Description of the theme
- These are lessons lying face up, and sidelying, that involve sliding the hands along the legs to hold the feet.
“Sliding hands along legs” lessons on Feldy Notebook
- Amherst 2 – Week 8 – 07/29/81 AM1 Hands Slide Down Thighs
- Amherst 2 – Week 8 – 07/29/81 AM2 Hands Slide Down Thighs (cont.)
- Amherst 2 – Week 9 – 08/03/81 AM1 Folding Like a Cat
- AY037 Sliding along the length of the leg
- AY049 Sliding on one leg
- AY053 Sliding the hands on the outside of the lower leg while lying on the side
- AY078 Standing
- AY101 On Side Lifting the Leg and Straightening it
- AY150 Movement with a stick while sitting
- AY263 Bending(s) right and left
- AY444 Straightening the knee in standing
- AY446 Ideal bending
- AY520 Straightening the legs while holding the little toe
- AY526 On the side caressing straight legs
- AY531 Continuation
- AY532 Continuation to sitting
- E36 Rapping Heels, Caressing Legs, Standing & Walking (Stransky Notes)
- IDF06 Sliding along both legs
- IDF18 Lifting the Heel and Sliding the Hand Along the Thigh
- MG78 #04 – Sliding hand down legs in various ways on back
- SF1 – Week 2 – 26 June 1975, AM: Standing
- SF3 – Day 15 – 7 July 1977: Spinal chain continued (taught by Mia Segal)
Discussion
Add your thoughts and observations–ideas behind the lesson, history of Moshe’s development; Moshe’s discussions of this theme; your personal insights in experiencing, teaching or using ideas from the lessons in FI
I found it helped reviewing all three of the versions to inform teaching any one of them: -LynetteReid Apr 8, 2012
- Yes, as you slide the hand on the outside of the opposite leg, you may well shift your head and shoulder to that side to help reach. This is made explicit in AY 49
- Yes, you can take your knee here and there. Don’t try to hold it still.
- The general position of the leg is with the foot lifted towards the ceiling. Not necessarily a straight leg, but the sole of the foot faces the ceiling.
These translate very straight-forwardly to FI:
- Lift the knee/leg and take the knee towards the person–does it want to open to the outside? stay parallel to the spine? move inside, across the diagonal? What happens when you try each variant? Where/in what directions does the spine/chest (extensors) soften to allow that, where not?
- Then with the leg still bent over, you can draw them by the arm and lift the head in various directions to address those options for folding/lengthening the extensors/moving backwards to let the shoulder/arm lengthen forwards. Sliding L hand on outside L leg, and R hand on outside L leg, asks for a transfer of weight to/lengthening in the left side of the mid-low-back. Sliding L hand on inside L leg, asks for transfer to/lengthening of R side of low back.
- The lesson doesn’t talk about the head/neck/jaw, but probably you will see much there that is relevant.
- AY 37 offers many variants you could work with–of circles with the foot, of feeling around the heel–I don’t have anything in detail to say about them now.
Key variations: ideas, principles, strategies
- These are, naturally, lessons in folding/flexing and lengthening the extensors.
- The reference movement here typically checks what it is like to hold the foot and extend the leg with the elbow inside the knee (so the leg is lengthened while the knee is to the side of the torso/moving towards the armpit or space just outside that) and with the elbow outside the knee (so the knee is more in the sagittal plane as you straighten the leg.
- The sliding of the arms along the legs leads to different twists in flexing/different directions of the knee towards the torso.
- The lengthening of the legs you get is strong and profound–there is a half-time walk-around in all of them.
Resources
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