April/May Awareness Through Movement® Group Classes
(no class week of May 28)
Tuesday, 11:30am, April 3 - May 22
How to Use Your Feet and Ankles
The two feet house 25% of all the bones in the human body. We often take them for granted, but we use them in every activity whether it's competitive cycling or strolling through the farmer's market. Many people in our culture live with the feet stuck in plate-like position to some degree. When this happens, the rest of the body has to compensate for a lack of variability in the feet. This is a great cause of knee problems.
Just think: the knees were not meant to accommodate the huge variety of angles, directions, and planes that the feet are capable of. So when the feet cease to move and respond to the earth, more movement is demanded of the knees, and then of the hips, and then of the pelvis, and so on. We begin to make all kinds of funny adjustments in our torso to make up for intractable feet.
In this series of lessons we will take the pressure off the knees and hips by improving movement in the feet and ankles. This can help you sit more comfortably, hike, bike, and do yoga better, as well as conserve energy in the torso for when you really need it.
Tuesday, 5:30pm, April 3 - May 22
The Self We Present to the World: Explorations of the Jaw, Eyes, and Face
Most of the time, our movements,
thoughts, and behaviors are all running on old learning, old
assumptions, and old beliefs. What if you stopped for one moment to challenge the habitual presentation you make to the world?
Habitual ways of relating are usually developed in childhood and often they are created to protect us from unpleasant feelings. Now, years later, they can limit us in all kinds of ways. And, they emerge as patterns of tension in our face, jaw, and eyes. Because your private self meets the public world through the eyes, jaw and face, it is worth spending a few hours giving this area some attention, compassion, and reorientation. You can feel new possibilities open up as old (or young) tensions fall away.
Thursday, 11:30am, April 5 - May 24
More Poise, Less Stress: Meditative Movement for Stress Reduction
The common association of good posture with
poise--mental and physical tranquility--is an excellent
criterion--neither excessive muscular tension nor emotional intensity is
compatible with good posture. -Moshe Feldenkrais
It is a truism to say that what we pay attention to is what we learn.
Without attention, we become creatures of habit and stop learning. In this series, you will learn to use mindful awareness to become more comfortable in your body and more effective in your life.
Movements will be slower and attention will be more deliberate. The learning will be more carefully examined. The aspect of poise will be considered as we move through both simple and complex movements. Poise for me means adaptability: adjusting to the changing environment without excessive tension or unnecessary emotional intensity. Specifically, how can we adapt to our changing circumstances without losing access to our natural inner resources?
Reminder: No class the week of May 28.
"Once you believe you have
discovered the correct way to do something your learning is finished.
You will not seek further improvement. Ignorance is the prerequisite
to learning, and the more comfortable we are revealing our ignorance
to ourselves, the more we will learn."
-Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais
