AY136 Looking at the back while sitting

Source

• Alexander Yanai Vol. 3 #136
• Reel 10, Track 2, Lesson 2

Synopsis

• Summary: Internal sensing and external sensing. Sensing the location of C7, the shape of the neck, locations of scapulae, location of L5, the distance from C7 to shoulder, from nape to ear, the width of the mouth, of the nose. Ends with some quotable paragraphs about how one can expand ones awareness to be able to use more of one’s potential, like Einstein, Laplace and Carnet.  
• Mapping C7, ilium (pelvis), top of sacrum, L5, neck, inside edge of shoulder blade

Lesson Outline Short

• Feel C7 with index finger. Feel ilium, front to back, with both hands.Feel top of sacrum, 1st lumbar vertebra (L5).Index finger on C7, other index finger on L5: lower head a little and raise.
• Change hands and repeat. With R index finger feel C7, down vertebra by vertebra (3 or 4) to between shoulder blades or wherever comfortable.
• Change hands and do the same. How different?
• Lower head with index fingers in place, 1 on C7, 1 just below.
• Sense how moves
• With both hands feel cervical vertebrae up from C7 to base of skull. To top vertebra (between ears, approx at height of roof of mouth)
• With 1 index finger at top vertebra/ atlas vertebra/ c1 (inside skull), open “gulley” . Ie, keep index finger in place as you open jaw, lift head a little
• R hand feels inside edge of L shoulder blade, or wherever can reach comfortable.
• L hand feels inside edge of R shoulder blade

Lesson Outline Long

Position: seated, kneeling, supine

1. Sit cross legged if possible, or otherwise. Close eyes, sense the large neck vertebra. Touch largest neck vertebra with the right index finger.
   1. Without the hand, lower the head, sense the vertebra again. Touch it with the index finger. Shift attention between the bone feeling the finger and vice versa.
2. Change hands. Repeat 1 with the left hand.
   1. Without the finger, sense the vertebra.
   2. Shift the attention up the spine in the direction of the head. Sense the bones, their shape, their orientation, their direction in space.
   3. with the right fingers and feel what you just sensed, the bones up the neck.
   4. Repeat 2.c. with the left hand.
   5. Repeat 2.c. with both hands.
   6. Without hands, sense what you felt and learnt till now. Always sense the finger with the bone and the bone with the finger.
      “Without me reminding you each time I say “to touch with the hands”, do two things: listen once to what the hands feel while touching that part of the body and listen once to how the body feels the hands. Pay attention because there are many people that never pay attention to the sensations that come from the body when the hands touch. They only listen to what they touch with the hands.”
3. Supine, “listen” to the big vertebra.
   1. With two hands, touch the vertebrae from shoulders up to occiput. “Listen to the double sensation”, once to this, once to that
   2. Without the hands, sense what you felt.
4.  Use hands to feel the iliac bones from the sides towards the Lumbar vertebrae
   1. Stand on the knees, it will be easier because you will make an arch in the back.
   2. Sit cross legged, reverse the legs from earlier. Sense the ilia back to the spine.
   3. Sense this without the hands.
   4. With the hands, what is the distance of the ilia from the floor.
   5. Sense this without the hands.
   6. Sense the neck without the hands, and sense from the neck downwards by one vertebra after the other.
   7. Now with one hand, touch the neck and go one bone down, one after the other towards the shoulders.
   8. Without hands, sense further down.
   9. With a hand, touch the first lumbar vertebra that you can sense above the pelvis.
   10. Join the top and bottom vertebrae in your thinking. Link them up in your thinking, sensing all the processes. Both left and right of the spine, as if a finger touches there.
   11. Lie supine, sense the places we listed to.
5. Sit, sense from the large neck vertebra to the right shoulder. Where does the right shoulder blade start and end?
   1. Move the shoulder, does it help to sense the scapula?
   2. Put the left hand on the inner top corner of the right scapula.
   3. Without hands sense the the inner top corner of the right scapula.
   4. Slide this point towards and from the spine. Sense how the shoulder becomes “wider”
   5. 5e. & 5f. Repeat (5 to 5d) with the top left shoulder blade edge.
   7. 5g. Sense the right and the left sides.
6. Place a finger on the highest point of the spine, below the occiput. “Penetrate” the crease with the finger. Protrude that part of the spine backwards
   1. The hand, sense this area. Shift attention between skull and vertebra.
   2. Sense the two inner sides of the scapulae, sense the directions of the inner borders. Are they diagonal?
   3. With the left hand at the right scapula, straighten the back a bit to see if that helps you sense the inner border of the right scapula
   4. Repeat 6c. with right hand to left scapula.
   5. Rest supine. Sense the scapulae, neck, lumbar.
7. Supine, sense from occupy to the right ear along the hair line. Sense shape, direction.
   1. Sit, do the same as 7, sensing.
   2. Touch this area, compare touch with sensing.
   3. Repeat 7a and 7b on the left side.
   4. Sense the distance from right hear to left ear, follow the contours of the skull.
   5. Compare the distance between the scapulae and that between the ears.
   6. Connect the ear lobes to the tips of the shoulders (first reference to shoulders).
8. Stand on the knees, touch from the ilia to the lowest vertebra that emerges from the pelvis.
   1. Simultaneously renew the sensation of the distances between the scapula, and between the ears.
   2. Without hands, listen to the lowest vertebra, to the width of the shoulders at the height of C7, the inner tips of the scapulae,
9. Sit, listen to the inner tips of the scapulae and to C7.
   1. Sense the mouth. Where are the corners? What is the width?
   2. Touch there with the two index fingers. Is this different from the imagination?
10. Sense the nostrils, width. The outer sides of the nose. Where would two vertical lines pass on the mouth? Is mouth or nose wider?
    1. Use the fingers to sense this width.
    2. Without the fingers, sense it again. Sense the shape of the nose.
    3. Touch the nose with, first right hand, then left, then both hands.
    4. Do this without the hands.
11. Listen to C7, nose, mouth. And also behind the head, neck, ears, distances, scapulae, Lumbar 5, the spinal processes.
    1. For one full minute, listen to this and to the breathing. Do you now breathe differently?
       “You see, when it is said that it is possible to sit and be engaged with observation eight hours a day, it is not a big deal. The time passes so fast that you don’t feel it pass at all. That is one of the advantages it has. It enable soon to remove oneself and stop the contact between memory, life outside, and daily problems. It stops them in an absolute way. Here lies the repose.
12. Lie supine, pay attention to changes and sensation. In the next hours maintain this image.
    “If our awareness is not trained, it is not awareness; we are only awake. The brain continues working as if in a dream. It just jumps from place to place and does not hold any though more than a few seconds. It jumps and hops. Only exceptional people who can think about one thing for hours and days, do things like Einstein, Laplace, or Carnot. These are people who are able to follow one thought for minutes, and not for a brief second as most people. These people can think in an original fashion. Pay attention. That is the way given to all humans. Not every person is born with a brain like Einstein, Carnot or Laplace, but we can achieve with our mediocre brains a great deal more than we do. That is the way given to each person- to improve awareness, the clarity of self knowledge, and the clarity of thought.”
13. Send, sense, end.

Focus of Moshe’s Teaching

• Sensing role of spine in keeping upright, flexing and extending, lifting head/ eating

Related ATMs

• Tag Scan
• Tag Measuring

Touching:

• AY380 Pillows and swings
• AY381 Pillows right and left

Mapping:

• Amherst 1 – Week 1 – 06/12/80 AM1 – Minimal eye movements (part 1)
• AY496 The face

Resources

Share Your Insights (ideas, principles, strategies, experiences, …)

• Excellent lesson for people with meditation or yoga practice, helping them get clearer sense of how their spines can support them dynamically during practice – angela.sparklehouse Sep 16, 2012

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