My original Feldenkrais Mentor is the brilliant Deborah Bowes, a Feldenkrais Trainer who has a Doctorate in Physical Therapy.
Dr. Bowes created five questions to ask and sense in yourself what is happening in these five places: eyes, hands, feet, breathing, and support.
Where am I looking? Are my eyes fixed on one place or looking at different places? I can move my eyes and disrupt the pattern I’m in.
What am I doing with my hands? Are my hands clenched or held stiffly? Move my fingers and hands to disrupt the pattern I’m in.
What am I doing with my feet? Are my feet and toes clenched or held stiffly? Am I even aware of my feet? Then I move my toes and ankles to disrupt the pattern.
What is happening with my breathing? Am I breathing? Breathe, exhale first then focus a bit on sensations of breathing, taking 3-5 deeper full breaths.
Where is my support? On the chair or floor? Sense the support my body and skeleton provide.
When I’m in pain, unconsciously my breath becomes shallow, my shoulders move higher (closer to my ears), and my hands clench - all of these things intensify the pain. As someone who has lived through chronic pain, I have found these questions to be helpful. The five questions bring me back into my body, creating awareness and allowing me to check in with myself to feel more comfort by breathing, positioning myself to find better skeletal support, and softening and changing my focus if my eyes have become tense.
The beauty of these questions is that you can take them with you wherever you go and answer them whenever you want, repeating them throughout the day as you go about your business. If you’re in line at a store, you can ask yourself these questions. If you’re at a traffic light, you can do this brief awareness check-in. These questions interrupt pain patterns and create more awareness of how you’re oriented in your own body and in your environment.
If you’re interested in viewing Dr. Bowes’ video about pain, the nervous system, and curiosity, click here to view. Visit Dr. Bowes' website at www.feldenkraissf.com
For information on what Feldenkrais can do for you, click here.
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