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For 8 years I have been studying and practicing Pilates mat work,
learning the movements and the form, enjoying the process of making
shapes and keeping the pace with the counting. At the same time I
wondered how this work could fit into my Feldenkrais thinking. In
class, I found I was focusing on obeying the teacher and getting it
right. While practicing on my own, I allowed myself to be more
playful and spent time feeling the movement from within.
I have chosen to stop taking Pilates classes but continue to explore
its relationship to Feldenkrais. I am moving “outside the box”,
letting myself “smudge the lines” of the shapes I am creating,
making it more of a discovery rather than strictly adhering to
“correct form”. I don’t need to do preparatory actions. When I lift
my head from the supine position I notice the path my head wants to
make rather than first imposing a line by lowering my chin to my
chest. I follow the response in my skeleton and muscular system from
the initial moment of the lift. I don’t need to do a set up before I
begin the movement. I have changed the cues I use; I am not
concerned about counting or breathing in a specific way.
Now that I know the rules it is time to break them. In the Pilates
exercise called “The Hundreds”, I let go of the position of the arms
I originally learnt, I move them through space; likewise I move my
legs and even my head and eyes. I vary the patterns my limbs make
while maintaining a constraint of keeping my torso stable or vice
versa. It becomes a dance. I find I am using my core without having
to work hard. My focus is finding flow through the movements by
differentiating my ribs and moving from my center.
I also incorporate movements from Awareness Through Movement
lessons. This gives me greater variety. The sitting exercise “Spine
Stretch” is more interesting when I play with different sitting
movements from my Feldenkrais training. Such as: “Sit and place the
soles of the feet together. Interlace the fingers and put them
behind the head. Lower the head and elbows towards the floor while
bending the lower spine and then erect the head by arching in the
lower back.” Doing the “pelvic clock” while seated in the
“V-position” is especially challenging: “Sit and lift the legs in
the air. Roll the pelvis on the floor, rolling across the sit
bones.” However if I protrude my stomach and arch my back as I roll
my pelvis forward and pull my stomach in and round my back as I roll
backwards, as Moshe Feldenkrais suggests, it is much easier.>
I integrate Feldenkrais movements when I do “The Swan”, thereby
making it more dynamic as opposed to my tendency, when I do Pilates,
to keep it static and rigid. For example: “Lie prone, bend the knees
and bring the feet towards the ceiling. Lift the knees alternately
from the floor. When one knee lifts let the other knee press into
the floor. Let the movement be very minimal while increasing the
speed.” As well, I play with the classic Feldenkrais idea of
differentiating the eyes from the head: lift your head up as your
eyes go down and vice versa. Rotations of the pelvis, spine,
shoulders and head are other interesting movements I add. I feel I
am truly practicing Pilates for myself. I am having more fun. By
bringing Feldenkrais into my Pilates practice, I find alternatives
to holding my belly in a particular way. My trunk becomes less
rigid, I breathe with more ease. It is less a physical endurance
test and more an exploration in how I can think and move at the same
time. Not only do I become stronger, I become better organized!
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