Feldenkrais Method
& Alexander Technique

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Breathing 10 - Flying

So this week we’ll reach the climactic moment of our breathing explorations. We’ll extend further into the sky to feel the pressure of air .. just like this apparently rational person in a wing suit ..

Giphy

Talk about delicate adjustments!

We’ll review some of our themes from this term and focus on one of the fundamentals of moving well - keeping your head still by maintaining stillness of focus and allowing the rest of your body to adjust.

The delicate balance of your head on top of your spine and the subtle movements of the spine itself allow for the grace of our celestial dance.

Devata - Angor Wat

Of course to allow this in all directions we need to be free in our limbs too. If we’re restricted in our shoulders of hips it becomes a matter of negotiating an effortless pathway and that’s what we’ll be looking for. 

I’ve had to work harder to find it this past week. My mind has been turbulent as the deeper family dynamics reveal themselves. It’s been an opportunity for all of us to fully accept each other as we are. 

The pressure on all of us up here in Qld continues to grow as the days pass and Alex continues in peace. What does he experience as his body slips away? 

If a treasured friend arrives or speaks to him over the phone I can see his eyeballs moving even though he cannot open his eyelids or turn his head. He is clearly registering what is going on. Does he dream? Is he in some sort of transitional space between life and death? 

His breathing is shallow and quick and his face is covered with the type of perspiration one sees on sleeping babies in a climate like ours. There is no sense of struggle.

At the gateway to ancient Egyptian heaven you were met by Anubis, a god with the head of a dog, who took your heart and placed it on a scale next to a feather. If your heart was as light as the feather you were able to enter .. I do so wish him well ..

The vividness of our internal life & the dance of the way we feel & function is a remarkable thing. It’s so easy to be seduced into thinking there is an objective world that exists separately & to believe our internal judgements are statements of fact. For me, observing the shifting landscape of sense, thought & feeling make that seem less certain.

This universe is a strange and beautiful place.

This blog post relates to the tenth lesson in the breathing series. You can find that lesson by clicking here