Reset Your Body Beat - 4 - Baby Head Lifts with Levered Rocking

Reset Your Body Beat - 4- Baby Head Lifts with Levered Rocking

Reliving that breakthrough moment when your baby self propelled her head and chest UP

Based on “Restorative Rhythms: Feldenkrais Lessons for Health and Pain Relief - 3 – Rocking head to toe” as taught by David Zemach-Berson, GCFT®

oscillations - same back and forth motion

Rocking and rolling launch our baby selves into the world. To respond to sound, to reach for things we want, to move to and away. It starts with jiggling from the toes, and, as our core muscles develop, into reaching with the head and arms to enable rolling.

Going back to these primary movements as conscious adults is revelatory. Habitual imbalances - the ones so deeply engrained that we don’t even know they are there - get a lift out of our blind spot, giving us the chance to apply mature sensibility to better balance and grace.

We build on last week’s session from bobbly head-lifts to looking up at will. Step-by-step, prone jiggling/oscillating from the toes gets more oomph by lengthening the legs into levers that push the spine. A little help from the shoulders gives the momentum to lift that heavy, heavy head.

Imbalances in the pelvis and spine may reveal themselves. Don’t try to FIX anything! We are not built to be symmetric, but we are able to balance. Observe and let the nervous system do what it does: adapt, learn and improve.

Bringing it into the fully-grown world, the lesson ends in standing: bouncing on toes, turning and walking. Another grown-up benefit: looser ankles for better balance, relief from arthritic toe cramping, fuller breath, softer shoulders.

It’s important in this lesson to pay attention to your low back. If it starts to crunch, bring attention to your shoulder blades and neck. Let your belly go soft. Do less., Baby muscles are completely soft, unable to resist the flow. Let your adult watch your baby self, and release where you can.

It’s back to babyhood and beyond! Enjoy.

Science Nerd Candy Bowl:

Set up for a prone, supine and standing lesson:

  • Lying on a mat with support for knees and back of the head, if desired, for supine scans and rests

  • Extra padding for the prone segments

  • Access to a wall you can lean against with your hands

How you might feel after this lesson: A bit trancey; Breathing coordinated with walking; Hips open and comfortably aligned; Legs aligned in hip sockets, with ground forces flowing easily from foot to hip to head; Shoulders surprisingly released; Upper back and chest looser and more flexible; Deep into baby mind; Curious about what’s next!

Wednesday 9:30 am or 6:30 pm class registration, keep using it. $40/month; $15/single lesson. PayPal or Venmo to jackisue@aol.com. Or check to Jacki Katzman, PO Box 116, Bethlehem, NH 03574

To registration, Click Here

LessonsJacki Katzmandavid zemach-berson, matira; rhythm, baby moves, Oscillations, reset your body beat