Amherst 1 – Week 1 – 6/13/80 AM1 – Rolling back to side

Source

• Amherst Year 1
• June 13, AM1; DVD 4; VHS 9
• Labelled “Talk: Chronology of movements” in the Table of Contents, but first 46 minutes are talk about sensory modalities, and Rolling lesson starts after that.
• Duration of the recording: 69 min. (without “Talk: Chronology of movements”)
• audio only

Synopsis

• A lesson in rolling (with quality) between lying on the side, knees and arms bent, to lying on the back.

Lesson Outline

AM1 on Friday, June 13:

• Lie on R side. Feel this as an ordinary, comfortable position. Then lie on back, and return to lying on the side. With what quality?
• Lie on R side, stand the L palm somewhere in front of the chest. Take the middle of the back backwards, lower ribs away from elbow. (Aha–now you see that something isn’t right, that something is ruined–you can start but at a certain point you would have to make a great effort to continue.)
• Rest.
• Lie on R side. Take L shoulder back, and simultaneously lengthen your left arm in the direction over your head. Distinguishing deliberately lengthening your arm, and letting your arm lengthen, simultaneously.
• Rest.
• If you think to bend the L leg to come back to lie on the side, how do you do it? Gradually introduces the idea of letting all the limbs stay on the floor as you roll. The chest has to do something different on the one side and the other because of the floor. The sternum must do something.
• Lie on R side. Take L hip back towards the floor. L leg lengthens (again, not deliberately, but simultaneously). Continue until also the L shoulder goes back and the L arm lengthens.

AM2 on Monday, June 16:

• Continue. Starting on R side, taking L knee and elbow towards one another.
• Rolling to the back, with the arm and leg lengthening simultaneously–if you really do this slowly and simultaneously, you won’t roll onto your back until the leg and arm are completely extended/straight. If you jump ahead to the end you want to get to, you’ll still have your elbow and/or knee bent when you’re on your back.
• Shifting attention between: hand and foot moving apart, knee and elbow moving apart, hip and shoulder moving apart.

Focus of Moshe’s Teaching

• We make the thing that seems impossible possible…etc.
• Good discussion of the details of flexing/lengthening as you roll backwards lying on the side.
• Quality
• There is no movement of any quality in which your mind is focused on one detail: you are doing the whole. What you think or plan is what you already know, not something new. Second day, extensive discussion of background and foreground.
• Doing the shoulder/arm movement simultaneously, as a consequence of the movement you intend.
• Babies learn so quickly because they aren’t concerned with intention, but only the feeling of the movement–is it pleasant or not, do they like it or not.
• If simultaneity improves, then the ability to turn (strength, speed) changes enormously.

Related ATMs

• Tag unilateral
• Tag Elbow-to-knee
• Tag Rolling

Resources

• Here’s a recorded version: http://kinesophics.ca/rolling_side_back/

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