Brain training
Remember the quote about how everything you need to know you learned in kindergarten? It turns out to apply to movement and posture too.
Watch a child move sometime. They really use their whole body, integrating their arms and legs with their torso to move in holistic ways. Now look at an adult. Stiff, awkward, and self-limited. We train ourselves to hold back, to isolate parts of our bodies. This comes about from all kinds of things in our history-- sedentary lifestyle, injury, fear, etc.
Enter the Feldenkrais Method. It is a way to retrain your neuromuscular system to "remember" how to move holistically. One of the programs is actually called "As Flexible as a Child." Don't laugh-- these things are possible.
Moshe Feldenkrais was a physicist, and also a black belt in judo. He sustained a severe knee injury and used the opportunity to develop a new way of seeing the body from the inside out. His "Awareness Through Movement" training is a way to develop neural pathways that connect the body together into a coherent whole. One reason our bodies get stiff and sore is that we have learned poor neuromuscular habits. We are smart creatures-- we can relearn better habits.
I am currently going through some Feldenkrais tapes at home. After each 30-45-minute lesson, I can feel an improvement in how I move or sit. It's amazing. It does require some focus: I really have to concentrate on doing the movements along with the tape, but if I do that, I can feel the difference immediately. I really did have a lot of poor habits that were contributing to body pain.
These are not exercises. It has nothing to do with stretching or achieving or "working out." Feldenkrais movements are done slowly and in a barely perceptible way-- someone across the room might not even be able to tell you are moving. But you are creating the neural pathways for that movement in your brain. Apparently studies have shown that even if people only imagine the movements without actually doing them (say, if they are fresh out of surgery), the pathways are strengthened. This can greatly ease recovery from injury or surgery.
Deep relaxation is so difficult in this rush-rush modern world. But it brings a wealth of psychological and physical benefits. If your neck is stiff while reading this post, or if you look longingly at your 4-year-old doing sommersaults and think you can't do that anymore, open your mind to Feldenkrais.
Watch a child move sometime. They really use their whole body, integrating their arms and legs with their torso to move in holistic ways. Now look at an adult. Stiff, awkward, and self-limited. We train ourselves to hold back, to isolate parts of our bodies. This comes about from all kinds of things in our history-- sedentary lifestyle, injury, fear, etc.
Enter the Feldenkrais Method. It is a way to retrain your neuromuscular system to "remember" how to move holistically. One of the programs is actually called "As Flexible as a Child." Don't laugh-- these things are possible.
Moshe Feldenkrais was a physicist, and also a black belt in judo. He sustained a severe knee injury and used the opportunity to develop a new way of seeing the body from the inside out. His "Awareness Through Movement" training is a way to develop neural pathways that connect the body together into a coherent whole. One reason our bodies get stiff and sore is that we have learned poor neuromuscular habits. We are smart creatures-- we can relearn better habits.
I am currently going through some Feldenkrais tapes at home. After each 30-45-minute lesson, I can feel an improvement in how I move or sit. It's amazing. It does require some focus: I really have to concentrate on doing the movements along with the tape, but if I do that, I can feel the difference immediately. I really did have a lot of poor habits that were contributing to body pain.
These are not exercises. It has nothing to do with stretching or achieving or "working out." Feldenkrais movements are done slowly and in a barely perceptible way-- someone across the room might not even be able to tell you are moving. But you are creating the neural pathways for that movement in your brain. Apparently studies have shown that even if people only imagine the movements without actually doing them (say, if they are fresh out of surgery), the pathways are strengthened. This can greatly ease recovery from injury or surgery.
Deep relaxation is so difficult in this rush-rush modern world. But it brings a wealth of psychological and physical benefits. If your neck is stiff while reading this post, or if you look longingly at your 4-year-old doing sommersaults and think you can't do that anymore, open your mind to Feldenkrais.
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