Amazon KDP self publishing (former Createspace) provides 16 standard paperback trim sizes. Here is a visualisation of how they would look like next to each other (in case anyone is interested, since I couldn’t find this online and thus made this visual myself.)
When it comes to coffee, there might be two main reasons to drink it:
Maybe something similar could be said about exercise.
However, when it comes to rehab and physical therapy modalities, most people might do it mainly for reason #2, to experience the effects: to get relief from pain, or physical restrictions, or gain a better functioning body. With little regard towards how the therapy itself feels like, or enjoying the process. And maybe for good reason, for I myself, too, have experienced some therapies as not necessarily pleasant, rushed, and less effective than I’d hoped for; while resenting the monetary costs.
How do Feldenkrais-inspired lessons, and these kind of movement sequences, match up with that thought?
It seems that over the past few decades, Feldenkrais has been boxed into a therapeutic corner. As a result, potential clients may ask:
How much does it cost and what can I expect from my investment?
When instead they could ask:
And regarding main reason #2, the benefits: Oh, it can do that? I didn’t know it can do that! Let me try!
Happy September 11 everyone 😅 23 yeas ago, in fall 2001, I was on a Vision quest (reconnecting with nature, an ancient ritual, water fasting, no drugs) in the vast open desert space of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Utah, US. Three days and three nights of solitude, of becoming one with the earth and the stars. When I returned back to civilisation both me and civilisation itself have been changed forever.
Now on to today’s blog post: in a Youtube comment @Didi-m9b asked: “I wish I could understand what it means to push your spine to the left …”
I have answered this question immediately after I’ve seen it. And just now I wanted to post it here on my blog… only that upon re-reading my answer, suddenly, I have second thoughts.
I wrote that in Feldenkrais-inspired movement lessons we often think in terms of the skeleton. But do we really?
Maybe we need to consider this:
In the human body, mechanical forces do not travel solely through the bones. While bones provide structural support, force is distributed across a network of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and other connective tissues. These tissues work together to absorb and transfer force efficiently. If we push a heavy object, the load is shared across our entire system, preventing our bones from bearing the full brunt of the force. Muscles play a crucial role in terms of stabilisation and control, thus protecting both bones and joints from damage.
So it’s a mix. Bones and flesh and the nervous system. In ancient times some folks have thought that the human body is entirely made of clay (which bleeds when you poke at it), and at other times some folks thought us to be entirely made of meat. But nowadays our thinking is greatly refined. What do we think of when we think of movement? For example:
In the Youtube video where that question came from, “I wish I could understand what it means to push your spine to the left …” I mean the entire video is about this one motion and how we think about ourselves, and movement…
How can I explain that more clearly? Or, maybe, could it be that, for a wider audience, watching merely one video with DIY instructions might not suffice for establishing a new understanding of ourselves and how we think of movement?
What could be possibly achieved in a short Youtube comment to answer a question that could not be answered in half an hour long video with plenty of speech and demonstrations? I think I will delete my comment on Youtube, leave the question by @Didi-m9b (whom I don’t seem to know) unanswered, and continue to focus more on my patrons, long term subscribers and supporters.
For my second and last video of this month (August 2024) I want to review the topic of rolling on the floor. I’ve done quite a few videos on that already, but since rolling is a major milestone in infant development, I want to pack a few more things into a single video.
My thinking is this: as grown-ups we should check from time to time if we still got what it takes, or have all our tricks and techniques and abilities together, up to speed, concerning rolling. Did we lose anything? And more than that: did we improve since we were toddlers?
This is a big topic and could just as well be a business model on its own, or at least a course, or a series of classes. So maybe that’s something to think about for my and our all future. Now, here’s what I wrote down for planing today’s video:
Let’s assume that babies don’t move in ways that are excessively difficult or hurt them.
As adults we can control:
Mistakes in rolling:
Rolling techniques:
Connecting techniques:
And, of course: babies are growing and trying to find out whatever skills and abilities they have just unlocked and how to use them. We as grown-ups however, especially if we have lived through half a dozen of decades or longer, have things that stopped working for us, for example we suffer from stiff toes, torn ligaments, fused bones or spinal segments, arthritis, obesity, etc. And contrary to babies, we have to find out how to work with an increasing number of limitations.
Ok, I hope I can hold all that together without teleprompter or script, since I film all of my videos speaking freely. Wish me luck, and see you there :)
So—I’m trying to put some words in line for a Youtube Shorts video:
“When you bring your legs together, so that they eventually touch at the knees and heels and big toes, your adductor muscles are shortening as they generate force to move your legs inward. This is called a concentric contraction.”
Youtube Shorts. The less words the better. I will show myself resting in a supine position, on my back, with my legs extended and spread. Since I’m visible in this position, I will not mention the starting position.
Still, my paragraph sounds like a bit too much to swallow, considering that there are 4 more such paragraphs. I try to cut it down:
“When you move your legs toward each other until they eventually touch, this muscular action is called a concentric contraction.”
I used my own brain and expertise for what I want to say, what I deem important and want to keep, what I find aesthetically pleasing, and what needs to go. I merely used ChatGPT to help me with the grammar and orthography, for which it works absolutely great. It’s a bit like using a Zeiss zoom lens as a paperweight.
1 hour later. I finished the remaining text, now it’s 6 paragraphs altogether. Really looking forward to film this later today.
I was maybe six years old when I discovered the red-hot glowing cigarette lighter in my dad’s sedan. Come to think of it, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, here in Austria, most cars had cigarette lighters built in, right next to the in-car radio in the center console—to make it more convenient to light a cigarette while driving. Which sounds absolutely nuts from a 2024 perspective.
So, I found out about this device on a family trip to Italy or somewhere, and I discovered it before my younger brother did. Then I did something that I still can’t quite make sense of, even today: I abused my younger brother’s total trust in me by talking him into touching the red-hot glowing tip of the cigarette lighter with his pointer finger, reassuring him that it would not hurt.
As expected, I had a split second of feeling victorious, then a short, good laugh, and then the realization that I had wronged him, followed by deep regret. Thinking back, maybe there’s a standard sequence of feelings to this kind of action, much like the Kübler-Ross model, also known as the five stages of grief: first denial, then anger, bargaining, depression, and finally—if ever—acceptance.
I still deeply regret tricking my brother into touching that cigarette lighter. For two reasons:
1. This lesson—that we will be disappointed or betrayed by people we love and trust—is one we will have to learn several times throughout our lives. But it saddens me that my younger brother had his first encounter with this bitter lesson at such a young age, and from me, his trusted older brother, of all people.
2. From that point onwards, I felt that the trust between him and me was never the same. Because of this one, stupid thing. So that was a big loss I had to deal with myself. Maybe that’s another one of life’s non-negotiable, hard lessons.
I wonder, why did I do that? Do we all do such things? Are all people like this? Or just a few? Is it built into our child-rearing? Was it in my upbringing?
Thinking of it, I recall that my dad did similar things to me. For example, around that time, when I was maybe 6 or 8 years old, he took me along to play football with his friends. Afterwards, they were standing around the trunk of his car, which had a duffle bag containing two bottles of water in it. In front of his friends, my dad pulled one bottle out, opened it, and offered it to me to drink. I remember that the adults around me started to chuckle and giggle, which I didn’t comprehend why. But I was thirsty after all that football playing, so I had a good swig. It wasn’t water. It burned in my mouth; I had to spit it out and cough. Much later I learned that it was schnapps, a clear, high-alcohol liquor. They all had a good laugh, and my dad, quite contently, took the bottle from my hands and put it back into the trunk. I don’t think he had the same feelings of regret that I had towards my younger brother in the cigarette lighter incident.
Why do we do that? Is this a learned behavior we pass on from generation to generation? Is it because we got hurt as children but had no way of getting even, and therefore do these kinds of compensatory, stupid things to everyone within our reach? Unknowingly, unconsciously, like robots acting out programs? Again and again, without ever getting even?
Well, I do hope I broke that cycle, at least within my psyche, my body, my life. From that cigarette lighter incident onwards, I ran into the same “program” a couple more times, but I feel it had less and less control over me as such things happened less and less severely, and less and less often.
The last “big” incident that I noticed was again with my younger brother, some 15 years ago or so. He suffered from knee pain, and as (bad) luck would have it, I saw a fitness trainer on YouTube demonstrate a knee exercise that he claimed would fix any knee pain. You know how well they come across, these super-fit-looking, young fitness trainers on YouTube with their big smiles, groomed eyebrows, perfect teeth, perfect hair, authoritative voices and positive attitudes—I trusted that guy for no real reason. At that time, I was already a Feldenkrais teacher, but I did not have sufficient experience and knowledge in the field of functional fitness training. So, I went straight to recommending this exercise to my brother, and promptly his knees hurt even more than before, and lastingly so. Ouch.
On the upside, I think those unpleasant experiences made me a better teacher. Nowadays, I’m extra, extra careful when making suggestions or showing exercises myself. Usually, I only film and share lessons that are tried and tested, that I’ve already done sufficiently often myself and with clients, that I understand well, and I am sure they do good and have little in them that could cause harm.
In my work, including my Youtube channel, you will not see excessively big claims, marketing talk, power talk, or attempts to pep you into doing something you might regret later. And this, again, is for the same two reasons I’ve learned with my younger brother:
1. It’s for your won good, my priority is to keep you safe and provide conditions for moving and learning that I believe, and hope, will make you feel better. When clients come to see me they trust me. At no point do I want to comprise that trust.
2. It’s for my own good, I do depend on your well-being and getting better, and in turn I do depend on your support. At no point do I want to comprise that relationship.
In this sense, I wish you a great day and happy moving and rolling about to my movement instructions! :)
I write something, then I paste it into ChatGPT to touch up the grammar and sentence structure. Then I rewrite it again, and again. Then I find all that boring, too technical, too bland and too uninspiring. I start the whole thing from scratch, again, from a personal perspective. Then I have that cleaned up again, which in turn I need to clean up again. Finally we end up with something worthwhile.
A first writing
A teaching practice inspired by Moshé Feldenkrais and the Feldenkrais Method is grounded in principles of neuroplasticity and biomechanics, as well as knowledge of anatomy, psychology, kinesiology, functional movement science, and related fields. It relies on observable and measurable changes in movement and posture, using the practitioner’s expertise to guide interventions.
In Feldenkrais and related methods, practitioners observe movements and physical restrictions to form hypotheses about potential issues, shortcomings, and areas for improvement. These hypotheses are tested through gentle, well-sequenced movements, along with tactile and verbal cues and questions, to assess improvement in function and comfort.
The process involves continuous feedback from the client. Practitioners inquire about sensations, feelings, and understanding through tactile and verbal communication, ensuring a responsive and adaptive approach to enhance movement and well-being.
What are the principles?
Principles for designing Feldenkrais-inspired movement strategies and sequences might include, but are not limited to
All that but shorter
A teaching practice inspired by Moshé Feldenkrais and the Feldenkrais Method leverages principles of neuroplasticity and biomechanics to improve movement and posture. This method is rooted in an understanding of anatomy, psychology, kinesiology, pedagogy, and functional movement science. Practitioners observe movements to form hypotheses that are tested—as well as improved—through gentle, well-sequenced movements.
These interventions use tactile and verbal cues, and continuous client feedback. Key principles include reciprocal inhibition, movement differentiation, and the improvement of everyday movements.
Shorter
A Feldenkrais-inspired teaching practice uses gentle, guided movements to improve your posture, coordination, and everyday activities. Practitioners observe your movements, provide personalized feedback, and help you overcome physical restrictions for better overall well-being.
Shorter!
Feldenkrais-inspired teaching uses gentle movement and personalised feedback to improve how we hold, perceive and guide ourselves in everyday activities.
In 2 tags
Ok, Figure It Out, how do I experience Feldenkrais classes?
It’s either about movement, or about sensing something. It’s not strenuous, and usually clever, surprising, intelligent, gentle. It can be boring, but it can also be super interesting. I like the kind of lesson that helps me discover something interesting about myself, something that I didn’t know yet, or something that I’ve forgotten, and which is engaging and feels good to explore, and afterwards provides a feeling of more freedom, range of movement, or smoothness. Lighter, more upright, inspired.
A refined version
Feldenkrais-inspired lessons focus on movement and sensory awareness. They are gentle and resourceful, often surprising and not strenuous. While some may find them boring, they can also be deeply engaging and facilitate discoveries about oneself and one’s abilities. These lessons feel good to explore and typically result in a perceived increase in range of motion, ease of movement, a more upright posture, and a sense of lightness and inspiration.
