Back On Our Feet - 1 - A fiercely compassionate study of our feet. Get up, stand up. Explore balance. Ground. Improve athletic performance, craftsperson finesse, artistic expression.
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“Reiki - A Self-Practice to Live in Peace with Self and Others” is a slim guide to Reiki as a practical, functional tool for daily, 21st century living.
Breath, thoughtful pause, traditional meditation techniques, and Reiki’s philosophical foundations (precepts) are clearly and succinctly presented. The authors answer the question “how does it work?’ scientifically, with layperson descriptions of the neurophysiological affects of calming the mind and body.
It is the beautifully written manual that Reiki practitioners have been seeking.
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Done languishing? Wanna be starting something. “Experts” suggest just do something you enjoy to break the doldrums. Michael Jackson had something to say about that.
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Mindfulness seeps Westward, as noted in articles in Science News and The Guardian. Science News offers research studies showing athletes trained in mindfulness techniques do perform better than teammates who only practice relaxation. In the Guardian, environmentalist Rebecca Solnit notes how quickly the concepts of mindfulness and compassion have penetrated the West, from transformed societal norms to mindfulness-trained employees rebelling against corporate policies.
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How well do you know how you use your major moving parts? This full body survey is a spotlight on what you do well, what you never noticed and what you might want to improve.
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Taking inspiration from disciples honoring the master.
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The Grand Horizontals - 8 - Sound Gong From Heart
Inspired by Zen monastics’ stillness, explore hands’ delicacy and strength. Quietly connect gestures from fingertip to heart, from heart to fingertips. A subtle lesson that penetrates the entire body and transforms rigid hands to extensions of intention.
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The Grand Horizontals - 7 - Corner Like A Cowgirl
How to you hold your corner as your horse digs deep into the sawdust to round the barrel without knocking it over. And then go full gallop down the line to finish your run in under 15 seconds? Hips and clavicles and calm. Also called the ‘half ass’ lesson, get the feeling of cornering a turn that works just as well on skis, in a kayak or teeing off. For the rest of us - balancing on New England winter ice…
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A year later, inaugural poet Amanda Gorman faces fear. “Though I spent the next hour shivering in my seat from nerves and the unforgiving January cold, as I stepped up to the podium to recite, I felt warm, as if the words waiting in my mouth were aflame.”
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Buddhist monk and global mindfulness teacher Thich Nhat Hahn is honored in ceremony and meditation. A look at ritual Buddhism and genuine practice.
Sitting in rows in the spare meditation halls, monks and nuns dedicated to non-attachment struggle to hold back tears as they recite familiar sutras.
The monks and nuns guiding the ceremonies and meditations are the definition of the gentleness and calm that we Westerners call “mindfulness.”
In another way, though, there is something very mundane about the practices: people stand, they sit, they adjust and readjust their robes, the pass along song books, they look around and then down at the ground. In other words, they too, are human.
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Moving freely and without constraint enables creativity. Proving, as Dr. Feldenkrais has said, a flexible body leads to a flexible mind.
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What’s so extraordinary about a 50 year old woman who published her first novel? The opera singer who changes her career to take over the family farm?
Maybe I’ve been out of the mainstream, surrounded by creative, curious explorers for so long, that what is commonplace in my world is extraordinary ‘out there.’ Maybe living Awareness Through Movement has something to do with it. Every class starts something exciting and new.
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Science Nerd Fun Facts: It’s never too late to begin moving. Once-trained muscles respond quickly to renewed effort. And moving freely and without constraint enables creativity.
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“Hope lies with the disciplined nonconformists…” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“[The Status Quo] changes when someone decides that the way things are around here needs to change, and simply and bravely begins to do something differently.” Seth Godin
“Nothing is permanent about our behavior patterns except our belief that they are so.” — Moshe Feldenkrais
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The Grand Horizontals - 5 - Center Like A Blue Ribbon Equestrian
In dance, it’s called ‘the frame.” For riders, it’s ‘the Seat.” It’s about maintaining the core alignment as the torso/spine react to movement in the lower body. About letting the ribs and spine manage the relationships between the collar bones and pelvis to prevent tipping and losing balance. This lesson hones in on the connections between same side and opposite corner collar bones and hips for elegant posture and balance.
Read MoreThe Grand Horizontals -5 - Circle Like Serena
Arm circles are a part of daily life - from reaching into the back seat of the car to reaching that can on the top shelf. If you do stick sports like golf, tennis, softball, kayaking, etc. this lesson will enrich your practice. That motion - the reach, the turn, the twist, the spring-like action of the ribs - is what we are going for in this Awareness Through Movement lesson. With slow, careful attention paid so no rotator cuffs are harmed in the process.
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Flourishing is the other side of the ‘meh’ of winter, isolation, no live music, that many of us feel at the moment. In Awareness Through Movement lessons, we follow the science and to take the path from ‘meh’ to flourishing: note progress after a lesson, savor the results of the learning, feel gratitude for our bodies, share the joy of embodiment, connect with self and others, find purpose in daily routines and be curious!
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The Grand Horizontals - 4 - Swing Like A WPGA Pro
Some movements require the power and grace of the torso moving as a flexible, but connected, whole. This Awareness Through Movement® lesson riffs on a classic lesson designed to strengthen and release the spine, with an emphasis on the collar bones as the line that holds the entire shoulder girdle together.
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