Source
- Alexander Yanai Vol 1 Lesson #32
- Reel 3, Track 2, Lesson 3, Side ?
- Duration 39 min.
Synopsis
- This is a frog’s leg lesson, and it is presented as a continuation of a minimal lifting (fundamental properties of movement) lesson (AY 31). AY 31 is reviewed, and then the Frog’s leg lesson starts. It is very similar to AY 117 (in that achieving the sense of the low back remaining quiet is aided by folding the forehead and each knee towards one another), with the exception that it starts with legs long (instead of bent) and builds up slowly to standing the knee over the foot. There is much talk of clarifying the movement and students not understanding.
- There is no focus on maintaining the lumbar arch, but rather on turning the pelvis to the side to permit the outside of the 5th toe & knee to rest on the floor as long as possible. There is a focus on a continuous flowing movement. The knee and head are lifted to each other, to soften the back muscles. Lesson finishes with a minimal lifting comparison of the left and right legs.
- This short video is a visual reminder of AY 32. Someone else might interpret the movement you see with the words in a different manner. The words written sometimes are verbatim, sometimes close to verbatim and sometimes my interpretation of the words that are written by Moshé Feldenkrais. — Ute Müller
Lesson Outline
- A prone recap of AY31
- Supine, legs standing. Open the left knee, slide the leg long, stay
- 2a. Lie the left leg on its side, flex and straighten the knee. Small movement. Can the leg lie on its side? Small toe on the floor? “Don’t rush. I’ve already told you that you should sacrifice this hour. It is a wasted hour. Either you waste your time, or you do what you already now how to do. You can do this one hundred times until you feel what it is that you don’t know how to do.”
- 2b. Make the movement bigger. The knee lies on its side.
- Continue. Do you feel the pelvis turning? “You will feel something changing in the pelvis and back. It will be in a place that is impossible to reach except by a brain or mind that is willing to receive help. At the point the leg stops being comfortable, lift the knee to standing, and lengthen the leg again.
- Stand the right foot, draw and stand the left leg in the same way. Stay there and
- 4a. Hold the left knee with the left hand, pull it to you
- 4b. Right hand behind head, pull knee and head together
- Reverse the hands: first one hand & just the knee, then two hands head and knee. Right foot standing, lengthen and bend the left leg 20 times. Make the movement flowing. Rest, compare the legs
- Lift the straight left leg a centimetre off the floor. Lift the straight right leg once. Feel the difference. Stand the right foot, slide the left leg long 3 time. “Listen to how the whole body participates in this action”
Focus of Moshe’s Teaching
- Indicate focus or key principles that are made explicit in the teaching
Related ATMs
Frog movement with the leg:
Resources
Share Your Insights (ideas, principles, strategies, experiences, …)
- Add your thoughts about the lesson here.
- Please sign your comments.
- Differing viewpoints are welcome and desired!
- AY31 & AY32 are continuations, but MF changes theme half way through AY32. Action: First 17 minutes are a recap of AY31 in prone; then starts with a unilateral frog leg movement (NB starts with theleft leg, unlike the usual right sided start to lessons, but is consistent with Master moves lesson2 and other Frog leg lessons). Like in AY117, there is a section where the knee is held with the hand and pulled to the chest, then the head and knee are drawn together – This function should be “without effort” in the abdomen and back. The lesson ends with “minimal lifting”, lifting the long left leg, then the right leg, and sensing the difference in effort. The frog elements of this lesson differs from AY117 in that there is no reference to the lumbar arch, which means that in this lesson the leg can be drawn up in a much more outward rotation, with the pelvis twisted, (which AY117 starts with, but later on inhibits). Compare with: Master Moves 2 Thinking and doing, which uses the knee bend, but with a focus to crawling and walking, i.e. hip joint back, shoulder forward. (B. Parsons)
- Questions: is the pelvis is supposed to twist/tilt or not. What happens when the pinkie toe remains in contact with the floor, or not? The result or sensation is in extremely different between these two ways of moving. Are the two halves of the lesson are related functionally? How do the frog lessons differ from each other, AY32, AY117, AY458?. (B. Parsons)
- A powerful potential effect on the action of the hip and the entire groin area.
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