How often should I do Awareness Through Movement?
How often should I do Awareness Through Movement?
I was asked this question recently after one of my online classes, and, since I don’t think that I answered it very satisfactorily, it might be worthwhile having another go at it here.
Like so many other questions pertaining to the Feldenkrais Method, the short answer is...it depends.
And the reason ‘it depends’ is that we are all different and we all have different things going on in our lives.
You might be extremely busy and trying to fit one more thing into your day or week, might cause you stress.
If I were to say that you should do it at least three (or two or four or seven) times a week, you could end up feeling that you are not doing ‘enough’ and begin to question the value of ‘only’ doing it once or twice.
You might be someone who enjoys a wide variety of movement activities and doing Awareness Through Movement once a week, or occasionally, might be a perfect fit for you at this time in your life.
Having said all of that, I think that there are enormous benefits to having a daily practice. This does not have to be a 50 or 60 minute class every day (although it could be). It might mean lying on your back for ten minutes and bringing your awareness to how you are contacting the floor in that moment, noticing differences between your left and right sides and being curious about your breathing. Additionally, if you felt like it, you could play around with some movement that you remembered as having been enjoyable or intriguing from a previous class. And only do it for as long as it seems interesting.
The most important thing is to maintain a sense of playfulness and curiosity and to rest often. When we do this we are maintaining the optimal conditions for learning. Observe an infant trying to figure out how to crawl and you will get the idea. The least helpful thing you could do would be to repeat a series of movements mechanically while hoping (or being determined) to ‘get better’ at them. In fact, it would no longer be Awareness Through Movement at that point.
So, for all these reasons there is no set routine that you ‘should’ do. Whatever you do will be of benefit to you. If you have a monthly subscription (as the questioner mentioned above did) and you currently do one class per week, then I would suggest that you try doing a second one, if that sounds like an interesting notion to you. If you are enjoying a twice weekly situation, maybe try a third and see how that fits. There are many options to play around with: live classes, audio recordings and solo exploration.
I am reminded as I write this of a booklet Moshe Feldenkrais wrote in 1980 to accompany a series of lessons he had recorded. It is called Learn to Learn and he outlined his approach to Awareness Through Movement under the following headings:
Do everything very slowly.
Look for the pleasant sensation.
Do not ‘try’ to do well.
Do not try to do ‘nicely’.
Insist on easy, light movement.
It is easier to tell differences when the effort is light.
Learning and life are not the same thing.
Why bother to be so efficient?
Do not concentrate.
We do not say at the start what the final stage will be.
Do a little less than you can.
These are some concepts to keep in mind as you move. If you would like to read the entire booklet here is a link to it: http://thefieldcenter.org/06resources/downloads/learning_to_learn.pdf
Trust your own experience.Trust the feedback you are getting from your nervous, muscular and skeletal systems. Remember to breathe. Remember to smile.
So, in short, it depends!