What If You Hated Your Feldenkrais® Class?
I am lying on the floor and trying to make sense of the instructions coming in the form of a sound from my laptop. No one shows me the “moves” and I cannot see what other people are doing. Am I doing it right? These strange, small and slow movements.
But most of all, I have no idea WHY I am doing this. I have a baby, a child with special needs, and another child. I always run from one emergency to another. I always have a breast to share for feeds, a nap to arrange (not for myself), a house to clean, a meal to cook and a pile of laundry that never gets smaller. Why would I waste my time lying on the floor and trying to be slow for the whole hour?!
Luckily I persist, and after weeks of “wasting my time”, one time I get up and feel what I can only describe as amazingly unusual: supported, rooted, tall, open, and even seeing brighter colours in my kitchen. My kitchen décor hasn’t changed. My self-organisation and perception of my environment did.
After a while, I have an epiphany: every busy mum needs this slow-and-small movement class! It is so healing for my nervous system, to gift myself time and undivided attention. Plus, I feel better and stronger, and this time on the floor starts feeling like fun – floor play is not reserved for kids! I even come up with a name for my future programme: Brain Fit for Busy Mums.
The programme I would never run, but I am still seriously convinced that busy mums need to slow down and direct their attention inward more than anyone else.
If it feels so good and if it is so desperately needed; if these strange, small and slow movements work as a potent fertiliser for your nervous system, why could you not be in love with this? Why is it possible that when you come to a class that promises so many benefits (vitality and performance, less pain and injuries, more calm and clear thinking …), you could feel irritated and even hate the whole experience? Because it happens, the same way it did to me in the beginning. Here is what I could figure out.
We live in a society that values goals and achievements. Why do these incredible slow and small movements with lots of idling (aka rests) when we know we can do way more? Letting go of these things is hard. “Being lazy is not a word in my books”, one person told me after a class. If your worth is not rooted in your doing and achievement, what stays? While I am sure you are worth your weight in gold and even more, facing these questions for the first time can be uncomfortable.
We are creatures of habit. We don’t like things that are weird or simply non-habitual. But the very essence of this work is in getting aware of the habits you didn’t know one could have and creating choices exactly where these habits don’t serve us anymore.
This work is about experiencing yourself in a whole new way. It’s hard to put in words – be it to explain what’s going on to yourself, or to give a reason to your friends and family. Plus, experiencing oneself is not necessarily high on our lists. But that’s how we learn and know that change is possible.
Having your full attention on yourself can stir some emotions that are usually undercover. But once you learn to go gently, be kind to and patient with yourself, and be in charge of your comfort – all the things that you learn to do in this class – it will get better, I promise!
Are you intrigued enough to give it a try? Check my Events page and find a class that works for you. I will be looking forward to seeing you there :)