If you’ve come to this blog looking for information on the fundraiser for Native Seeds/SEARCH, you’ll find it in the August archives. The program has been extended until September 30, 2010.
On to the new topic.....
Several of my Rolfer™ colleagues recently brought my attention to this article posted by Alan Fogel for Psychology Today. I was intrigued by his statement that slow movement done with what he calls “body sense awareness” is being found to have essential nutrients for the body specifically in the realm of pain management. When he began drawing parallels to the Slow Food movement I got really interested.
My first encounter with Slow Food was in Germany in the summer of 2001. I remember we sat outside under a grape arbor and spent a good four hours consuming a delicious lunch that arrived course by course accompanied by detailed discussion of the provenance of the ingredients. I came away thinking that the Slow Food movement was about eating slowly. Somewhat like chewing each bite 50 times on a macrobiotic diet.
Of course, Slow Food refers to much more than just the speed at which one eats. One could say it boils down to bringing awareness and attention to each stage of the process of producing and consuming human nourishment. Does shining our awareness and our attention on the way we move our bodies also provide us with another beneficial form of nourishment? I believe so.
I’ve seen and felt how powerful it can be during a Rolfing session for the client to do a simple movement with imagination and awareness either as a stand alone process or to amplify the effects of the hands-on work. What about outside of sessions? We can also use this approach to find more enjoyment in the use of our bodies in the normal activities of daily life.
Something to try as you sit reading this at your computer:
Find a chair that allows your hips to be somewhat higher than your knees and your feet to be flat on the ground. Let there be a sense of weight flow into your feet. Take your awareness to your feet and how they meet the floor. Or do you feel it is the floor coming to meet your feet? Let the weight flow into your feet and your feet spread out onto the floor. Now take your attention to your head and imagine it is gently reaching up into the sky in a curious way. Feel the space all around your head. Can your ears open wide? If there were eyes in the back of your head, what would they see? Take whatever time you need to explore these things. What else are you curious about?
As you do this, what happens to your posture? Your breath?
Please read the next paragraph through to the end before doing anything.
Go back to the way you were sitting before. As you do this, be sure to notice what you did to go back to your usual posture? How did you do that? Can you find the new option again?
(Hint, if you have any trouble, just find your feet and the space around your head. Why not try this while walking , mowing the lawn or brushing your teeth?)
