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On Self Image

8/4/2019

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I would not describe myself as a great reader, like those people who devour books on a daily basis. I would say I am a slow, plodding, poorly educated reader that occasionally stumbles upon a "keeper".
Well I stumbled. As I was doing some research for my upcoming workshop I found an article written by Maria Popova about
Ursula K. Le Guin and was so excited I ordered the book! (I have added the link below.)

Le Guin examines what it is to be a man in "an extraordinary essay titled “Introducing Myself,” which Le Guin first wrote as a performance piece in the 1980s and later updated for the beautifully titled, beautifully written, beautifully wide-ranging 2004 collection The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination". 

It is a brilliantly political, and humorous article on the generic "he". That in language, as a reflection of our self image we are all "he" and that a "she" is an "imitation of man" and a very poor one at that. Le Guin goes onto describe her body image, but in a way that makes fun of societal perceptions.

"I admit it, I am actually a very poor imitation or substitute man, and you could see it when I tried to wear those army surplus clothes with ammunition pockets that were trendy and I looked like a hen in a pillowcase. I am shaped wrong. People are supposed to be lean. You can’t be too thin, everybody says so, especially anorexics. People are supposed to be lean and taut, because that’s how men generally are, lean and taut, or anyhow that’s how a lot of men start out and some of them even stay that way. And men are people, people are men, that has been well established, and so people, real people, the right kind of people, are lean. But I’m really lousy at being people, because I’m not lean at all but sort of podgy, with actual fat places. I am untaut."
Ursula K. Le Guin


This tongue in cheek commentary about being subpar, and not fitting what she is supposed to be, jumped out at me. At the same time I was preparing a workshop and had downloaded a Feldenkrais® Lesson about Self Image.
I chose to study this lesson for my upcoming Meditation and Feldenkrais ONLINE series.

Here is a quote from this lesson on Self Image by Moshe Feldenkrais:
"We usually act according to our ability. That means no one decides or plans what he does and knows how it should feel, what it should be. He does what he does and, at the moment, feels what he does. In other words, everyone acts according to the image of himself that he created during his life."
"What does it mean to continue to develop? To develop in a direction ... in which direction? If you give an example to someone that he needs to be like this or like that-then he forces himself to adjust to this frame and stops being himself. He must be like the other one teaches him or demands of him. This is the way that is used in the whole world; not only in exercise, but with everything. People are educated how they should be."

(As you can see the generic "he" is even being used by Moshe.) But, what he says does not contradict what we often feel about ourselves, and what the brilliant writer Le Guin complains about.

We (he/she) compare ourselves to others, to social norms, and to the detriment of our own wholeness.

Which brings me back to why I wanted to teach this workshop. Meditation, as an approach can bring us back to this wholeness, if it is done in an embodied way. I am not talking about the kind that guides you away from yourself with concepts, or thoughts, or imagery, but the kind that heightens ones sensory awareness.

There are many of Feldenkrais lessons that bring a person back to this sense of wholeness, and even though they are not called meditation, they are deeply meditative.

These lessons bring a person to a quiet place of sensing, focusing inward and resulting in an expansive experience, without expectation from others, without comparison to others, but to be fully and completely ourselves.

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Bad Habits, not bad brain

10/23/2016

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If anyone was convinced about our ability to change our brain,

it was John Pepper. In fact he was relentless in spreading the word. The Niagara Region was lucky to have him teach two seminars in October. An 82 year old man with Parkinson's Disease and I could barely keep up with him. I thought, if I could practice that sense of mental tenacity, urgency, and conviction... well watch out world. John's book Reverse Parkinson's Disease can be found on his website. He will be one of the topics in a TV series on the Nature of Things. Starting on the October 27th, The Brain's Way of Healing will be featured. I've already got my PVR set to record!

It was REFRESHING to read about Dr. Karen Pape in The St.Catharines Standard (Sept. 26, 2016). The Neuroscientist at Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto worked with children with Cerebral Palsy. She felt that bad habits, not a bad brain afflict many patients, and that good habits can replace them. YES!
Music to my ears. Her book The Boy Who Could Run, But Not Walk can be found on Amazon.
I wondered if she knew about The Feldenkrais Method so I contacted Dr. Pape to ask. It turns out she knows about the Method and she has been a big fan since the 80s.

Many Feldenkrais Practitioners work with children with developmental disorders. Here is a video of Anat Baniel teaching parents how to pick their child up to encourage GOOD habits. Enjoy!



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Brain changing solutions for pain and immobility

9/10/2013

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A great example of neuroplasticity (the ability for the brain to rewire,change, or grow new connections) is demonstrated in the effects of the mirror box on people suffering from pain and or immobility. This is a beautifully simple technique created and developed by neuroscientist 
Dr. Ramachandran for patients suffering from "phantom limb pain". He is a Distinguished Professor with the Psychology Department and Neurosciences Program at the University of California, and Adjunct Professor of Biology at the Salk Institute and an author of many books including "Phantoms In the Brain". In other words, he is a very smart man!

Mirror Box Therapy has also been known to help relieve chronic pain conditions, arthritic pain, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), and paralysis.
Here is David Butler, physiotherapist, clinician and author demonstating how to use the mirror box. This is a thorough, well demonstrated video that is a must see for people suffering from the above mentioned conditions!

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Stop Acting Your Age!

4/18/2013

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PictureMoshe Feldenkrais doing a roll.
Besides the usual advice on staying young such as eating healthy and keeping active, one of the biggest reasons people start feeling their "age" is due to limited mobility. Having trouble reaching for things from the floor, getting up off the floor or a chair, pain from prolonged activities such as walking or standing, and sense of imbalance and a hyper-alertness to potential falls are all things that make people feel old. A gradual loss of independence is a slippery slope when nothing is done to slow the aging process.
Finding ways to maintain your agility is highlighted in Frank Wildman's book "Change Your Age". Solidly grounded in the Feldenkrais Method  of movement education, short, sensible lessons are provided to help people feel and move younger.


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How did Einstein think?

3/5/2013

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A recent article in Scientific American peaked my interest in Albert Einstein. A particular reference to How he conceived of ideas fascinated me. The article points out an area in Einstein's motor cortex (an area that governs movement) in the left hemisphere that is unusually large. The lead researcher Dr. Dean Falk from Florida State University has found the motor face area in Einstein's brain is the largest he has ever seen.
As a Feldenkrais Practitioner, understanding the relationship of the sensory/motor system and learning is an exciting process. I went searching for references to what Einstein said about how ideas came to him. His attempt to describe how he thought is found here. You can imagine how difficult it is to describe in words the process of discovery. Many are familiar with his quote "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination". Perhaps he was saying that he needed to feel the ideas in his body and this imagination had a visual and "muscular" aspect. The motor/sensory must come first. The words will come later.
This makes a lot of sense when considering how we grow and develop from infancy. As babies we take in the world through our eyes, ears, mouth, and body. The sensing comes first, and language comes later. 



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    Fariya Doctor

    This author has a persistent obsession to help people feel Empowered, Mobile, Youthful, and Healthy.

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