From Frost to Feldenkrais

by Buffy Owens

"The best way out is always through." -Robert Frost

Every once in a while I find one of those quotes that really has a way of working me - shifting me slowly but consistently over time. Echoing in everything that I do. Somehow this Robert Frost quote has been one of those unique passages that has influenced everything that I do.

This quote seems to whisper the elusive obvious of the Feldenkrais Method. It begs for us to get to know those very habits that we are trying so desperately to change. For me that path is to move slowly and with a sense of curious awareness.

Somehow going into our habits of moving, thinking and sensing helps us to discover more about who we are and how we move through life. Our inner sense of self, let's call that our self image, begins to more accurately align with our outer actions. We move into a greater sense of integrity - both in our movements and our way of being in the world.

Let's say for instance that as you stand you rotate your upper body a bit so that the one shoulder comes forward and the other moves slightly backward - a bit of twist or turn in your system. Now the pelvis and legs may stay oriented forward or they may counter that twist or they may align with it. And what does the head do? Do you keep your head in line with your shoulders and utilize your eyes to look forward or is your head turned so that your face is forward?

This very scenario is one I have been exploring in my own self. Now having this organization isn't necessarily a bad thing...but having it as an only option is. Recently I have been biking a lot with a messenger bag and this orientation has become exacerbated in my system, dominating the way in which I organize myself moment-by-moment. When this pattern is really strong I notice that I have less comfort and mobility in my neck and lower back. I am also aware that this sense of moving in two directions at once (my upper body in one direction and my legs and head in another) leaves me feeling mentally and emotionally divided - unclear of what I feel or what I want.

But what I really find fascinating is the capacity for this pattern to work its way into my self image. Somehow in my sense of my self, I have the perception that all of me is facing forward. So my self image is one of being aligned and forward, but the actual organization is twisted. Thus, when I initiate each movement, each step, each turn and twist - my actions don't necessarily match my image of the movement.

Moshe Feldenkrais said "If you know what you are doing, you can do what you want." So to begin we must know what we are doing. We must align ourselves with integrity - integrating our inner intentions and awareness with our outer actions. For me, my experience of doing Feldenkrais and clarifying my self image  effects more than my movement, it effects my entire life. As my movements become easier and my sense of self improves, my emotional state settles and my capacity to make conscious choices expands.

Thoughts on: Self Image and Cultural Neuroscience

 by Buffy Owens

I am currently on my fifth read of Awareness Through Movement by Moshe Feldenkrais.  I read this book for the first time nearly fifteen years ago and I am in awe as to what shifts in perspective and what stands out whenever I return to a great book.

Currently, I am intrigued with how we develop our self-image over our lifetime and how we can consciously choose to shift that image. In the preface of Awareness Through Movement, Moshe establishes three factors that determine our self-image: heritage, education and self-education. One simple way to think of this is that heritage more-or-less describes our genetic make up, education refers to how cultural influences (language, formal education, cultural norms and values, etc.) and self-education is comprised of what interests us and how we choose to pursue those interests. That said, self-education is heavily influenced by our cultural experience and our need to be accepted, successful or part of a community.This incredible triad acts as an intricate dance of the internal sense of self and our relationship with the external world to shape us moment by moment.

Now it seems that modern research is exploring this very concept. In February 2010 an article was published in Newsweek titled West Brain, East Brain. This fascinating article looked at some of the research that explores how our cultural conditioning not only impacts how we perceive the world, but how this perception shapes the brain.

"...scientists have been surprised at how deeply culture—the language we speak, the values we absorb—shapes the brain, and are rethinking findings derived from studies of Westerners. To take one recent example, a region behind the forehead called the medial prefrontal cortex supposedly represents the self: it is active when we ("we" being the Americans in the study) think of our own identity and traits. But with Chinese volunteers, the results were strikingly different. The "me" circuit hummed not only when they thought whether a particular adjective described themselves, but also when they considered whether it described their mother. The Westerners showed no such overlap between self and mom. Depending whether one lives in a culture that views the self as autonomous and unique or as connected to and part of a larger whole, this neural circuit takes on quite different functions."

Fascinating isn't it!? To think just for a moment that your self identity could to some degree contain that of others. As a Westerner, a meditator, and a Feldenkrais fanatic I am quite enthralled with  the cultural and neurological difference of "me" and "we." For me it is clear that I have a unique and individual sense of self as a dominating experience and a sense of being part of a whole as a sort of sub-experience.

In my work and in my meditation I often intend to expand my awareness to include others as an extension of myself. So I have to wonder, does this conscious intention begin to shift me more towards a "we' brain or do I maintain a sense of neurological duality - oscillating in moment between a stronger sense of "me" and a growing sense of "we"?

Following Moshe's approach to the development of self-image and self-education it is interesting to explore how the cultural interplay influences how we assess a situation.

"Cultural neuroscience," as this new field is called, is about discovering such differences. Some of the findings, as with the "me/mom" circuit, buttress longstanding notions of cultural differences. For instance, it is a cultural cliché that Westerners focus on individual objects while East Asians pay attention to context and background (another manifestation of the individualism-collectivism split). Sure enough, when shown complex, busy scenes, Asian-Americans and non-Asian--Americans recruited different brain regions. The Asians showed more activity in areas that process figure-ground relations—holistic context—while the Americans showed more activity in regions that recognize objects."

So here we are, living in our cultural sphere approaching life with that context. So the question is now....can that change? Can we develop a sense of thinking both as an individualize (me) and a collective (we). My guess is yes. As a matter of fact I think that some of the research going on now with neuroscience and meditation may bring some insight into how we as Americans can learn to take on a more holistic context. Just imagine how powerful it could be to dance in between the worlds of me and we. What would shift in the way we assess situations, problem solve with others and grow as a community?

Video Cued Recall: A Feldenkrais Functional Integration lessonCued Recall: A Feldenkrais Functional Integration lesson

Wow! I just discovered this video and I am in awe. I love how they wove together the visual with the voices of both the practitioner and student. Although hearing two people speak at once is confusing at times, this format really gives me a sense of experiencing thought, movement and awareness in time. I hope you enjoy it as much as did.


Video Cued Recall: A Feldenkrais Functional Integration lesson from George Khut on Vimeo.

Freeing the Face

by Buffy Owens

Lately I have been giving several Feldenkrais Functional Integration lessons working purely with the face. I am fascinated with how such small movements and such seemingly minute releases can have such a profound impact. Almost every client felt a deepening of breath, an expansion of the visual field, taller and a calm sense of profound peace.

This general sense of peace is something that I am particularity interested in. It seems as though freeing the face somehow allows an individual to remove her mask and bask in a moment of pure Self experience. Free from emotional habit contained within the subtle but constant facial expression.

The reality is that our face is intricate in how we interact with the world. The face is directly associated with all of the senses, it is integral to how we express our emotions and how we understand what other are feeling.

Moshe Feldenkrais states in his book Awareness Through Movement that "the great majority of live active and satisfactory enough lives behind their masks to enable them to stifle more or less painlessly any emptiness they may feel whenever they stop and listen to their hearts." So I have to wonder, does freeing the mask just for a moment allow us to effortlessly listen to our hearts.

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Podcast: Sound as Touch by WNYC

This is a fantastic podcast (one of a series) on music, sound, neuroscience and the human experience...mix in touch and movement and I am in heaven. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.




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For the complete series visit:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2006/04/21