Your study guide for ATM lessons

Description of the theme

Many lessons emphasize or address the work of the flexors; the “flexor lessons” are the ones that work with lying on the back, feet standing, fingers interlaced behind the head, and lifting the head and knees in various combinations.

Flexor lessons on Feldy Notebook

Discussion

  • The London Transcript version is excellent for a very focused pedagogical approach: development of each idea of improvement in turn, with a clear illustration in action, and general discussion of the relation of flexors and extensors as antagonistic muscle groups. …

Key variations

  • Variations and differentiations include: taking knee and elbow on same side and opposite side to one another; lifting head facing forwards or facing sideways; hands below the kneecap on the upper shin (“below knee”) or in the fold of the knee (“behind knee”); taking forehead/nose/mouth/chin towards the knee; mutual clarification of folding/breathing; …
  • I’ve included some lessons that involve minute movements of shortening across the diagonal (Esalen 1)–lifting shoulder and opposite hip–as “flexor lessons”.
  • What I call “advanced” flexor lessons involve holding legs and arms long towards the ceiling, and making circles on the ceiling or “catching flies,” and ultimately drawing circles on the floor by transferring the weight on the back. Maybe these should be kept in another category.
  • Flexor lessons develop towards “rolling in the median plane” (rolling straight backwards/forwards between lying on the back and sitting)

Resources

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