Hi folks, We live in a truly hostile environment, and we want to feel safe. The air we breathe is held on by gravity, and one good near miss by a large meteor could suck it all away. The solid ground isn't solid after all (ever been through a small earthquake?), and the so-called solid bit is floating on molten rock (not friendly stuff for organisms made largely of water). We are surrounded by and full of other ... Read more
Shoulder Blade Movement And Meet My Coach
Hi folks, Every time I turn around someone is telling me to loosen up my shoulder blades, which are pretty stiff. I must admit that they were essentially 'stuck to my back.' Several years of massage, Gyrotonic, Pilates, Feldenkrais, and recently Continuum, have improved them a great deal. I now include thoughts about my shoulder blade motion into my training and dancing, to good effect. I made a short movie today, ... Read more
11 Tips On Exercise For Better Health From FitOldDog
Hi folks, With over 200 posts under my blogging belt, I thought it might be useful to my readers if I went through and pulled out pieces of key exercise advice, with links to the respective posts. Then I thought, "but I love prime numbers, remember that great book about the Reimann Hypothesis that I referred to ages ago, Prime Obsession?" So I decided to select 11 training tips, instead. Here they ... Read more
Invited Post – Habits: You Can’t Live with Them, You Can’t Live without Them
This is an invited post by my esteemed Feldenkrais instructor, Karen Dold of Move with Elan Try this. Interlace your fingers, look at your hands, and note which thumb is on the outside. Un-interlace your fingers, then interlace them again. Same thumb on the outside? This would be your habitual interlacing. Now, un-interlace your fingers, and interlace them in the opposite way, so that the other ... Read more
Feldenkrais Fixed My Knee Where Everyone Else Failed
The Magic Of The Feldenkrais Method It Opened My Mind To Body-Awareness Training To fix a body problem, you need a correct diagnosis. [ASIDE: Feldenkrais training allowed me to solve the plantar fasciitis puzzle.] I started training for triathlons about 20 years ago. I was in my early 50s. So I had to learn how to run. But I was a swimmer, not a runner. I went out there and ran. Not well! My youngest son, who ... Read more
There Are More Ways Than One To Drink A Cup Of Tea
Hi folks, One thing that I have learned from my studies of Feldenkrais over the last five years is that there are many ways to carry out any physical activity with your body, and most of these ways you'll never even know exist. We come into this world programmed to learn how to crawl, sit, stand, walk, run and complete all the many other activities needed for our prolonged survival. I suspect that we learn ... Read more
Feldenkrais Session: Getting To Know My Spine A Little Better
Hi folks, I experienced an interesting and educational Feldenkrais session today, which was initiated by my mentioning that I had a tight muscle in my back. The exercise was simple in principle but mentally challenging (for me at least, not for Karen, my instructor). Our spine consists of a bunch of bones stacked one on top of the other, with a tube down the middle in which lies our spinal cord. These bones ... Read more
Don’t Let Self-Consciousness Come Between You And Your Story
Hi folks, I used to have a great fear of public speaking, but I eliminated that problem by attending Toastmasters (in Scotland) for four years, which scared me to death, and by giving hundreds of talks over the next 20 years. The fear, and thus the self-consciousness, was in my head and it got between my audience and me. Once you realize that it isn't about you, it is about the story that you have to tell, all of ... Read more
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