Neuroplasticity: Feldenkrais X-Files
One-hour class with audio recording and discussion
Balance & Vision, Tuesdays at 11 east coast time, starts September 8th
In October, come for Calm.
This class is for inviting flexibility in spatial, societal, logical, illogical, aesthetic and creative endeavors. It is a mind-cluck, often a pleasure and sometimes a flow of epiphanies, insights and delights.
In Body Wisdom, movement is used as a way to invite awareness. Carie will often ask you a question with a meta-question—not just ‘do you feel how your ribs expand?’ but ‘how do you feel how your ribs expand?’ Your consciousness of your awareness flirts with the brain’s habitual approaches. And when you think differently about how you think, a mental (and emotional) analog to flexible muscles can be the result.
These lessons are all about slow, gentle, meditative movement—just as most of the other series are—but in this one, Carie will emphasize what she calls ‘brain flips.’ Instead of thinking about your self-image from the skin in, can you construct an image of your movements as though from space outside of yourself to your skin? Instead of using visual imagery, can you map yourself as though with a tuning fork, through vibration—can you reconcile vibration with your other body senses? Can you shed the use of visual muscles when engaging in non-visual cognitive tasks—and how does that feel? Can you construct a ‘moodscape’--noticing not just how movement changes your sense of your fleshy self but also your sense of your emotional body? Do some of your inner senses have trouble reconciling their data—often a source of conflict when balance goes by the wayside? Can your awareness influence that reconciliation?
Sound overwhelming? As play, it doesn’t have to be ambitious. In fact, letting yourself be the classic, gorgeous, untrammeled fool might be the secret to finding wellness. And, perhaps more importantly… maybe it is the secret to doing ‘unwell’ well. Sometimes not everything works, but we can learn to work with it, whatever ‘it’ is, better. Maybe that’s the definition of ‘calm.’
As with all the series, you are the real teacher. You choose what you want to keep and what you want to slough off. And—you know—have fun.
Coming in September: Balance and Vision
Vision is a prime component of balance, it is true. Balance requires you to know where you are in relation to gravity. If you can identify the horizon, then your system knows that gravity is perpendicular to that line. Add in a little information from your inner ear and you know almost everything you need to know about where you are… you have your GPS coordinates.
And there’s so much more. First and foremost, have your inner ears and eyes been to couples’ therapy recently? Sometimes they get out of whack with each other and that doesn’t just throw off your balance, it is very, very, very tiring for your brain (and other body parts) to have to mediate the quarreling. “We’re tipping!” “No we’re not!” “Your mother wears army boots.” “She has to because you keep telling her we’re tipping when we’re not!” Whether you are a kayaker wanting to roll or a shopper wanting to navigate the parking lot, or just a person not wanting to have to work so hard to get peace in your brain, a reset is fun and oh, so beneficial.
The other important point is how many, many other senses we have for balance–from vibration through our feet to the feeling inside us, in our muscles, when we engage with gravity (proprioception). Join us and help coordinate the eyes, the inner ear, and your entire muscular and fascial system in helping you know where you are and how to stay safely and soundly upright—or to roll around if that’s what you want!
With balance, it is of course great to have balance. But it is the confidence about your balance that really carries the day, the love and enjoyment and trust of it.
Note: There’s quite a cross-over between neuroplasticity and aging—especially with balance. Check out the information in the ‘aging well’ section: growing your repertoire as you age.