Source

• Alexander Yanai Vol 7 #304
• Reel 21, Track 1, Lesson 4
• Duration 45 minutes

Synopsis

Lying face down, with knees bent to ceiling, you explore the ability to maintain the foot flat in relation to the ceiling while turning heels and toes in and out. To clarify this, you draw circles and quarter circles with the heels, and with awareness of line from heel to big toe and heel to little toe.

Lesson Outline

• Section 1: Lie on your stomach with right knee bent and foot in air. Bend and straighten the foot at the ankle, focusing attention on heel movement. Variations include noticing which part of heel moves, connecting heel and foot movements as opposites, and finding a specific point in the foot that represents the movement.
• Section 2: Maintain prone position with bent knee, holding foot parallel to floor. Turn foot right and left while keeping it parallel. Progress through variations of imagining the movement before doing it, moving without looking then with looking, and comparing heel versus whole foot movement.
• Section 3: Continue in prone with bent knee. Bend and straighten foot while imagining lines connecting heel to big toe, then heel to small toe. Add turning foot right and left while maintaining awareness of these imaginary lines.
• Section 4: Return to prone position with bent knee. Move foot so heel describes circles in both directions, making 5 circles each way while noting any distorted parts of the circle.
• Section 5: With foot lifted in air, make lower half circles with heel going down and back up. Explore variations focusing on individual toe movements and the connection between heel and each toe.
• Section 6: Return to initial position. Alternate between bending/straightening foot and moving it horizontally right and left, noting if movement feels more appropriate than before.

Focus of Moshe’s teaching

Dr. Feldenkrais emphasizes how habitual movement patterns persist unless awareness is brought to actual versus imagined movement. He points out individual differences in movement perception, stating “Because if we look nicely, you will see that there aren’t two legs that do the [same] thing in this simple movement.” He stresses that change requires distinguishing what one is actually doing.

Final Notes: This lesson employs imagination in three distinct ways: visualizing lines between heel and toes, mentally rehearsing movements before execution, and locating specific points of movement in the heel.

Related ATMs

Foot movement in space/Sole of the foot parallel to the ceiling (prone):

• Amherst 1 – Week 2 – 06/19/80 PM1 – Lying on Stomach, Movements of Legs, Eyes and Head
• Amherst 1 – Week 3 – 06/23/80 AM1 – Lying on stomach (part 2)
• Amherst 1 – Week 1 – 06/11/80 AM1 – Extensor (Incomplete)
• AY111 Painting with the soles of the feet
• AY118 On the stomach; tilting the legs in circles
• AY175 Turning in the heels, #1 or Circles with the heels
• AY176 Turning in the heels, #2
• AY245 Heels and feet in circles
• AY298 Improving the hopping for beginners
• Franz Wurm, Der aufrechte Gang – Series 2 – 10. Orientierung des Fußes
• IDF09 Movements of the right foot (prone)
• IDF20 Movements of the right foot
• IFF Archive Collection: Foot Differentiation. 3 August, 1973
• LT03 Foot on dial of clock
• SF1 – Week 4 – 7 July 1975: Standing at the wall and prone, turning the foot
• SF2 – Week 03 – 29 June 1976: Bending the Toes, on the Stomach and in Sitting
• SF3 – Day 18 – 13 July 1977: Prone with knees bent and soles to ceiling. Exploring cardinal movements of the feet and ankles
• SFEC Notes – 09. Tilting legs on stomach
• SFEC Notes – 13. Clarifying Movements of the Feet (July 26)
• SFEC Public Workshop – Vol. 1 – 10. More flexible feet
• SFEC Public Workshop – Vol. 3 – 03. A longer spine

Others:

• This forms part of the series working with the image of a ball rolling on the diagonals
• See AY 303, 305 and Lesson 11 in Awareness Through Movement
• Esalen Workshop (1972) 46 – Imagination and Action to Complete the Back Self Image (recordings)
• Feldenkrais, Moshé – Awareness Through Movement Basic Series – 10. Generalize Your Skills
• Tag Imagining
• Tag unilateral
• Tag Flex-feet
• Tag Flex-feet-prone

Resources

• A recording based on this lesson by Lynette Reid is at: http://kinesophics.ca/foot_and_its_movements_space/
  
• Also one by Sharon Starika at http://openatm.org/atm/sharon2003/sharon_021103.mp3
• If you are a feldyforum subscriber, search the archive for a discussion of this lesson and recording.

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

• Principles: refining cortical control of the leg extensors – lereid Sep 12, 2010
• Strategies: clock – lereid Sep 12, 2010
• Exploring the connection of the ball-rolling image of the preceding lessons with this refinement of heel control makes for an interesting FI experience. – lereid Sep 12, 2010

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