evening workshops in which we will "follow our own curiosity." I won't speak for Josh, but my evenings likely won't focus on improving the function of a particular joint or movement pattern (although that will likely be a frequent outcome), but rather, during each evening, we will seek to explore The Feldenkrais Method in the way I think Dr. Feldenkrais envisioned--engaging in a process where a series of Awareness Through Movement lessons, by stimulating your nervous system to find more synergistic patterns, results in an improvement to your entire organism--you end up feeling better because you have actually made yourself better. Whatever the topic we use as our backdrop to explore, this will always be my goal in these workshops.
This week, we'll explore three entirely different ways to do, essentially, the same thing. Improving options always results in a greater sense of freedom and freedom always feels great!
Come to the Feldenkrais Gym and give yourself the pleasant workout you deserve.
For more information or to register, contact The Feldenkrais Institute of New York at 212-727-1014.
The workshop is not about helping your typical gym routine, making yourself stronger or specifically improving anything you do at your "regular" gym.
I chose the title because of the diversity of activities available at nearly any gym. You can use aerobic exercise machines, lift weights, work with a personal trainer, take a variety of classes, swim (at some gyms), sit in the sauna or steam room, etc. I want the workshop title to evoke the variety of activities available at the gym. However, unlike going to a gym, where you choose your activities, at the Feldenkrais Gym, the teacher will choose what we all explore.
During 2017 at the Feldenkrais Institute, both Josh Wolk and I will each teach two evening workshops in which we will "follow our own curiosity." I won't speak for Josh, but my evenings likely won't focus on improving the function of a particular joint or movement pattern (although that will likely be a frequent outcome), but rather, during each evening, we will seek to explore The Feldenkrais Method in the way I think Dr. Feldenkrais envisioned--engaging in a process where a series of Awareness Through Movement lessons, by stimulating your nervous system to find more synergistic patterns, results in an improvement to your entire organism--you end up feeling better because you have actually made yourself better. Whatever the topic we use as our backdrop to explore, this will always be my goal in these workshops.
This week, we'll explore three entirely different ways to do, essentially, the same thing. Improving options always results in a greater sense of freedom and freedom always feels great!
Come to the Feldenkrais Gym and give yourself the pleasant workout you deserve.
For more information or to register, contact The Feldenkrais Institute of New York at 212-727-1014.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
The Elusive Obvious - October 12, 2016
In my blog post from June, referring to lesson numbers two and three from Dr. Feldenkrais's book, Awareness Through Movement®, I wrote, "It's all here, folks. Nearly all the keys to the Feldenkrais Method® are contained in these two lessons." Substitute the words, "…this book," for "…these two lessons," and you'll have an accurate description of The Elusive Obvious.
Dr. Feldenkrais tells us as much in his Forward: "[The Elusive Obvious] was written…in response to my students' demand for a work condensing the four years' teaching…that led to their graduation and the formation of the Feldenkrais Guild…."
Like most good treatise authors, Dr. Feldenkrais spends much of the first portion of The Elusive Obvious laying the groundwork, or establishing the basis, on which to build a case for the effectiveness of what are his unusual ideas about the improvement of humanity.
He "explains" how his method works mostly in the last four chapters, Awareness Through Movement, Functional Integration®, The Obvious is Elusive, and, In a Nutshell. You could almost read just these chapters first and then, if you question his ideas or are simply interested in how he came to his conclusions, go back and read the beginning of the book in which he writes of his own research and that of others in a way that forms the basis for his later explanation of the Feldenkrais Method.
There are so many possibilities for topics of discussion that might come from the book that I'm going to enter Wednesday's discussion with no specific plan (but well-prepared for anything) and wait for the group dynamic to form and see where we go from there. I'm very excited about the possibilities for the evening and am positive that it will be an interesting and enlightening few hours.
As part of the evening, I'll lead the group through the Awareness Through Movement lesson that Dr. Feldenkrais gives instructions for in the book's chapter with that title.
I look forward to seeing you at The Feldenkrais Institute on October 12 at 6:30 pm. If you have questions about Between the Lines or would like to reserve a spot at Wednesday's meeting, please call The Feldenkrais Institute at 212-727-1014.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Between the Lines, A Feldenkrais Method Reading and Discussion Group - June 29, 2016
During our March meeting, most of our discussion revolved around the desire of Dr. Feldenkrais to use movement as a doorway or gateway to help his students enter into a process of improving not only their ability to move, but to change for the better each student's entire self. We discussed the idea that Feldenkrais's interest in creating his Method went far beyond any physical skill-building or therapy to encompass his belief that practicing the Feldenkrais Method® would contribute to the betterment of humanity and the advancement of the human race.
The second part of Awareness Through Movement is comprised of twelve lessons, and along with the wide range of different movements presented in the lessons, there is a fascinating variety of explorations of physiological, neurological, kinesthetic, and even psychological aspects of being a human being.
The primary focus at our June 29 meeting will be discussing and experiencing lessons 2 What Action is Good, and 3 Some Fundamental Properties of Movement.
Lesson 2, is not really an Awareness Through Movement lesson at all, but more of a "lecture" in which Feldenkrais describes, in more detail than he does nearly anywhere else, what it is he's attempting to teach with Awareness Through Movement® (in contrast to the one-on-one work with a Feldenkrais Practitioner known as Functional Integration®).
In Lesson 3, that we'll all do as part of the evening on June 29, nearly all of the fundamental aspects of Awareness Through Movement are not only experienced but also explained, again in more explicit terms than Dr. Feldenkrais ever used when teaching the lessons to the public.
It's all here, folks. Nearly all the keys to the Feldenkrais Method are contained in these two lessons and I'll do my best to illuminate and help you to better understand anything that might remain unclear after we experience these lessons together on June 29.
In addition, if you have questions about the first half of the book that occurred to you after our March meeting or that you feel were not adequately addressed at the meeting, feel free to email me your questions in advance of our June meeting and, time allowing, I'll do my best to answer those questions as well. Email me at: mark@feldenkraisinstitute.com and please make "Between the Lines" the subject line of your email.
Finally, for the September meeting of Between the Lines, we'll move on to Dr. Feldenkrais's book, The Elusive Obvious (just in case you want to get a head start on your reading).
I look forward to seeing you at The Feldenkrais Institute on June 29 at 6:30 pm. If you have questions about Between the Lines or would like to reserve a spot at the June 29 meeting, please call The Feldenkrais Institute at 212-727-1014.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Between the Lines: A Feldenkrais-Related Reading and Discussion Group
Between the Lines is what we’re calling a new ongoing event that begins on Wednesday, March 30 at The Feldenkrais Institute of New York. It’s going to be structured like what I imagine many books clubs are (though I’ve never actually been a member of a book club), but all the reading will be related in some way to the Feldenkrais Method. Attendees will be asked to read something in advance that we’ll discuss at the meeting. I’ll also teach a Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lesson at each meeting.
Why a Reading and Discussion Group?
This idea has been percolating with me for a couple of years now. At first, I was interested in having the group discuss books recently written that illuminated ideas or principles that Dr. Feldenkrais used in the creation of the Feldenkrais Method. What interested me most were books that documented studies that have been done that prove, or at least strongly support, ideas on which Feldenkrais based his method. Advances in science, particularly in devices that measure physical phenomena, have moved as quickly as all technology in our culture. Consequently, there is information available now that was not when Feldenkrais was working; information that directly supports ideas that he had come to believe to be true, through his own experience, or through the less sophisticated research that was then available.
Some of these books also put forth hypotheses that are as yet unproven about what this new information may mean. Some of these intriguing hypotheses, whether or not they are ever "proven," will have a direct impact on the work we do with the Feldenkrais Method. For example, Feldenkrais talks about the "joining of two nervous systems" during the course of a Functional Integration session. This always seemed like a metaphorical joining to me, one to be sought, not because it was actually achievable, but because the closer one comes to the "ideal" of true joining, the more meaningful the experience becomes between client and practitioner. In The Field, by Lynn McTaggart (and in other books by other authors), the idea of finally identifying what is at the bottom of the Unified Field Theory, may make "joining" of anything and everything in the physical universe a concrete reality instead of just a metaphorical goal. It's an intriguing idea.
In The User Illusion, by Tor Norretranders, studies are cited that seem to indicate that the human brain begins working on a task before the conscious mind decides to do so. This calls into question the almost universally held belief that it is our conscious mind that is the sole agent of our actions (at least our physical actions, behaviors, wants and desires). Because the Feldenkrais Method uses both conscious awareness and attention, as well as affecting the subconscious process of "assembling" movement patterns, sequences, paths and timing, this idea of "who's on top"--consciousness, subconsciousness, or some combination of the two, becomes fascinatingly relevant to the practice of the Feldenkrais Method and how it works.
The above is a synopsis of thinking that was done a couple of years ago. In bringing Between the Lines to fruition, I spoke to many people and have come to realize that it makes sense to begin on a level that is more directly related to the Feldenkrais Method itself--by discussing at least some of the works that Dr. Feldenkrais wrote.
I encountered Dr. Feldenkrais's books on his method during my training program and found them all to contain complex ideas presented with what, at the time, I perceived as widely varying degrees of clarity. By far, his most accessible book, is Awareness Through Movement and so, in the end, that seemed like the most logical place to start.
Awareness Through Movement is divided into two parts. In the first part, Dr. Feldenkrais makes known his beliefs on learning, self-image, the role culture and society plays in discouraging people from reaching their full potential and how he proposes, though The Feldenkrais Method, to help people become more of what they’d like to be.
The second part of the book is divided into descriptions of twelve Awareness Through Movement lessons. Nowhere else that I’ve seen, does Dr Feldenkrais reveal so much of what he is attempting to do with his lessons.
For our first meeting, on March 30, I’ll teach one of the twelve Awareness Through Movement lessons from the book (I’ll let you know which one in a future post) and we’ll discuss anything from the book that interests you. I’ll be prepared to do as much “leading” as the group would like. At some point during the evening, we’ll also talk about what we’ll be reading and discussing at the next meeting of Between the Lines on June 29.
To prepare for the first meeting on March 30, please read at least Part One of Awareness Through Movement (less than seventy pages), and as much of the rest of the book as you like. If you need a copy of the book, it is available at a 20% discount through The Feldenkrais Institute from now through the end of March. You can pick one up at the front desk or call 212-727-1014 to order.
Between the Lines is sponsored by The Feldenkrais Foundation. Admission is free but donations to the foundation will be gladly accepted. For more information and to reserve a spot, contact The Feldenkrais Institute at 212-727-1014. Looking forward to seeing you on March 30.
Why a Reading and Discussion Group?
This idea has been percolating with me for a couple of years now. At first, I was interested in having the group discuss books recently written that illuminated ideas or principles that Dr. Feldenkrais used in the creation of the Feldenkrais Method. What interested me most were books that documented studies that have been done that prove, or at least strongly support, ideas on which Feldenkrais based his method. Advances in science, particularly in devices that measure physical phenomena, have moved as quickly as all technology in our culture. Consequently, there is information available now that was not when Feldenkrais was working; information that directly supports ideas that he had come to believe to be true, through his own experience, or through the less sophisticated research that was then available.
Some of these books also put forth hypotheses that are as yet unproven about what this new information may mean. Some of these intriguing hypotheses, whether or not they are ever "proven," will have a direct impact on the work we do with the Feldenkrais Method. For example, Feldenkrais talks about the "joining of two nervous systems" during the course of a Functional Integration session. This always seemed like a metaphorical joining to me, one to be sought, not because it was actually achievable, but because the closer one comes to the "ideal" of true joining, the more meaningful the experience becomes between client and practitioner. In The Field, by Lynn McTaggart (and in other books by other authors), the idea of finally identifying what is at the bottom of the Unified Field Theory, may make "joining" of anything and everything in the physical universe a concrete reality instead of just a metaphorical goal. It's an intriguing idea.
In The User Illusion, by Tor Norretranders, studies are cited that seem to indicate that the human brain begins working on a task before the conscious mind decides to do so. This calls into question the almost universally held belief that it is our conscious mind that is the sole agent of our actions (at least our physical actions, behaviors, wants and desires). Because the Feldenkrais Method uses both conscious awareness and attention, as well as affecting the subconscious process of "assembling" movement patterns, sequences, paths and timing, this idea of "who's on top"--consciousness, subconsciousness, or some combination of the two, becomes fascinatingly relevant to the practice of the Feldenkrais Method and how it works.
The above is a synopsis of thinking that was done a couple of years ago. In bringing Between the Lines to fruition, I spoke to many people and have come to realize that it makes sense to begin on a level that is more directly related to the Feldenkrais Method itself--by discussing at least some of the works that Dr. Feldenkrais wrote.
I encountered Dr. Feldenkrais's books on his method during my training program and found them all to contain complex ideas presented with what, at the time, I perceived as widely varying degrees of clarity. By far, his most accessible book, is Awareness Through Movement and so, in the end, that seemed like the most logical place to start.
Awareness Through Movement is divided into two parts. In the first part, Dr. Feldenkrais makes known his beliefs on learning, self-image, the role culture and society plays in discouraging people from reaching their full potential and how he proposes, though The Feldenkrais Method, to help people become more of what they’d like to be.
The second part of the book is divided into descriptions of twelve Awareness Through Movement lessons. Nowhere else that I’ve seen, does Dr Feldenkrais reveal so much of what he is attempting to do with his lessons.
For our first meeting, on March 30, I’ll teach one of the twelve Awareness Through Movement lessons from the book (I’ll let you know which one in a future post) and we’ll discuss anything from the book that interests you. I’ll be prepared to do as much “leading” as the group would like. At some point during the evening, we’ll also talk about what we’ll be reading and discussing at the next meeting of Between the Lines on June 29.
To prepare for the first meeting on March 30, please read at least Part One of Awareness Through Movement (less than seventy pages), and as much of the rest of the book as you like. If you need a copy of the book, it is available at a 20% discount through The Feldenkrais Institute from now through the end of March. You can pick one up at the front desk or call 212-727-1014 to order.
Between the Lines is sponsored by The Feldenkrais Foundation. Admission is free but donations to the foundation will be gladly accepted. For more information and to reserve a spot, contact The Feldenkrais Institute at 212-727-1014. Looking forward to seeing you on March 30.
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