Learning from Trees - 11 - Blossoming Open
apple blossoms beginning to open
Learning from Trees - 11 - Blossoming Open
From floral sepals to pelvic floor - open up like a flower
Based on The Sweater Lesson” as taught by Eileen Bach y Rita, GCFT®
The human
Flowers stand in for females worldwide. In this session, we cross-reference the female anatomy to the floral structure in an exercise in opening up and out, supported by the pelvic floor. Not exactly the same, but similar enough for our purposes. Notice the way the floral ovary is supported by the peduncle, though the ‘entry point’ points in the opposite direction of we human females.
This is a dual-purpose lesson. The “Sweater Lesson” on which this session is based on a self-massage-and-hug. It also leads to an opening of the arms and chest in a way that emulates a flower opening. Lying supine, one arm at a time and then together, we wrap our arms around our belly and torso, eventually crossing at the clavicles and opening out into a full arm extension.
The support for this deeply tender gesture is the pelvic floor, which releases downward as the movement collects momentum, and then draws upward to underlie the chest’s opening and arms’ extension. Of course, the breath is involved, as well as the spine. The lesson coalesces all the series’ movements so far, and promises to be a mini-spa moment in the midst of the busy transition to fall.
We are not done yet! We still have to feel into how the conifer cones open to release their seeds, and how leaves rise and release themselves as they drop in the fall.
Science Nerd Candy Bowl:
Cherry Blossom 4K Timelapse - Temponaught Timelapse (2:04)
Piney The Elder. An enormous Coulter pine cone opening - Caleb Crone (0:44)
Magnolia Time Lapse - Greener View (1:42)
Flower Reproductive System -
@experimentbypuran5074 (0:15)Dance of the Pine Cones Time Lapse - Siddharth Raval (1:01)
How Your Shoulders REALLY Move When You Lift Your Arms - @BioMotion3D_Al
Flexion and Extension of the Spine -@AnatomyApp (0:42)
Set up for supine lesson:
Mat on floor with room to reach overhead and support for knees and head as needed
Seated on a chair with knees and hips level
How you might feel after this lesson: Feel the support and flexibility of the spine as the front of the body expands and opens; Experience gradual unfurling of the spine as a model for the process of plant blossoms opening upward and out; A little cross-species connection through the female and flower anatomy; Connecting breath and opening; A moment of relationship with nature and trees?