Source
Beatriz Walterspiel Guest Trainer (Days 1-10)
Jeff Haller Trainer (Days 11-16)
Day 1
Welcome: Introduction: Creating an environment as a specific for ATM and FI. For the Freedom to learn. We never know what a person will learn. We create the environment so they can make their own connections and learning.
ATM: Supine: Raising a leg and finding support. Arms in triangle moving up and down with and without leg.
Break
ATM: AY #12 adaptation. Sitting With Straight Legs
Lunch
Discussion: Questions re: wording in lesson; swing vs lift. Naming of lessons as a personal choice.
Discussion in Small groups: In groups of 5 discuss :
- What is most important topic of the lessons?
- What would you name it?
- Did you have same effect of sequence of 2nd lesson?
- What was different?
- How did the first lesson set the stage
- Come up with a question. Take 30 minutes
Discussion: Feedback and Questions and looking at the 2nd lesson in detail. Differentiation in upper thoracic. Demonstrations with different students.
Break
Partner work: Observe your partner doing the last movement(s) of the ATM. Give information to help them: where do they move and where/how could you touch to facilitate movement.
Day 2
ATM: Side Lying with top leg on floor in front of other leg. Both arms straight forward one on the other.
- Sliding arm forward and backward
- Sliding arm forward until can lift and turn toward back following hand with eyes.
- Legs on one another sliding top knee
- Legs on one another sliding and raising arm and turning toward back.
- Top leg straight out in front, sliding it forward as arm goes backward (lifting)
There were breaks within the lesson for observation of individuals. Where there was movement in the back and chest. Looking for proportional movement and engagement of ribs.
Break
ATM: continued. Do on the other side on your own making notes of what is interesting to you so you could include these as directions and metaphor in ATM for others.
Lunch
Discussion: Questions and Discussion of lesson and exercise of the morning.
Break
FI Demo and practice: Person side lying and ‘practitioner’ sitting behind them facing toward their head. Person’s arm is long on top of hip.
- Place one of your hands on their hand and the other under upper arm at elbow joint from below and raise the elbow/upper arm. You are looking for how the arm connects into the joint so you can ‘catch’ the clavicle
- Move the arm as a piece toward and away from the ear, trying different angles.
- Support under the arm from behind to front @ humeral head with the other hand on the scapula so as to guide the arm to find directions and enlarge possibilities.
Day 3
ATM: AY #495 Arm Around in Lying
Break
Discussion: How would/could the ATM give further information for the FI practice of yesterday?
FI Demo and practice: Demonstration with skeleton of shoulder girdle. Clarifications of connections through arm and placement of hands at elbow. How deep this work can go.
Lunch
FI Demo and practice: Discussion and demonstration with person side lying and practitioner sitting at head:
- Proximal movement of scapula/shoulder up/down. Respecting the steps and limitations of partner
- Connecting through into ribs from same holding position. How intention can shape your hand and information. Think of ‘gluing’ arm to ribs
- Holding arm and lengthening with long arm connecting through to ribs and down to pelvis.
Practice in pairs the 3 approaches. Interest in #3 is to think the arm is being raised above head.
Day 4
ATM: AY#11 Painting With The Soles of the Feet
Break
Discussion:
- Each person will have their own strategy to make things light and reversible
- Doing entire lesson or imagining parts and remaining present in the process. Then they find they have more of an understanding of the ‘pieces’ than if they ‘dropped out’ of the lesson.
FI Practice: In pairs, do whatever you have learned/remember to help your partner have more ease in raising their arm over head.
Lunch
FI Practice: In pairs, reverse roles from the AM. Start with the observation of partner standing or sitting and raising their arm over head so you can see their pattern, and sequence. What in the sequence would you like to facilitate
Break
Demonstration: Person side lying. Practitioner sitting @ head. Action: To facilitate raising arm.
- Move fingers along spine to give a lengthening invitation.
- Align with person’s head/spine.
- Lift arm from under wrist (above joint)(for action message) and lengthen arm toward over head. Support at elbow as well.
- When arm is up, rest it on head and place your hand on forehead as ‘anchor’ and rotate them backward (from arm connected to head). OR rest arm on ear if possible and rotate and lengthen.
- Connect through rotation and length to ‘power’ centre of spine/pelvis.
- Slide shoulder blades toward spine taking ribs along and into upper spine rotation.
Day 5
ATM: Esalen #39 Developing Pelvic Thrust
Break
Discussion: Look at lesson in detail.
Lunch
FI Demonstration and practice: Continuation of yesterday afternoon’s connecting arms to torso and spine. Hand around ear for
- Rolling on ribs and
- Flexion/extension (like a wheel)
Break
Practice and demonstration: With person’s hand/arm over head and resting on ear, sliding ‘practitioner’s’ hand under head to lift head into side bending.
Day6
ATM: Side lying Lifting Limbs and Lifting Pelvis
Break
Talk: Letting an image of the movement emerge for each person in an ATM. Some lessons work primarily with image and it is our image of the movement that dictates how we do it. Our nervous system puts images together for action. Image/impression is how we connect the senses into action.
FI practice and discussion: What was most important for you in the ATM?
- Differentiation of ribs and trunk for raising limbs ‘weightlessly”.
- Lengthening through head- helped pelvis ‘pop’.
- Spiral to include the entire body at the end
- Head getting light and connecting head to pelvis.
- Ankle exploration- took the movement into use of entire self due to constrains of the position. Constraints made it necessary to move in hip joints and into spine.
Demo: Looking at how to prepare someone to be more comfortable in starting position with supports under head &/or shoulder blade to gain sense of support from ground. The supports may change with different configurations of the pelvis as the pressure shifts under chest and head as lesson progresses.
With partner side lying, practitioner sits at their bottom and gives support gently under sit bone.
Lunch
FI practice: What is person’s ‘wish’? What do they want. Look in relation to the morning ATM , lifting leg in side lying. How could you help them make the leg feel lighter? In pairs, choreograph what you know to do this.
Break
Discussion: Homework for tomorrow: What do you and your cohorts see in observations? WE see &/or notice different things.
FI Practice: Engage partner in a dialogue at beginning of FI to make both of you more natural with each other and be able to elicit information.
FI Demo: Person side lying- notice how she/he places themselves and where their support is. Where is pelvis really resting? Standing behind them place hands on pelvis using the flat of the back of the hand. “Beam” through to the place of rest/stability to make it clearer.
Day 7
Discussion: Questions and feedback from yesterday’s work.
ATM: Differentiating Hip Joints
Break
Discussion: Discussion and responses to lesson’s usefulness.
FI demonstration: Practice in pairs. With person supine
- As 1 piece substitute your hands for floor and lift leg. Hold under heel and feel weight and connection into hip.
- Lift as is a tiny bit until you sense heaviness. One hand under ankle and other under heel and then wait for any adjustment that might take place after you lower leg again. If there is difficulty or a ‘defensive’ response is detected, go with other leg.
- Where is your attention?
- Give time as movements go un under visibility.
- Be lined up with leg.
- Hands substitute for floor.
- Persons’ attention is drawn to sensing quality through the quality of their experience.
Lunch
Discussion: Choreography of an FI lesson. Here process was set up from ATM process.
FI Demo and Practice: Person Sitting on table feet on floor. Practitioner in front of them lifting bent leg .
- Where is person sitting on sit bones?
- Hold from behind knee on thigh
- Very slowly go into the movement of lifting/taking weight off.
- Observe how their foot comes off the floor.
- Give Time.
- Do other leg and observe differences.
- Do toes leave last and come back first
- You do 1 thing and person chooses how to respond. (their NS)
At first as you lift leg the sit bones may also raise and later it remains in place. Differentiation of hip joint and pelvis. Make sitting easier and less tiring over time. Practice in pairs
Questions and clarifications: Sensing without using eyes all the time.
FI Practice: Partner sitting and practitioner ‘pushing’ knee and noting where in hip joint it lands.
Day 8
ATM: Prone Six Positions (from Gaby)
Break
Discussion: Infant development: Emmi Pikler. Personal attention (feeding etc) is where baby learns about human communication. When this provides sense of safety then they can play individually to develop movement potential. Her book “Give Me Time” (not the same in English). Look at the baby pictures on wall to see what? Were any in the ATM?
Feedback on lesson:
- Found places that had not moved.
- Shoulders a ‘limiter’ (constraint) so something can happen between shoulder blades.
- Arms play a role in support and being free if upper spine and spine is organized.
- See difference on the two sides.
- Chest movement and function. Support of arms is a condition for differentiation of the chest/spine between shoulder blades. For walking. With no crawling full power of the arms will not develop for walking or lifting.
Form groups of 3 and discuss what pelvis is doing in the ATM (hint: at end it was easier to bring knee up). How did leg become light? What happened in organization of trunk for this?
Break
Discussion: Feedback on information from small groups.
- Differentiation: Movement that can be used in many different contexts. It is related to something and so it can be used in many different actions and ways. It is different from flexibility.
- At beginning flexion in hip joint and differentiation for later use as lever to open hip joint. Spine is rotating with both. Due to rotation in spine the pelvis is moved and so in this lesson the hip joints moving backward.
Day9
ATM: AY#12 Sitting with One Foot Standing and Lifting Leg (adaptation)
Break
Discussion: What would be a preparation for a class to do this lesson?
- Know not to push. Do less
- Don’t learn through pain
- What relationships and actions does this relate to? How did we prepare with earlier ATMs, yesterday’s FI practice?
FI Practice: Side lying one leg bent in front of other. “Pushing’ into hip joint. Feeling it in yourself to provide space for sensing in another. Embody it. This is one of the reasons we do so many ATMs.
FI Demonstration: Person on “all fours”. Finding support of legs and arms in sockets so that pelvis rests on head of femur. This is what we look for in ‘pushing’ leg in sitting and side lying.
Lunch
FI Demonstration and Practice Having an organized trunk so limbs can engage in action. Organized trunk through the limbs for action.
Look at preparing someone to come to stand from sitting. (Better they are a bit low than high for organization of hip joints). Rib cage is ‘hanging’ on spine. Central support is from the spine.
Person aligning self with support of spine. Sit at corner of the table so ‘practitioner’ can stand at their side and find quality to bring arm toward their opposite shoulder. Need to think in 3D. Torso and pelvis as a column with strength so the arm can be light.
Break
Discussion and expansion of practice.
- Note where on sit bones person is sitting
- Bring arm to opposite shoulder keeping sternum facing front.
- From front hold head with fingers under and around ear and then the person turns own shoulders forward and backward while you hold head fixed in space. Move 1 shoulder forward and backward and then both, alternating.
- Return to moving arm to opposite shoulder
- Take arm to top of head and move (with head) from 1 sit bone to the other in side bending. Sense from tip of the head down to sit bones and help person to round and straighten.
- Lift legs and note effect on lightness in legs. Have them sense this in standing.
Day 10
ATM: AY# 357 On the Elbows With a Hop
Break
Discussion: ATMs as problem solving lessons. People will get different things from any lesson and at different times. It is a learning space for solutions to emerge. Yesterday’s lesson: Lifting leg to find a resonance in spine. Where do you get power for the leg (distal). Today’s lesson was moving proximally.
FI Demonstration: Person supine and supported. How would you give information to lengthen? Lengthen arm as if reaching upward.
- Taking arm with opposite hand (standing at head) and slowly find quality to ‘roll‘ arm on shoulder blade to bring arm up over head. Look for shoulder blade to get closer to the table. Wheeling up
- Standing at midline:
- Raise each arm and then both simultaneously to over head finding the angle so you can pull and sense connection into centre of the chest/back. One at a time and keep sensing to pelvis.
- Take time to find the right angle to connect so person does not feel their joint is being pulled
- You can hold at elbow as well as above wrist for more security.
- Lower arms to be crossed to rest then pick up with your arms crosses and lengthen so you have ability to direct crossing easily. You are doing what person does with your shoulders.
Practice with one part of pair. Do not change roles until after lunch.
Lunch
FI Demonstration: Partner supine you at their head: Lift head with hands under to substitute for ground. Raise a tiny bit as is until you feel heaviness. Same as lifting leg done earlier in week.
Clarifications of morning Crossing arms. Cross person’s arms and change your hands so they are crossed and you are not. Rest them with their elbows crossed.
Find way to ‘wheel’ up to connect arm to clavicle and scapula. How would they elongate their arm from here to engage ribs?
Break
ATM: Standing Turning Right Foot: Leg to Left. Variations adding head, pelvis and breath.
Good byes to Beatriz
Day 11 Jeff Haller (video from here on)
ATM: Standing scan of fingers, hands, wrists arms, shoulders. Supine: Rolling progression from finger to shoulder. Pelvis and head coordination
Break
Homework: Find and form a group of 4 who are all planning on teaching different principles. The first of the 4 ATMs will be taught tomorrow morning to the other members of the group (and visitors).
Demonstration and review of Topics Beatriz covered:
- Finding lightness in limbs through the organization of the torso.
- As we look at lessons and understand themes we can find other lessons that work with the same themes.
- Understanding internal dynamics of a lesson improves our teaching.
Practice: Form groups of 5-6 and have 1 person teach the 6 Position lesson as a way to understand more about it.
- Watching 3 people on the floor doing the very first movements: rolling pelvis so as to be able to bend knee and draw it up toward chest.
- Observation of someone (B) with ‘lax’ ligaments do the movement and sense how it connects. Very slow specific directions so she can sense the signal to move.
Lunch
ATM: 6 Position lesson analysis continued.
Group Work: Return to groups and watch people in the group and help make the movements more possible for them.
Break
ATM: Sitting on Table Turning Arms, Shoulders and Fists.
- Arms at shoulder level lengthening horizontally Right and Left
- One arm forward and one toward back lengthening in these directions turning torso.
- One hand on floor and other toward ceiling, turning and reaching with arms in each direction.
- Turning fists in many possible organizations.
- Bending hands to floor, sliding them under self and raising pelvis.
Day 12
Homework: 1st person in each group teaches lesson.
Feedback
Break
Discussion on practice teaching: ATMs should be deeply experiential and deeply informative
Lunch
Discussion: Review of year in preparation for Study Hall.
- Interview questions: What do they like to do? Hobbies etc
- How we use the table and how your hands help them find …..Dialogue together
- We are not fixing but exploring. We are teachers
- Getting person comfortable on the table with supports and dialogue
Practice with each other AS IF for the evening.
Demonstration: on use of self in lifting someone’s arm and head.
Day 13
Discussion: Talk, questions and discussion on Study Hall evening.
- What criteria did you use to feel it was a success?
- Presenting ourselves as practitioners.
- Observation and demonstration of part of one lesson.
- Helping person keep 1 leg standing (supine on table) with minimal tone necessary.
- How we often observe the opposite of what person reports sensing.
- We help them to map their territory.
Break
ATM teaching groups: 2nd person. What is the object of the assignment?
Lunch
Discussion: review of Beatriz’s two weeks of FI material.
- Side lying
- Think functionally for person to be aligned so as to move more easily.
FI Practice: side lying: finding and ‘pushing’ through sit bone to give information for lengthening the spine. Sit bones ‘glide’ back. Where can the pelvis make a circular movement (clock) so spine can go forward and up to head AS IF sitting on sit bones.
Day 14
Homework ATM teaching. Third person
Break
ATM: Balloon Breathing
Lunch
Discussion and Demonstration: Review of 2nd half of Beatriz FI material. The thread of the material, the intention and the thinking. The use of them as part of the choreography of a lesson.
Break
FI Practice: putting these things together in ways that make sense for your partner.
Day 15
Homework: Last person teaches
Break
Discussion: Review of the ATM teaching assignment. Metaphors and teaching that are intrinsic to the work itself.
- What was spoken of
- What have you learned about teaching with interweaving?
- Bringing awareness to constraints
- Feedback on 2nd Study Hall
Lunch
FI Demonstration and practice: Observe, take in person relative to
- Space
- Smoothness
- Sequence of movement
- Where they initiate
- Sense it in yourself
Improvement in ANY direction is improvement in all directions.
Practice in pairs: Person looking Right and Left then side lying. Use everything you need and know to help them have the ability to move their pelvis in a smooth clock. Smoothness not size.
Day 16
ATM: Supine Raising Pelvis Lengthening Arm. From foot to head length
Break
FI Demonstration and discussion of process of ATM:
- Movement comes through skeleton.
- Foot to head through each joint.
- Keeping tone even in moving
Break
FI Demonstration and practice. Sitting at person’s head with them supine. Rolling head with observation of how they use eyes and your own self use.
Take arm with ease and support for yourself to sense where person would bring their arm across and up midline toward face.
Find way to bring arms over head and then to rolling them toward side or toward reaching up as in ATM.
Break
FI Demonstration and practice: Person sitting at corner of table.
1) You stand at their side and roll head between your hands from each side.
2) Lift their arm to midline and to opposite shoulder. Do each arm.
3) Support under arm (from arm side) holding hand and other to raise arm (elbow) toward their face. Other hand is on back giving lengthening information.
4) From front place hands around mastoid bones and move person side to side and then to stand
5) Find pathway directly up and through from pelvis to head so they can come up.
Ending
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