Source
- Alexander Yanai Vol 7 #308
- Reel 21, Track 2, Lesson 4
- Duration: 39 minutes
Synopsis
- AY 308 is a spinal mobility lesson exploring the relationship between pelvic movement and head through alternating between pressing the belt and tailbone into the floor.
- The lesson systematically builds the connection between pelvic movement and head carriage, first establishing the basic movement pattern, then adding asymmetrical variations, and finally integrating head movement. The emphasis on continuous breathing serves as a quality control mechanism, ensuring movements remain within a range that allows for optimal organization.
Lesson Outline
- Face up, stand feet. Roll pelvis to increase arch in back.
- Same, roll pelvis to take belt towards floor. Alternate: roll up and down. Accent on upwards movement.
- Interlace fingers behind head; lift head. Same movement of pelvis. Lower head slightly as tailbone goes to floor, and lift slightly as belt goes to floor.
- Legs long, hands at 45 degrees. Using the heels into the floor, create the same movement of the pelvis. Quick and easy.
- Stand R foot; create same movement with L heel and R leg. The R hip joint will lift, the pelvis make a diagonal movement. Quicker.
- Other side. (Watch that it’s not a circle: the line is up and down on a diagonal, not a circle.)
- Stand R foot; turn head to look L with R hand behind. Lift, and create the same movement. The R foot can do the work without the L heel. Then change the head and arms.
- Other side.
- Legs bent, feet standing; lengthen both arms overhead. Alternate belt and tailbone. Now, lift head as you roll the tailbone towards the floor.
- Legs long, arms overhead: use the heels and create the movement of the pelvis. Then with legs bent, feet standing. Accent upwards.
Focus of Moshe’s Teaching
Focus of Moshe’s Teaching: Throughout the lesson, Moshe emphasizes how maintaining easy breathing through the nostrils facilitates smoother spinal movement. He explains that flattening the chest is necessary for lifting the head, stating “To be able to lift the head, it is necessary to flatten the chest and make it thinner in the middle.” He guides students to feel the spine pushing through the chest “like a skewer through meat.”
Related ATMs
- Tag Jelly-pudding-pelvis
- Tag Softening-chest
- Tag Skewering-spine
Resources
- Here’s a recording, at kinesophics: http://kinesophics.ca/skewering_spine_chest
Share Your Insights (ideas, principles, strategies, experiences, …)
- Variations of speed, using oscillations. (Most of the instructions end by varying the speed: smaller, simpler, quicker.)
- I think the idea is that “skewering the spine” (rather than simply raising and lowering the arches together: arch behind low back and neck get larger together and smaller together as the three masses of the head, pelvis, and chest rock alternately chest towards pelvis and chest towards head) requires this particular differentiation of the lower ribs/low thoracic spine that you get the steps with the arms overhead, lifting the head while rolling the pelvis to the tailbone. The position of the arms and the direction of rolling of the pelvis both ask the spine and chest to lift in the lower thoracic area; the action of lifting the head asks the sternum and ribs, on the contrary, to slide down.
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