Somatic Resilience

Following Dr. Sc. Moshe Feldenkrais´ success in Esalen the year before, in June 1973, he was invited again for a 5-week workshop in Berkeley. It attracted much attention and directly led to the 1975 San Francisco training. This is arguably the most famous ATM lesson devised by Feldenkrais.   David Zemach-Bersin, a senior at UC Berkeley at the time, saw a flyer stuck to a telephone pole. He says, "My psychotherapist had seen him work on somebody, and was impressed...I decided to register...It was extraordinary! There were two workshops; one during the day that met for five weeks, and an evening class twice a week, open to the public. I went to one of the evening classes, which was very crowded. Probably 150 people were there. I was immediately hooked and began sneaking into the daytime class, limited to only about 30 participants studying in depth with Dr. Feldenkrais. He was in Berkeley for five weeks in June, and I managed to study with him most days during those five weeks. I was stunned by the positive changes that Feldenkrais achieved working with people with severe challenges. A middle-aged man with cerebral palsy began to walk with ease, and an older woman who had suffered a stroke recovered her abilities. And I was stunned by the changes I felt in myself. I was extremely excited by the idea that we each have an intelligent brain predisposed to learning and helping us. And the fact that it's possible to access that capacity by creating an opportunity in which sensory-motor learning can take place. Dr. Feldenkrais had figured out how to access the brain's neuroplasticity to bring about positive change."  This version was recorded in Jacksonville, Oregon by Gabrielle Pullen, GCFP in December 2022. 

Working with the eye that is dominant - or the eye that does most of the work - which is not necessarily the same. Expand the focal field and peripheral vision. Clarify the difference between direction and focus. Improve the sensation of turning from the atlas/axis to the toes on your feet using the visual field to release tension and improve function.

What does it mean to adapt to the world rather than impose your vision on it? It's the difference between rigidity, pain and discomfort rather than good reflexes, balance and a feeling of ease!

Here's the clear premise: "Don't Use It, You Lose It!" It's not just the muscles around the eyes that need variety to maintain their elasticity and the circulation that keeps them working well, it's the muscles inside the eye. What? Most people don't realize that the way the eye focuses is by muscular contraction within the eye ball. If you spend hours looking at a computer, the distance never varies. Increase your versatility and keep your mobility! Natural vision health is yours if you understand these principles and how to use them!

Pain: Your Body Keeps the Score investigates somatic practices that alleviate pain and increase awareness of the intelligence of your own body and how to use it. The current sick-care system is light years behind the curve in the healing of musculoskeletal pain.  Pain is a feedback loop that the system doesn't want you to pay attention to. They want you to cover it up using some kind of a product, medication or surgery. It's all about the bottom line. So how could you learn to respond? It requires neurological reeducation: refining skills you have innately. This is a podcast about taking you from learned helplessness to sovereignty, so that you can learn to stress less and thrive. In this first episode, we lay the groundwork. Pain is a feedback loop. Here, you learn how to take care of yourself in ways that don't depend on other people's expertise.

You don't have to have had a hip replacement or a knee replacement on one side for this to be a valuable lesson! For some, a strain or injury is the issue. For others, the gradual decline of aging has affected foot mobility. After 25 years of helping people regain function with musculoskeletal pain, I can attest to the fact that everyone looses mobility in the lower legs and feet over time, even if active. After 45 or so, this leads to compression of the venous supply which impairs circulation. Most people are unaware that it's not just the heart that is responsible for circulation: the muscles in their contraction and extension are a vitally important part of the circulatory system. Without that supply of oxygen to all the tissues, every aspect of living is compromised: immunity, vitality, and the sense of aliveness, not just mobility.  Additionally, for those who have had a major surgery or injury, there is a deadening of sensation because the area associated with pain has been mentally disassociated from the self. This lesson can restore vitality in the limb by reawakening the sensation of pleasure that has been replaced with splinting and avoidance. You will not really notice that the area is not as alive as it could be until you actually regain the sensory awareness of it that is next level. You have to do the lesson to really experience and comprehend what it's like to regain that sense of connection.   This is an Awareness Through Movement (ATM) lesson to bring your body back online for optimal function. Give yourself an hour undisturbed in a place that is comfortably warm and has a mat on the floor that you can use. Somthing like a thik yoga mat or quilt: soft enough for comfort, but hard enough that you can sense your contact very distinctly on the ground. It leaves you feeling younger, more stable and more dynamically mobile at the same time!

Grounded, clear space for a new world: one that is a manifestation of peace. Connect to the earth, experience the sacred essence rising within you, nourishing, healing, clarifying...Open the heart and the pineal gland, so that the bounty of peace on earth rains down like a waterfall. There are only two responses; all emotions can be reduced to a choice between love and fear. Choose love. Deliberately. It's the routines you create for yourself that act like compound interest day after day, until over time, you find your experience of life is one of greater peace and appreciation.

Living in times of excess: when all seems unstable, change is constant, and the need to hold it all together dominates along with constant distraction of focus, there is great need for clarity and calm. Renew your energy and equanimity, even in the face of overwhelm, learning to deliberately rest and ground yourself in that middle ground which stands at the center of any polarity. What comes and goes is temporal, yet when you deepen the connection with expansiveness, you discover that which is constant, always with you, and never goes away.

This restorative meditation is based on a blend of ancient wisdom and modern science: Yoga Nidra and psychology. "Yoga Nidra" translates as "Lucid Dreaming." It's a way to harness Right Use of Will to move into Conscious Contact with the benevolence of Universal Mind. iRest is based in the Non-Dual Truths of Advaita Vedanta which dissolve the bonds of egoic perceiving. I have also integrated an emotional clearing process based on the Marriage of Spirit, which is a path to the reconciliation of opposites. All together, these powerful practices entwined free the Shadow to facilitate living from the heart again, even after significant loss or trauma. This particular version concerns itself with clearing strong negative emotions around safety and community, rendering it a practice for cultivating a sense of calm abiding, of being seen, heard, valued and safe, even after the significant polarization of the Pandemic years. Restore yourself to your True Nature. Renew your body and your confidence in humanity. Cover Artwork by Taylor Leopold on Unsplash Experience a custom meditation of your own or find out more at  https://thetraumareleasemethod.com/ ©2023 Your Life Matters Designed by Gabrielle Pullen, MFA, GCFP, LMT

Lie down, relax, clear mind and emotions of old baggage. It's time. If life of late has left you feeling slightly diminished, take a moment for yourself. iRest is a special kind of meditation, done lying down. It allows you to clear the slate. In the same way that the dishes accumulate, and the laundry piles up, the emotional baggage of traumatic times clutters up the mind with memories. If the last little while has not been an accumulation of good memories especially, give yourself a good half hour of restful time to release the old and make space for new experiences and new perceptions. For many, the distractions of life have become endless. Mindlessly wafting from one obligation to another, brain fog abounds. Take this moment to regroup. Set an intention to release the old habits of mind that no longer serve you. Clearing the slate allows for a fresh start each day. A cluttered mind and a heavy heart is not a great way to live. Instead, discover the restfulness of abiding in pure perception without thought. Creating this kind of space allows more room for spontaneous inspiration to come to you. It opens space for a wonderful continuous interaction between you and Universal Mind.

As people age, core strength often seems to diminish. This is due to becoming more and more sedentary. Rather than doing a wide range of things, most people tend to do a smaller range of activities. Yet, repetition is actually more tiring than doing a variety of things because overuse makes things wear out faster. By contrast, in this course, discover the pleasant enjoyment of developmental phases babies progress through as they acquire skills most of us take for granted: rolling over, sitting up and crawling. Return to your core, release excessive muscular effort.

Stretching: A Sisyphus Proposition. When to Stretch and When Not to Stretch - What is the Alternative? How to use awareness to improve your range of motion without challenging pain.

Eyes #1: Discover how to rest the eyes to relieve visual strain and muscular tension. Using mindful movement and visualization that stimulates neural connections, learn to rewire the brain to relinquish unconscious habits of tension. Improve peripheral vision, feel lighter and experience a new level of calm presence. If you happen to have trouble sleeping, the series of ATM lessons on the Eyes is a perfect way to release insomnia. Starting position: on back. If you cannot do any of the movements, visualize them. Studies show imagining a movement makes the synapses fire and "synapse that fire together, wire together." As with all ATM lessons, make sure you have a warm space and a comfortable mat, or even a quilted moving blanket to use as a mat. Lie down, make yourself ready to start with a body scan while the opening context is set. See if you can follow the sequence - think of it as a puzzle - for it's in figuring it out that you change the way your brain is wired and make new connections that lengthen the resting length of your muscles for greater ease and relief from the compression and effort that most people live with without even realizing it.

We are hard-wired, neurologically to move in the direction we are looking. So, if you want to experience more comfort, more enjoyment in your life, you have to start turning towards what pleases you, what interests you. This lesson in the Feldenkrais Method® of Awareness Through Movement® (ATM) is a somatic seqence that provides very tangible, concrete ways to notice when we are headed in a direction that opposes what we actually want to be feeling. Learn to lengthen muscles you have no ability to consciouosly control. Starting position: on back. If you cannot do any of the movements, visualize them. Studies show imagining a movement makes the synapses fire and "synapse that fire together, wire together." As with all ATM lessons, make sure you have a warm space and a comfortable mat, or even a quilted moving blanket to use as a mat. Lie down, make yourself ready to start with a body scan while the opening context is set. See if you can follow the sequence - think of it as a puzzle - for it's in figuring it out that you change the way your brain is wired and make new connections that lengthen the resting length of your muscles for greater ease and relief from the compression and effort that most people live with without even realizing it.