My Feldenkrais Book [2nd edition] - How to do somatic exercises, develop mindfulness, improve motor skills and feel your best: A companion for Feldenkrais® group classes by Alfons Grabher

Author:Alfons Grabher [Grabher, Alfons]
Language: deu
Format: epub
Published: 2015-12-06T21:00:00+00:00

Rolling the head

This is a short part of a longer lesson. I include this „snippet” to illustrate the learning process of how to reduce muscular effort, find pathways, and vary movement initiation; it’s always nice to study by using a real life example. In addition to this, it’s another great little exercise for reducing tension in the neck.

The lesson starts in supine position, lying on the back. To guide students into this lesson, it might be helpful to give a few cues: „feel the floor behind your head. It’s just there. Reliably so. Your head is resting on it. Your head is supported by it. No need to hold your head. No need to hold your shoulders. They are carried by the floor. Feel the weight of your head weighing on the pillow. Let go, let your head and shoulders rest.”

Then we’re all set to engage into the business of rolling the head, just like in the picture story. There’s a couple of challenges in this short lesson: being able to do it slowly, and being able to alternate between using the arm to roll the head, and using the neck muscles to roll the head. And to be able to sense minimal differences. Being able to move delicately and to sense minimal differences go hand in hand.

Every person will experience this kind of rolling slightly differently. For example, there will be differences in trajectory (is the head rolling more in a curve or more in a straight line?), in the smoothness of movement (is it a bit jerky, with stops in between?), in how much the shoulder girdle and chest are participating, in the movements of the eyes, and how much the eyes support or impede rolling… and a lot more.

There’s a reason for all those differences: it’s a complicated matter! Let’s review what the neck is comprised of: there’s not only 7 vertebrae (plus 12 in the chest) but also about 29 groups of muscles in the neck, some of them spanning as little as two vertebrae at a time. All these muscles need to be coordinated and directed and inhibited by the nervous system. And there’s ribs and a sternum and clavicles and many ligaments and tendons, and reflexes, and habits and a human being, with a life and movement habits, experience and a personal history.

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