AY502 Walking and crawling

Source

• Alexander Yanai Vol 11 (501-550)
• Reel 33, Track 1, Lesson 2
  
• Duration: 41 minutes

Synopsis

• This lesson dives into the movements that are described as being acquired through our evolutionary ancestors; such as swimming and coming to land. Dr Feldenkrais plays with varying our locomotion patterns with stomach crawling, quadruped motion to bipedal walking. He also adds compensatory gait patterns to assist sensing the details to organize easy walking.

Lesson Outline

1. Please stand and walk with completely slow steps. Then, try and walk a little faster and allow the arms to move. Intentionally increase the movement of the arms, notice.
   1. Now slowly try and move the arms in the opposite direction, meaning same arm and same leg. Note that the pelvis turns such that the toes are forward, as if the big toe is like walking on a line. Do not move the arms before the body, then return to walk like you did in the beginning. How is it now?
   2. Come to the floor and walk on hands and knees (quadruped). Note the movement of the arms and legs going in opposite direction, right arm and left leg, etc. in a diagonal.
2. Return to walking like the beginning, being sure to sync the movements together. (Natural manner) Observe.
   1. Change over and do same side movements, right arm and right leg, etc. as if the right arm pulls the big toe with a string. Attend to the pelvis. Increase it, clarify it.
   2. Now walk in quadruped, with same side movements, same arm and leg, and watch how the body rolls around a horizontal axis.
3. Lie on your stomach, and with your elbows and knees, crawl on your stomach, which leg goes with which arm?
4. Walk again in standing, see if your legs bend higher.
5. Return to the floor for belly crawl and then to quadruped, and see what the head is doing. Does it stay in the middle?
6. Now lie on your back and think how would you crawl on your back? Now try it. Arm and leg together tend to be more comfortable. Then return to your stomach and crawl with same arm and leg until it becomes normal.
7. Come to quadruped, and do the same thing but head remains forward.
8. Now stand and walk with same arm and same leg. Observe your pelvis.
9. Next, walk natural. And add bending from the hips only, not the knees, and walk low like this. How are you breathing? Continue and do this with the pattern of same arm and same leg.
10. Erect yourself and walk, and extend your chin forward, not up or down (pecking) Time it so it moves with each step.
    1. Follow with doing this with quadruped
    2. Pause the quadruped walk and just do the pecking
11. Return to standing with the pecking motion. Move your arms and see how they move. Sense your hips.
    1. Just think of the hips, then try with the right hip forward.
    2. Continue to walk forward, but try with the right hip backward.
    3. Now alternate with the right hip forward then backward.
12. Walk normally, then walk normally in quadruped followed with belly crawl.
13. And now pull yourself forward with both elbows and forearms together.
14. Finish with standing and see how this compares.

Focus of the teaching

• In addition to the movements, what theme or ideas did the teacher focus on

Related ATMs

• AY501. Introduction to walking. (Page 3411)
• AY503. Hopping and arms. (Page 3427)
• AY504. Continuation and return. (Page 3435)
• AY505. Continuation. (Page 3443)
• AY510. Knees – righting. (Page 3475)
• AY512. Fish swimming. (Page 3487)
• AY513. Reptiles. (Page 3495)

• Theme Walking
• Tag Hip-backward
• Tag Pecking
• Tag Crawling
• Tag On-hands-and-knees
• Tag On-hands-and-feet
• Tag Gait

 

In-walking:

• AY501 Introduction to walking
• AY503 Hopping and arms
• AY504 Continuation and return
• AY510 Knees righting
• MM04 Crawling and Walking
• New York Quest – DAY5 – PM2 – Softening the neck affects the whole self: Lifting the head with lapping movements of the mouth and tongue in many different positions
• SF3 – Day 30 – 3 August 1977: Walking and crawling.

Reptiles:

• Amherst 2 – Week 7 – 07/21/81 PM1 Demonstration and Discussion—Crawling like a Baby / Baby Crawls on Back (Includes Baby Learning to Lift its Head)
• AY512 Fish swimming
• AY513 Reptiles
• Berkeley 1973 – 3. Extension 6/19 AM

Crawling on the back:

• Amherst 2 – Week 4 – 07/01/81 AM1 Prone Worm Movements / Worm on Stomach (includes On the Back to Release Extensors; The Bow, Imagining Knee to Elbow, Worm on Back, Rock on Head, and Hands Under Knees)
• SF2 – Week 08 – 5 August 1976: Fingers Interlaced, Inverting the Hands and Lifting the Small of the Back

Walking like an ape:

Resources

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