Feldenkrais & Unergi Core Support Movements

Hello Unergi Friends!

This is going to be a long one... When I do Feldenkrais lessons or Unergi Core Support sequences I write about them as part of my learning and training. As much as I'm still a newbie to this, maybe some of you will find this helpful (or at least interesting) if you are also new to this kind of glorious work!

March 3, 2010
Unergi Core Support Movement: Elbow Meets Knee
As soon as I lay down on the floor, I started visualizing the muscles in my back lengthening and the curving movement of my neck and head forward as lily petals blooming. I sensed the space beyond my head and elbows and I didn’t experience pain in my arms even once during the sequence. It was a completely easeful experience. One thing I’ve continually noticed is that when I lie down my shoulders tend to place closer to my ears than I would like. I know that is a sign of tension, yet at the same time, it takes effort to get my shoulders to go anywhere else and that isn’t the kind of work this is. Perhaps this also has something to do with the fact that my shoulders have been on high alert for so long – maybe it will just take a longer time until they remember where they belong.

March 6, 2010
Unergi Core Support Movement: Elbow Meets Knee
It has been an excessively emotional and physically stressful few days and I could tell that it has affected me. I decided to do a little experiment and do the same Core Support sequence that I did with such ease just a couple days ago. I started visualizing the same way I did the other day. My mind wanted to wander instead of staying focused on what I was encouraging it to do. My body wasn’t as responsive as it was the other day. I felt heavier. My legs were tensed for no reason and my shoulder blades told me they weren’t ready to release. I realized that today wasn’t a day to practice movement. Today was a day to lie down and listen and visualize when my mind let me visualize. I wasn’t going to beat myself up for my mind wandering.

March 9, 2010
Unergi Core Support Movement: Pelvic Dial
My body chose this movement today. It wasn’t a process of deciding which I wanted to do; my body definitively told me that this is what I needed to do. My movements were very fluid from the beginning and that is something very different. I noticed that my breath was easy and full. I stopped occasionally to roll my head side to side. Maybe that reminded my shoulders that they didn’t need to prepare for anything. When my shoulders are soft, movements throughout the rest of my body are easier.

March 12, 2010
Feldenkrais: Rolling Like a Baby
I’ve fallen in love! I just finished this sequence and it is 10pm. I could either fall asleep or start my day right now because my body feels great, my mind is clear, and I just had so much fun! My shoulders love me and I love them. I know I’ve said something like this before - I have some lingering pain in my shoulder blades but it is the kind of pain that happens because I just had a huge release of tension. I am okay with that! I was very aware of my body throughout this sequence and was able to soften and ease muscles that didn’t need to be used. Toward the end my body started to get confused when it was time to roll from one side to the other without pauses in between. I attempted to do it right away and that caused me to tense. Instead I stopped, listened, and watched myself do it, even so much as to visualize the muscles in my body that I would need to use. Then I was able to do it very slowly. When I stood up at the end I felt ten times lighter and my back and shoulders were so relaxed that I almost wanted to cry. I haven’t felt this calm in years. In my opinion, everyone should roll like a baby.

March 13, 2010
Feldenkrais: Easier Sitting
I felt a major difference between the beginning and end of this sequence. At the beginning I could only feel the movement of my pelvis in my lower back and by the end I felt it all the way up through my neck. Interestingly, I started feeling it more when I was told to fix my eyes on an object in the room instead of allowing my head to move freely. I noticed that I tend to contract the muscles in my abdomen and stop breathing when I tilt my pelvis backward (?) to round my back. By the end of the sequence I was beginning to release that habit. At one point the instructions were to round the back but look up with the head (described as a non-habitual way to sit) and I thought to myself, wow, this is how I sit a lot of the time. It almost reminded me of the “Red Light Reflex” or Withdrawal Response in “Somatics”. Anyway…There were times that I wasn’t sure if I was doing the movement correctly – and even with that in mind, the changes are still fantastic. I stood up to walk after and, as always, I feel like I’m walking more like a woman! I must have some serious habitual hip/pelvis muscle issues. Whenever I do sequences involving work with my pelvis I walk around at the end and my legs and hips feel so free.

March 16, 2010
Unergi Core Support Movement: Shoulder & Hip Circles
This was particularly challenging for me today. Even with the smallest movements I still felt jerkiness in my body. Visualizing that I was painting a circle with my shoulder blade allowed more freedom in my upper back, though I could tell I was still holding on to something and my body told me it wasn’t okay to let go of it right now. When it came to my hips I became frustrated and realized that I would need to listen instead of do. I just couldn’t find my hips today.

March 20, 2010
Unergi Core Support Movement: Pelvic Dial
I am in the hotel room in Michigan. There was a visitation at the church where I had my first encounters with lots and lots of family. I was finally able to let go of some anxiety once I got there. This evening was the first time I could eat in a few days without having major stomach problems. I came back to the hotel and decided that continuing with the positivity of the evening by putting myself on the floor and doing some core support movements would be the best way to take care of me. I didn’t have a lot of space or privacy so I had to modify what I usually do. I put my Music for Healing music on my iPod and lay still on the floor for several minutes visualizing the sequence first. As I did this I could feel a shift in the quality of my presence in my body. I cannot think of any other way to say that. At one point I even moved a little bit on the ground to change how I felt contact with the floor. Eventually I physically did the movement, although I didn’t do the movement as many times as the CD usually leads me through.

March 25, 2010
Feldenkrais: Flexible Bending
Lots of body confusion during this sequence. I understood everything being said but my coordination wasn’t all there. My body wasn’t listening to me today. My shoulders wanted to hold on to tension for dear life and my jaw was clenched the majority of the time. I visualized the movements when I was unable to release my shoulders and it impeded my ability to move without pain. All that said, it amazes me to say that I still noticed a significant change from the beginning to the end of the lesson in my comfortable range in bending from side to side. I am starting to realize that the pelvis really is the foundation for most movements in the body. Perhaps that’s why everything comes with so much more ease when the instructions “press your left (or right) foot into the floor and make the same movement” are added. It’s glorious!

March 27, 2010
Unergi Weekend Feldenkrais Sequence (Saturday)
I am writing this on Monday. I’ve already written my response for March 28th and the only thing I can think to write for this response is that I can’t remember most of it because I was so disturbed about falling asleep before we started. I remember making a rectangle with my arms and moving my arms from side to side. I recall that being a very pleasurable feeling in my shoulder blades, almost as if I was lubricating my shoulder blades.

March 28, 2010
Unergi Weekend Feldenkrais Sequence (Sunday)
One thing that really confused my body was pressing my hip into the floor. I wasn’t able to relay that message through my body. Going down the diagonal, I was able to press my shoulder, mid-back, and foot with no problem – the hip just wasn’t happening for me on its own. If anything, it caused me to tense my entire leg and butt. I really enjoyed the rolling movement that comes from pressing my foot into the floor to lift my hip and allowing my whole spine and neck to follow accordingly. I think that is starting to be one of my favorite things about Feldenkrais and Unergi Core Support Movements. Very freeing. When turning my palms and letting my neck turn, that became very fluid. The sensation when making a fist was different; there was a hint of tension and rigidity to the movement and I switched back to open palms.

March 29, 2010
Unergi Core Support Movement: Pelvic Dial
Today I had another experience of what I would call my body choosing the sequence. My body asked to do the Pelvic Dial. I took extra time to repeat the movements at 12 & 6 and 3 & 9. As much as I’ve practiced this sequence, my body is still confused about 3 & 9 much of the time. My hips (or something) often crack the first few times I move in those directions. I realized about halfway through this time that I may have had some sort of unrealized expectation about how large of a circle I should create with my hips. I purposely made much smaller movements to see how it felt. I noticed my breathing become automatically easier and muscles that I never noticed that I was holding release. Becoming truly aware is quite a process.