As you might know, I like to have a close look at the language used for instructing and describing movement. For example, the beginning of “AY1 Bending the head to the side when sitting” by Moshé Feldenkrais. I don’t have access to the original in Hebrew, but the English translation starts like this:

Please sit up.

Now that’s pretty ambiguous. But I assume that teacher Moshé Feldenkrais was teaching in an unfurnished room, like a Yoga room, where people were sitting or lying on the floor, or on their blankets and mats, and were waiting for the lesson to start. Maybe the following would be more specific:

➨ Please sit on the floor.

The lesson then starts like this:

Bend your left leg backward and bend your right leg closer to yourself.

Now, if you look at my picture (at the end of this post) or if you have studied enough of Moshé Feldenkrais’s lessons you know what this means. However, if this is your first lesson, it might not be that evident. This is the beginning of the theme of the lesson, and part of an instruction to get students to assume a certain body position. This position will then be used as the starting position for a movement exploration.

For a beginner, especially if there’s no picture or other students to copy from, the given instruction is quite ambiguous. We can’t know for sure where Moshé Feldenkrais is going with this, yet. We will need to listen for more. Does he mean to bend the left leg backward like in a pigeon pose, with the left leg fully extended backward? Or does he mean to bend the left leg and left knee, like in a side-sitting pose?

Therefore, I tried to rewrite the instruction to be more specific:

➨ Bend your left knee and place it on the floor to the left, with your left foot to the left and behind you. Bring your right foot close in front of your pelvis with your right heel close to your left hip joint and your right knee resting on the floor out to the right.

Now that sounds sufficiently specific to me. However, it’s quite long. Is that really necessary? How could I shorten it again? Isn’t there a name for this pose in English? Fortunately there is, it’s called side-sitting. I re-phrase:

➨ Sit in side-sitting with your left leg to the left, and your right foot in front of your pelvis.

This sounds better. I feel my re-writing is accomplished from a writer’s perspective, but I don’t feel happy from a teacher’s perspective. Calling it “side-sitting” might take away from the openness, and might put students on railroad tracks (of pre-conceived images and already deep grooved movement habits), rather than invite them to venture into the wide open; and thus calling it “side-sitting” might compromise the entire lesson.

So you see, this whole business of writing and choosing words and putting them in their right place seems to be all fragile, convoluted and difficult. Contrariwise, in a live class, in speaking to students who readily listen, move, learn, make mistakes and improvements… when teachers and students can see each other the speaking seems to be easy and light, swift, and direct.

Yet, in sum total the scrutinising look in writing seems to be beneficial. Moshé Feldenkrais himself started out in writing, as evidenced by his early books on Judo and self-defense, which he wrote early in his career. He formed his own language model, his base, in writing—before he started to teach regular classes in speaking. I think this in itself is a remarkable—and significant—discovery. And even though discussing movement instructions in writing seems to be a bit tedious, it indeed is making the speaking so much better.

Psycholinguist Frank Smith wrote in Understanding Reading (2004):

• The statements the man ate the fish and the fish ate the man comprise exactly the same words, yet they have quite different meanings.
• A Maltese cross is not the same as a cross Maltese,
• nor is a Venetian blind the same as a blind Venetian.

These (slightly) amusing examples illustrate the significance of word order. Putting words in order isn’t just about grammar; it’s crucial to convey your intended meaning, wouldn’t you agree? Not agree you would?

I recall another quote from Frank Smith, from his book Landmarks in Literacy (1995): “Dogs chase cats cannot replace cats are chased by dogs in any meaningful context. The first is a statement about dogs and the second about cats.”

But what about your body and breath? Is the difference between them as easy to observe as the difference between cats and dogs? The following instruction seems plenty ambiguous to me and could be interpreted in various ways:

(a) Lift your head and breathe in

Does this mean to lift the head and breathe in afterwards? Or should we breathe in while lifting the head, as in coordinating these two actions? What if we run out of leeway in lifting the head, and there’s still plenty of in-breath available? Should we stop the breathing short? And how should we deal with the disturbed breathing? Am I overthinking this? What are we supposed to do, exactly?

On the other hand, consider this instruction:

(b) On an inhalation lift your head

While the first example (a) might imply to breathe on purpose, the second example (b) suggests to wait for an inhalation to happen and then to lift the head together with the breath-in.

In my previous blog post I’ve used the image of a surfer waiting for a wave. The wave will come on its own, there’s nothing the surfer could or must do for the wave to arrive. He just need to be ready at the moment he starts to float onto the wave, in order to catch it.

If you like, the next time you’re resting on your belly, play with this idea of lifting your head, and wait for the next inhalation to happen. How does it feel like to let a breath deliberately go by, and how does it feel like to catch a breath and lift your head, to ride your breath like a surfer rides a wave? And how is that different to deliberately force a breath to happen when you lift your head? When would you lift your head anyways? Is it really completely arbitrary, that specific moment when you start lifting your head? See what interesting things you will discover!

I was just finishing up my Patreon post for my latest video, Day 7: Move surprisingly lighter and easier, working on the summary of the third main movement, when I wrote “add breathing.” Here’s the links to the sources:

• https://youtu.be/ofG0FLXtmyA
• https://www.patreon.com/posts/lifting-head-in-98629124

Suddenly, I found it odd to write “add breathing.” I was thinking, “Aren’t we breathing all of the time?” Therefore, I changed it to “become conscious of your breathing.”

However, it still didn’t feel right. This seemed better: “shine a light on your breathing, as if shining a flashlight in the dark, to bring your breathing into conscious awareness.” Much better. Thus I wrote:

Breathe in, when you lift your head. Breathe out, when you lower your head.

No. Once again, no, it didn’t feel right. I felt that this didn’t chime with the image of highlighting, the image of becoming conscious. It sounded more like manipulating your breathing, or trying to force it to comply with a command or exercise instruction. This seemed better: we wait for the breathing to happen, we wait for a breath, like a surfer awaits the perfect wave:

The next time when you breathe in, lift your head, then lower your head when you breathe out.

or, to use a noun instead of a verb, maybe to stay closer to the image of the oncoming wave:

On the next inhalation lift your head, then lower your head on exhalation.

Perhaps it’s my interest in detail and language that’s responsible for why it takes me 2 to 6 hours to write a simple post. Is it worth it? I like to think that my patrons appreciate my dedication. After all, it’s their support that makes my writing and filming possible in the first place. So, without a doubt: Worth it! Definitely!

My Vietnamese friend told me that she doesn’t like reading. “I’m sorry that you didn’t have a successful reading experience just yet,” I replied compassionately. I think she didn’t understand.

Prof. Stephen Krashen said that if someone picked a book by himself (“self-selected reading”), and read it in his own account, finished and enjoyed reading it, this counts as a successful reading experience; and usually turns that person into someone who enjoys reading.

But which book to choose? And from where?

For example, if you’ve been to Vietnam before you know that there’s hardly any books to be seen; even less newspapers or magazines. People in Vietnam usually don’t read. There’s only very few public libraries (and even the largest ones are rather poorly equipped), and only few bookstores, and only in the major cities, and all of them seem to only carry the same, generic bestseller titles. In addition there’s small coffee shops (so called “book cafes”) and thrift stores that display a couple dozen used paperback books, oftentimes in poor condition. But at least there you might find the one or other interesting, off the mainstream title, left behind by a traveller.

“The research supports the commonsense view that when books are readily available, when the print environment is enriched, more reading is done. A print-rich environment in the home is related to how much children read; children who read more have more books in the home.” – Excerpt from »The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research« by Prof. Stephen Krashen

The availability of books is a major factor for any society. Just like the availability of transportation, or … clean air and water. And there’s a lot to be said about compulsory education, indoctrination and brainwashing, alignment of the population, the presence or lack of critical thinking skills and the striving for self-education, and so forth.

Just for example, in my home country, Austria, there’s many huge, beautiful bookstores, often two stories high or higher, with thousands and thousands of titles, and also many smaller bookstores with rare titles or a wide selection of local writers. But, just for example, in all those bookstores there’s usually no titles about Covid (other than mainstream titles that write about how stupid—or outright dangerous—people who don’t get vaccinated are) and certainly no titles about the history of the Covid vaccines and their political background. These books do exist, plenty, but they are not on the shelves; and therefore people usually don’t know about them, and don’t read them. However, contrary to Vietnam, in Europe there’s online bookstores with an extremely wide selection of books, and people can order those books online, and next to ebooks can receive actual paperback or hardcover copies within days of ordering.

So, to cut a long blog post short: according to Professor Stephen Krashen and what we know about reading there’s two things that make a child an avid reader:

1. Children are provided with substantial access to books.
2. Children read books that they select themselves.

As I see it, reading is not a hobby. Instead, reading is something we humans do, like listening or looking. But we only like to listen and look if there’s something interesting to listen to or to look at. Likewise, we only read if there’s something interesting available to read, actually.

And that’s one of the reasons I myself wrote a few books (three or so) in easy-to-read language about sensorimotor-education and Feldenkrais-inspired movement sequences. A book with pictures and speech bubbles on them, and easy to read blocks of text in between. And one book made from posts of this very blog. But of course, these books are a bit “different” than regular books. And they are not on the shelves in the bookstores either. Therefore only people who self-select books online can find them. Maybe one day I should produce a book that’s mainstream enough to be fit for mainstream media and will sit on the shelves in the big bookstores, too.

Was it this year—or already a while ago—that Maria Montessori’s books entered the public domain? Well, I just read about it this year, and found a library scan of a weathered 1915 reprint of her 1915 lecture titled, “My System Of Education.”

» Link to the library scan (Click to open)

“When you have solved the problem of controlling the attention of the child, you have solved the entire problem of its education.” — Maria Montessori

I then discussed the lecture with ChatGPT, and ChatGPT summarised our discussion like this:

Initially, you raised concerns about the Montessori Method potentially being abused as a method of indoctrination, due to passages referencing attention control and the reference to William James. However, as we delved deeper into the lecture, it became evident that Montessori’s approach was more about nurturing a child’s natural development rather than enforcing societal conditioning.

Furthermore, we discussed how within the Montessori framework children transition away from educational activities (using frames and colours), without showing signs of fatigue, but being carried along by new energy and a mind capable of abstraction – which is in contrast to potential negative effects like tiredness and moodiness after mobile device screen time (an analogy to frames and colours) in modern children. We also addressed challenges of how individualised learning experiences can be recreated in group settings.

Well, I don’t have a personal verdict on Maria Montessori’s teachings just yet, I’m still reading and exploring. I have volunteered in a Montessori Kindergarten several times myself, and in fact, I might discuss the topic a bit more with my mother, with whom I’ve grown up and who has been a certified Montessori teacher for decades. I feel that many of Maria Montessori’s principles can also be used in Somatic Education, and for learning in an environment of structured movement sequences that are to a part inspired by Moshé Feldenkrais.

One thing that struck me as very important is that the name Montessori is not guarded under trademarks and copyrights… unlike the term Feldenkrais, and much of the legacy of Moshé Feldenkrais, which is trademarked and copyrighted and unpublished and heavily guarded, and thus likely to forever stay removed from the public domain; and thus—ultimately and very likely—destined to be buried and forgotten.

As Maria Montessori’s 1915 lecture is in the public domain, I reckon it’s legal to share the transcript of her lecture as an ebook, for your easy reading:

» Maria Montessori – My System Of Education, 1915 (Click to download)

I can’t think of a word that would ultimately describe the movement quality that Moshé Feldenkrais proposed almost 80 years ago… I mean the way to move, think, feel, sense, to hold our inner selves, in this type of lessons. The manner of which we continue to benefit so much from. What is the word?

Smoothness, maybe? Grace? Tranquil elegance? Mindful gentleness?

What makes our lessons so marvellous is not just the clever exercises themselves, the applied bio-mechanical knowledge and pedagogical principles; the secret sauce is not just the sequencing, and pacing, the pauses; but, above all towers the movement quality.

To lie down on purpose,
or before getting up anyways,
to move a finger like that,
a slight bending,
unbending,
the head might roll,
a deep breath,
another finger,
then the wrist, all fingers, the hand,
in unison and harmony.
The elbow lifts,
or slides,
or rolls as well.
Then a rest.

During a lesson it might seem like nothing, almost like nothing, but then, surprise, this extraordinary movement quality caries over into the day, in a sense of wellbeing, smoothness, inner serenity, happiness.

Let’s cherish this more, have more of this, this year.
Happy New Year 2024 everyone! 🎉🍀⭐️❤️🐦

“Comprehension and learning are inseparable. I shall refer to this continual process of relating the unfamiliar to what is already known as: making sense of the world.” – from Comprehension and Learning, by Frank Smith

In human learning, comprehension is deeply intertwined with the learning process. Comprehension means to understand the meaning, context, and nuances of information. When we learn we do so by making connections between the new information and existing knowledge and experiences. Comprehension involves more than just memorising or processing data; more than just learning flights of text by heart, copying words into one’s notebook, or imitating movements; it involves understanding concepts, context, relationships, and meaning.

Next to the term comprehension, integration could be terms with similar meaning. All these terms not only refer to contextual understanding, but to the process of melding, blending or mixing various new pieces of information, ideas, experiences, movements or knowledge with existing ones.

In human learning, comprehension or integration involve not just memorising or understanding isolated pieces of information but connecting them to one’s existing… body… framework… mental framework; drawing relationships, forming interconnectedness, creating a deeper and more holistic, unified, cohesive and interconnected whole self.

Ok, ChatGPT, what do you think about my blog post? ChatGPT:

Your blog post is thoughtfully crafted and presents a clear exploration of the interconnectedness between comprehension, learning, and the integration of new information into existing knowledge. However, there are a few areas where you might consider refining or expanding upon your ideas for clarity and depth:

1. Transition Phrases: Consider using transition phrases to smoothly connect ideas between sentences and paragraphs. This aids in maintaining the flow and coherence of the content.
2. Clarification: In the last sentence, it seems there might be an incomplete thought or a hesitation. You mentioned “whole self” or “whole” without fully explaining or integrating it into the previous discussion. It could benefit from further elaboration or clarification.
3. Elaboration: You might want to expand on how comprehension, amalgamation, or integration contribute to the formation of a “whole self.” This concept could be intriguing to readers, but it might need further explanation to tie it back to the overarching theme of learning and understanding.
4. Consistency: Ensure consistency in terminology and expressions throughout the post. For instance, choosing between “mental framework,” “body,” or “whole self” should be aligned with the overall context and message.
5. Engagement: Consider engaging the reader by posing questions, providing examples, or using anecdotes to further illustrate the points being discussed.

This can create a more interactive and relatable reading experience.
Overall, your post delves into essential aspects of learning, comprehension, and the integration of knowledge. By refining some areas for clarity and coherence, you can further enhance the depth and impact of your message.

Alfons here again:

Yeah, the whole post is kind of unreadable and has no clear message. From my point of view it lacks purpose, mojo, punch and charm. With mojo and charm being the same thing I suppose. It started as a ChatGPT chat, and ended up being a sorry looking semi-intellectual mess. I will post it anyways.