Light, easy arms

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This lesson is a wonderful way to connect the arms into the back. At first, it feel like the back is made of bricks and the arms don't move at all. Slowly, with many ways of folding, pressing, reaching, and rolling, the pattern emerges. With clarity comes ease. It's not that you're injured or doing it wrong. Moshe always said that it's the clarity of how we use our back that improves movement, not any repetitive exercise. This lesson confirms it for me. It’s good for releasing tension in the shoulders and upper back as well as moving the arms more freely. It’s an uncomplicated, flowing lesson.

All my clients, from lacrosse players to gymnasts to stroke victims, report that they love the wave motion at the end when everything comes together.

This is a slow, detailed lesson observing the skeletal linkage from the arms to the collar bones, sternum, ribs, and spine. I love this lesson and I can settle into the sensations of weight-shift across the back and not worry about anything else. As Moshe says, “The floor is your teacher.”

This also alleviate tightness in the chest and shoulders and softens the upper back. As you clarify how the arms connect through the bones, the muscles become available for power instead of hijacked in tension.

Note that this lesson has many questions about what you’re sensing and few answers. If you’re new to Feldenkrais, this can be confusing. Just sense and notice and draw your own conclusions. The variations will help you fill in the picture.

As you do your own detective work, you will learn more than if someone just told you how to move your arm. Read my short blog post: How to move your arm for more on that topic.

Tip: Stand the feet at any time or put a rolled blanket under the knees as this lesson is entirely on the back.

For more like this, see the Reaching like a skeleton series.

(San Francisco training, June 16, 1975)

Again, connecting the arms into the trunk, this time using rotation instead of reaching. Your arms connect into your collar bones, ribs, neck, and upper back in wonderful and new ways. This lesson also highlights where you are tense. If you are holding your ribs, your arms run into the traffic jam.

The movement grows until you feel all the bones of your ribs, spine—even your hips—getting involved. Your arms will definitely hang easier and your ribs will feel long and upright after this.

For more like this, see:
62 Goal post arms
454 Rolling long arms, deconstructed version

AY68 and Rolling fists, Amherst week 4 1980, July 2

Lifting elbows is another paradoxical lesson, the kind where your brain goes, “I’m supposed to do what?” And then something clicks in, and then the next thing clicks, and the next. The pattern will grow as the lesson continues. All the variations ask how the arm can move IN the chest, IN the collar bone, IN the spine. It’s really fun—just don’t take it too seriously and enjoy rolling around.

For similar lessons, see:
205 Collarbone and shoulder extravaganza
130 Widening the chest

The Master Moves, lesson 5, The ribs in rolling

These three spectacular lessons are a sequence designed to open up space in your upper back bit by bit. You'll start to feel the shoulders slide, the ribs wake up, and the spine bend. With all that extra help, the arms move more and more freely. It's the best way to let go of tension after driving for a long time, hunching over a computer, or anything else where you hold the chest and curl the back.

I give these lessons to all my clients who have shoulder issues and/or knots in the upper back. Go slowly without stretching and reorganizing the pattern will save you. No stretching required. Avoid pulling against the tightness in your ribs, chest, and spine and your nervous system will still be talking to you at the end.

Tip: These all have the arms overhead, so if that’s an issue for you, don't interlace the hands and place the arms more out to the side, or put a blanket under the arms.  If you can’t reach the floor, raise the floor. Do not strain in the chest. Then, incrementally remove the support and notice how your chest allows the arms to be overhead.

Similar lessons for lengthening the spine:
409 Lengthen spine, roll arms overhead
146, 147 Lengthening and expanding, standing tall, part 1 & 2
356, 357 Lengthen leg and hang head part 1 & 2

(SF yr 2, 7-21-76)

A continuation of the lengthening arms series. These lessons open up the ribs and arms so you can use the arms in ways you never dreamed.

(SF yr 2, 7-21-76)

These gentle lessons unravel so many patterns across the back. It feels so empowering to be successful in moving again.

(SF yr 2, 7-21-76)