Source
Synopsis
Sitting, lift foot lying on hands towards head in circle; face up, same movement with foot, and lifting head; open leg/foot to side and roll; and so on to sit. Second half done in imagination, hence the connection to perfecting the self-image.
Lesson Outline
- In sitting, soles touching, tilt right heel up and slide right hand under so heel rests in palm, with thumb aligned to hand.
- Insert thumb of left hand between the big and second toe of the right foot and then grasp the four little toes.
- Use hands to lift & lower the foot in a circle, first up and away from the body, then towards the body before descending.
- Repeat many times, exhaling as you raise the foot, and allowing the head to drop forward towards the top of the arc.
- Look for ease & elegance, allowing shoulders, torso, pelvis, etc. to become involved (stop ‘trying’ – see below).
- From lying, stand feet and allow knees to drop out, so soles are touching again, raise right foot and grasp as before, with both arms between the knees, and repeat the the previous movement in this plane, allowing head to rise and looking for ease.
- Repeat, but allowing the pelvis and head to move to the right (side-bending); if easy allow the body to come to side-sitting.
- Repeat, but allow the left foot to help bring the body to side-sitting
- Repeat, paying attention to how the arc of the head, close to the floor and moving towards the knee, can assist.
- From sitting, check the reference movement (1st move) and then, with right foot still in air, simultaneously move left leg behind, lower right foot in front (side-sitting) and allow head and torso to come forward to a comfortable position (over knee or leg).
- From there rock the trunk from right to left, first in the smallest comfortable movements, gradually increasing the range, until you roll to the right and then on to your back (reverse of previous movement), or if comfortable, even further towards the left side, then use the left leg to push off and roll back up towards sitting, but keeping head low and trunk moving. Repeat many times.
- Imagine the movement, elegantly executed, first in lying and then in sitting. Check the reference movement.
- Stand, walk, and observe the difference between the two sides, in the body, face, eyes, and in turning.
- Lying, knees up, imagine the movement on the left side several times, then come to sitting and try to place the foot on the head.
Focus of Moshe’s Teaching
- Moshe says to “…stop ‘trying’. ‘Trying’ prevents the movement from becoming easier and wider.”
- He discusses imagining at length, saying that “thinking the movement in words” is easy, but potentially misses the most important component of change — imagining the feeling of the movement (in the limbs — how the body feels moving with ease).
- In classes of 40-50 students, Moshe says 90% can touch foot to forehead and the majority can get the foot on top of the head. Lack of awareness of opposition by the antagonists is the common impediment; attention is the remedy.
Related ATMs
- Also see Rolling to Sit Theme
Foot to head:
- ATM Basic Series – 7. Perfecting Your Self-Image (ATM Book Lesson 8)
- AY034 Foot on the head
- AY081 Washing the face with the feet
- AY231 Bringing the knee to the face in an arc
- AY389 Ankle on knee and bending
- AY492 Sole to ear
- Franz Wurm, Der aufrechte Gang – Series 1 – Der aufrechte Gang – 11. Hüftgelenke
- IDF15 Foot on the Head (Preparation)
- LT29 Foot to head
- New York Quest – DAY3 – AM2 – Rolling from sitting to lying on the back continued, including taking the legs over the shoulders
- Rotterdam 1976 – Tape 8 – Foot to head, roll to sit
- Rotterdam 1976 – Tape 9 – Foot to head, roll to sit continues
- SB5 Perfecting the self-image: Bringing the Foot to the Head and Rolling to Sitting
- SF1 – Week 2 – 24 June 1975, AM: Sitting, soles of the feet together, lifting the leg with the foot held by the opposite hand
- SF1 – Week 2 – 24 June 1975, PM: Sitting, putting the foot on top of the head
- SF1 – Week 2 – 25 June 1975: Lifting the foot to touch the head
- SF1 – Week 4 – 8 July 1975: Rolling, holding one foot with the opposite hand
- SF2 – Week 02 – 21 June 1976, pm: Sliding Foot Through the Gap continued
- SF2 – Week 04 – 6 July 1976: Sliding Foot Through the Gap, Fingers and Toes Relating (continued from Week 2)
- SFEC Notes – 01. Tilting pelvis sitting
- SFEC Notes – 05. Foot to head (July 1)
- SFEC Public Workshop – Vol. 2 – 2. Flexible back
- SFEC Public Workshop – Vol. 2 – 3. Easy rolling
- SFEC Public Workshop – Vol. 2 – 6. More flexible than a child
- Vancouver – Hotel Vancouver – 7. Perfecting the self image
- Washington Quest – DAY3 – ATM #8 In Sitting: Mouth to leg, Holding the foot, rolling in a complete circle
Resources
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Share Your Insights (ideas, principles, strategies, experiences, …)
Key Ideas, Principles, and Strategies
- Rest after each movement to observe the aftereffects (physical movements as well as abstract ones like thinking)
- Thinking in words is not connected to reality. Thinking the movements is, and here we will run in the same obstacles like with the physical movement.
- Paying attention to what we do leads to improvement. E.g. we can read a paragraph in a book, even aloud, and will not get the meaning as long as we do not pay attention to that (and what) we are reading.
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