I am feeling a little more sore this week so far.
I am wondering if maybe last weeks better feeling was due to Michael's (a 3rd year student) work with my eyes.
A lot happened last week so it is a bit hard to know what exactly made the difference.
It could even just be a progression from previous work.
I started with a turn with Ferry.
I tend to get a really nice relaxed feeling with Ferry. He has a way of communicating that I can get. He is direct about what he wants and he is very thorough and conscientious. He sometimes seems quite disappointed when the bell goes off for the end of the turn. Like he is thinking "But I haven't finished yet" I may be wrong.
He managed to ease some of my hurtiness.
Michael again very kindly offered to give me some time with him.
It was only a few minutes but I felt effect immediately.
We then had the rest of the day allocated to Anatomy with Anne.
I forgot to do the homework...oops.
Will hand it in next week.
These are always a fun and very interactive session.
We looked at the how breathing and voice works.
I found this very interesting as I have been diagnosed with Exercise Induced Asthma and I have a strong suspicion that this will clear up in time.
What really stood out to me was just how connected so much of the body is.
It makes a lot of sense how tension is one place effect the whole body.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
An interesting chapter today
Tuesday is of course book day.
Today we discussed "medical diagnosis and training" out of "The Use of the self"
Although I found the reading itself a little tough, I found the discussion quite interesting.
I started with a turn with Margaret. Another really lovely teacher. (Picking up a theme here :) )
She had had a lesson or two from Peter Grunwald in the past
www.eyebody.com
so she had some interesting thoughts to share about eyes and the body.
I started today feeling a bit hurty but within 15 mins of semi-supine downstairs and then just a few minutes of a turn with Margaret I felt a lot better. I think I may have reached a new higher point.
Very exciting.
We then had a group session with Margaret.
We looked at observation. We observed each other bed down from a chair to pick up a book from the ground. I had done this before but it was very interesting to see habits of others and also myself.
We then some monkey and hands on back of chair.
I had a totally new experience while doing this!
It was great, I was able to do monkey without the previous work I had to do with my legs.
I must say, I find doing monkey hard work, but I think very much worth it.
We then went to the park down the road with David to do the book group.
What an excellent setting! and great weather, and a great idea David. I think we all felt happier being in the sun. I know I did.
We then continued on with a group session with David in the park.
We looked at walking and then some running.
We all watched each other walk to begin with and offered ideas of what habits we saw.
It was interesting.
Then we saw the difference after David put hands on.
Today we discussed "medical diagnosis and training" out of "The Use of the self"
Although I found the reading itself a little tough, I found the discussion quite interesting.
I started with a turn with Margaret. Another really lovely teacher. (Picking up a theme here :) )
She had had a lesson or two from Peter Grunwald in the past
www.eyebody.com
so she had some interesting thoughts to share about eyes and the body.
I started today feeling a bit hurty but within 15 mins of semi-supine downstairs and then just a few minutes of a turn with Margaret I felt a lot better. I think I may have reached a new higher point.
Very exciting.
We then had a group session with Margaret.
We looked at observation. We observed each other bed down from a chair to pick up a book from the ground. I had done this before but it was very interesting to see habits of others and also myself.
We then some monkey and hands on back of chair.
I had a totally new experience while doing this!
It was great, I was able to do monkey without the previous work I had to do with my legs.
I must say, I find doing monkey hard work, but I think very much worth it.
We then went to the park down the road with David to do the book group.
What an excellent setting! and great weather, and a great idea David. I think we all felt happier being in the sun. I know I did.
We then continued on with a group session with David in the park.
We looked at walking and then some running.
We all watched each other walk to begin with and offered ideas of what habits we saw.
It was interesting.
Then we saw the difference after David put hands on.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Some simple things
My turn today was with Marigold.
She is a really friendly and animated teacher, personally I think she is just great. ( I am starting to think this way about all of the teachers, they all just have their own way and style, which I am beginning to really appreciate)
It is a real credit to David and Jenny, the schools directors to attract such a diverse and dynamic group of teachers to the school.
In my turn we looked at how the legs are connected to the lower back via the Psoas muscle and how by extending the direction to higher in the back this can release this area better.
Also the head is connected to the upper back so again extending this direction can help with further release.
We also kept on working with keeping my eyes aware.
Marigold also uses a lot of direct touch to wake up the area we are working on, I find this helpful.
I then happily accepted an offer to be a "student " for Anne a third year student while Jenny a teacher helped her.
I found this very interesting.
I definitely noticed that when Anne simply thought her directions and just touched me (not moved me at all) my body responded quite powerfully to move away from my old pattern and towards a mouch more comfortable pattern.
I was very valuable to hear the advice that Jenny had for Anne.
We then had a group session with Jenny where mainly first year students and one student who had come for just this week, looked at drinking from a mug or bottle and eating.
This was interesting to notice something we all do very regularly, is an opportunity to cause tension or not in our bodies.
Jenny then simply asked us to to sit down and direct our fingers and thumbs down our legs.
This seemed to provide a sense of support for our whole bodies. I found it very good.
Lastly we had a yoga session with Marigold and some other teachers.
We some very new things.
lying on our back, we lifted our arms and our legs in different ways to create new pathways for our bodies to build on.
I found this quite empowering and also quite tiring.
Man I was sleepy when I got home today.
Got my reading finished tonight.
I wanted to post a couple of links to this blog for anyone interested.
Firstly the School of FM Alexander Studies, where I am studying.
http://www.alexanderschool.edu.au/
Secondly the site for Body Chance Australia.
This is the Australian site for Jeremy Chance's plan to start a Sydney Training School.
He is running some introductory workshops which anyone is welcome.
http://www.bodychance.com.au/
She is a really friendly and animated teacher, personally I think she is just great. ( I am starting to think this way about all of the teachers, they all just have their own way and style, which I am beginning to really appreciate)
It is a real credit to David and Jenny, the schools directors to attract such a diverse and dynamic group of teachers to the school.
In my turn we looked at how the legs are connected to the lower back via the Psoas muscle and how by extending the direction to higher in the back this can release this area better.
Also the head is connected to the upper back so again extending this direction can help with further release.
We also kept on working with keeping my eyes aware.
Marigold also uses a lot of direct touch to wake up the area we are working on, I find this helpful.
I then happily accepted an offer to be a "student " for Anne a third year student while Jenny a teacher helped her.
I found this very interesting.
I definitely noticed that when Anne simply thought her directions and just touched me (not moved me at all) my body responded quite powerfully to move away from my old pattern and towards a mouch more comfortable pattern.
I was very valuable to hear the advice that Jenny had for Anne.
We then had a group session with Jenny where mainly first year students and one student who had come for just this week, looked at drinking from a mug or bottle and eating.
This was interesting to notice something we all do very regularly, is an opportunity to cause tension or not in our bodies.
Jenny then simply asked us to to sit down and direct our fingers and thumbs down our legs.
This seemed to provide a sense of support for our whole bodies. I found it very good.
Lastly we had a yoga session with Marigold and some other teachers.
We some very new things.
lying on our back, we lifted our arms and our legs in different ways to create new pathways for our bodies to build on.
I found this quite empowering and also quite tiring.
Man I was sleepy when I got home today.
Got my reading finished tonight.
I wanted to post a couple of links to this blog for anyone interested.
Firstly the School of FM Alexander Studies, where I am studying.
http://www.alexanderschool.edu.au/
Secondly the site for Body Chance Australia.
This is the Australian site for Jeremy Chance's plan to start a Sydney Training School.
He is running some introductory workshops which anyone is welcome.
http://www.bodychance.com.au/
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Interesting experiences with eyes
I have been continuing to experiment with visualising my eyes, softening and the eyeballs expanding. I have also been thinking about my cornea opening up and expanding and the back of my eye also softening and expanding.
It has been having some releasing effects on my whole body.
It has been having some releasing effects on my whole body.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
What a week
Today was performance day.
Started with a turn with David.
We worked again with chair work and really worked on solidifying the discoveries on the week.
Had some success in inhibiting the tightening in my middle back.
This is still new to me but I do feel like I am starting to get it.
David did share some interesting thoughts.
He said that it is impossible to be able to feel directly the effect of freedom in the top of the neck. You can of course feel the resultant effect in the rest of the body.
Also he said it is not really necessary to be too specific in trying to work out where this area is. Just a general thought of this area is enough for it to work. This was helpful.
Also he said inhibition in his view is more of a general thought not really a direct thought.
So it is better to think more of "I will inhibit my old habit" rather than "I will inhibit my back from tightening"
I think I do recall hearing or reading something to the contrary of this but it is still interesting to hear his view.
I mentioned that I thought my tightening in the middle back came before the pulling back of my shoulders etc and whether it might be a good idea to focus on this and then this will stop the pattern. He mentioned that it is better to think about addressing the whole pattern rather than a particular part of it.
Next we did a group session where we worked on our hands and knees and keeping the neck free. I must admit I was getting quite tired by this time of the day so don't recall too much from this.
In the performance session I worked on practicing reading without gasping and allowing pauses.
I felt I did ok.
I was really pleased with this week. I felt ok, but I was very tired today.
Find out about job tomorrow (hopefully)
I went for a 20 min walk today also.
Started with a turn with David.
We worked again with chair work and really worked on solidifying the discoveries on the week.
Had some success in inhibiting the tightening in my middle back.
This is still new to me but I do feel like I am starting to get it.
David did share some interesting thoughts.
He said that it is impossible to be able to feel directly the effect of freedom in the top of the neck. You can of course feel the resultant effect in the rest of the body.
Also he said it is not really necessary to be too specific in trying to work out where this area is. Just a general thought of this area is enough for it to work. This was helpful.
Also he said inhibition in his view is more of a general thought not really a direct thought.
So it is better to think more of "I will inhibit my old habit" rather than "I will inhibit my back from tightening"
I think I do recall hearing or reading something to the contrary of this but it is still interesting to hear his view.
I mentioned that I thought my tightening in the middle back came before the pulling back of my shoulders etc and whether it might be a good idea to focus on this and then this will stop the pattern. He mentioned that it is better to think about addressing the whole pattern rather than a particular part of it.
Next we did a group session where we worked on our hands and knees and keeping the neck free. I must admit I was getting quite tired by this time of the day so don't recall too much from this.
In the performance session I worked on practicing reading without gasping and allowing pauses.
I felt I did ok.
I was really pleased with this week. I felt ok, but I was very tired today.
Find out about job tomorrow (hopefully)
I went for a 20 min walk today also.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A busy day with another big realisation.
Today would normally be Anatomy day but this was an exception.
While I was waiting for my turn , Michael very kindly offered to give me some time to do some table work with me.
I definitely felt some things were happening at a deep level. He seems to be very gifted.
I then had my proper turn, and it happened to be with David again.
We did some chair work, getting into and out of a chair.
I found that I was very early on in the getting out of the chair process doing a grab with my middle back. It was very good to become aware of this.
I also was doing it, just at the last part of getting into the chair.
We then had a group session with Bronwyn, a qualified teacher whom I really enjoy working with. We did something very simple and very important, breathing.
There is so much habits around breathing, and this is a great opportunity to practice especially inhibition. Breathing will actually happen by itself if we let it. I found that I do a lot of holding and doing in breathing. We discussed how the breathing mechanism is very much connected to the back also.
We then did a group session with David, where we experimented with simply lifting the arm in the air. It was really interesting to notice the difference between doing it with and without direction. So much freer and more height could be gained if we kept the spine open with directing.
I am beginning to really notice my directions working.
I then had a mini turn with Penelope.
She made me aware of my strong tendancy to gasp for air just before I came to speak.
We worked on simply waiting for the in breath to occur before speaking.
This was also very interesting for me especially as most of my professional life to date has been in call centres where I am speaking all day every day.
We then had a third group session , this time with Ria (who is just a lovely , soft and patient teacher). We experimented with exploring developmental movements that children would do from their stomach to move forward. We noticed how we could do so much with our bodies without having to shorten our posture at all.
I had my last job interview with my potential part-time job today.
I think it went well, I will find out on Friday. Fingers crossed.
It was a full day today.
While I was waiting for my turn , Michael very kindly offered to give me some time to do some table work with me.
I definitely felt some things were happening at a deep level. He seems to be very gifted.
I then had my proper turn, and it happened to be with David again.
We did some chair work, getting into and out of a chair.
I found that I was very early on in the getting out of the chair process doing a grab with my middle back. It was very good to become aware of this.
I also was doing it, just at the last part of getting into the chair.
We then had a group session with Bronwyn, a qualified teacher whom I really enjoy working with. We did something very simple and very important, breathing.
There is so much habits around breathing, and this is a great opportunity to practice especially inhibition. Breathing will actually happen by itself if we let it. I found that I do a lot of holding and doing in breathing. We discussed how the breathing mechanism is very much connected to the back also.
We then did a group session with David, where we experimented with simply lifting the arm in the air. It was really interesting to notice the difference between doing it with and without direction. So much freer and more height could be gained if we kept the spine open with directing.
I am beginning to really notice my directions working.
I then had a mini turn with Penelope.
She made me aware of my strong tendancy to gasp for air just before I came to speak.
We worked on simply waiting for the in breath to occur before speaking.
This was also very interesting for me especially as most of my professional life to date has been in call centres where I am speaking all day every day.
We then had a third group session , this time with Ria (who is just a lovely , soft and patient teacher). We experimented with exploring developmental movements that children would do from their stomach to move forward. We noticed how we could do so much with our bodies without having to shorten our posture at all.
I had my last job interview with my potential part-time job today.
I think it went well, I will find out on Friday. Fingers crossed.
It was a full day today.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Visit from moderator and a new discovery
I have been further experimenting with the yoga postures and I am pleased to say that they certainly did take the edge off this morning after I woke up with my familiar tightness and pain.
Today was book day. We read "Stupidity in Living", Chapter from Universal Constant in Living.
I have discovered again it is just too hard to do the reading the night before, I am just too tired and Mr FM is just not the sort of Author you can casually read. I am going to go back to reading it over the weekend when I feel fresher.
We have a teacher Penelope visiting the school this week in a role as a moderator.
This is for an independent person to assess how the students are going and address any issues any student is having. Really just a fresh set of eyes etc.
I had a lesson (one-on-one) with her today and I must say it was excellent!
We discussed inhibition and what this means in practice.
Interestingly she shared how she had come from a family background similar to mine, she was oldest child and always had to fight to be heard.
She noticed early into the lesson that when I was speaking and also recalling something then my eyes sort of drifted off into nowhere and more importantly I immediately pulled down.
This was a very interesting revelation for me as I knew over the years that I consistently found myself in actual physical pain and also very tired after I spoke for any longer length of time.
We worked on practicing on keeping myself present when speaking and recalling and I noticed a huge difference. I was talking for a length of time and I actually felt quite free and fresh and no pain. Very cool! I could have left for the day right then and there and would have been very happy.
We then had our book discussion time. This was interesting.
After break we then had a group session with Jenny and we did a little practice putting hands on each others heads while the other person was lying on the table.
This also was interesting.
I did also during the day get a few minutes of time with Michael (eyebody fan), this was cut short as my turn came up.
I have been reading and experimenting more with Peter Grunwalds book. www.eyebody.com
I am finding this also very interesting and noticing some release in different parts of my body as I think about different parts of my eyes.
As my eyes were the first part of my body that I am aware of that started to go wrong then I have a feeling that any work here could be quite transformative for me.
I have a job interview tomorrow for a part-time job to help support my studies. I am confident but we will see.
Today was book day. We read "Stupidity in Living", Chapter from Universal Constant in Living.
I have discovered again it is just too hard to do the reading the night before, I am just too tired and Mr FM is just not the sort of Author you can casually read. I am going to go back to reading it over the weekend when I feel fresher.
We have a teacher Penelope visiting the school this week in a role as a moderator.
This is for an independent person to assess how the students are going and address any issues any student is having. Really just a fresh set of eyes etc.
I had a lesson (one-on-one) with her today and I must say it was excellent!
We discussed inhibition and what this means in practice.
Interestingly she shared how she had come from a family background similar to mine, she was oldest child and always had to fight to be heard.
She noticed early into the lesson that when I was speaking and also recalling something then my eyes sort of drifted off into nowhere and more importantly I immediately pulled down.
This was a very interesting revelation for me as I knew over the years that I consistently found myself in actual physical pain and also very tired after I spoke for any longer length of time.
We worked on practicing on keeping myself present when speaking and recalling and I noticed a huge difference. I was talking for a length of time and I actually felt quite free and fresh and no pain. Very cool! I could have left for the day right then and there and would have been very happy.
We then had our book discussion time. This was interesting.
After break we then had a group session with Jenny and we did a little practice putting hands on each others heads while the other person was lying on the table.
This also was interesting.
I did also during the day get a few minutes of time with Michael (eyebody fan), this was cut short as my turn came up.
I have been reading and experimenting more with Peter Grunwalds book. www.eyebody.com
I am finding this also very interesting and noticing some release in different parts of my body as I think about different parts of my eyes.
As my eyes were the first part of my body that I am aware of that started to go wrong then I have a feeling that any work here could be quite transformative for me.
I have a job interview tomorrow for a part-time job to help support my studies. I am confident but we will see.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
