Your study guide for ATM lessons

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Synopsis

This lesson works to reduce effort in the dominant hand, arm, and shoulder.

Lesson Outline

First Outline

  1. Lie on your back Notice movement of the breath How does your pelvis lie on the floor? Your shoulder girdle?
  2. Bring your attention to your dominant hand, the hand you do more of your fine work, eg writing, with if there is a lot of pain in your dominant hand, then use the other hand a little achiness in the dominant hand, go ahead a use it get a sense of the size and shape of your dominant hand what part of your hand is on the floor? Is your hand more open or curled? What is your palm like? Back of hand? fingers?
  3. Stand your feet, bend the elbow of the arm that includes the dominant hand. Make your forearm vertical. The back of your hand is continuous with the back of your forearm. Now, let your fingers go; let your hand curl or assume another natural shape. Begin to let the wrist soften, relax, and bend. The fingers and hand drop down very slowly. Without actively moving your hand, let it sink. Then, stand the hand up again. Then let your hand slowly come down towards your belly again. times. Rest.
  4. Bend the same elbow, stand the hand above the wrist. Stand the feet. Bend at the wrist 3 times, but do this 2 times more slowly than you did it before.
  5. Rest. Notice any difference in the size of the hand you have been using. Is there a difference in the shape of the hand as it rests?
  6. Stand elbow, bring the forearm upright. Let hand soften passively. Soften in the wrist. Only let your wrist go as far as it can comfortably. Is there any movement in the fingers? Let the wrist soften 5 times and each time observe a different finger.
  7. Rest. Compare sides of face, chest.
  8. Stand feet. Same position of arm. Let wrist go. Start with thumb and make tiny movements with thumb, keeping other fingers still. Make tiny movements with thumb while hand hangs down. Then do the same with index, middle, ring, pinky. Use the smallest possible effort. Rest.
  9. Stand feet. Slide both legs long, then bring them up. Repeat, pushing into the heels. Do one at a time if you can’t comfortably do both. Rest.
  10. Stand feet. Bend at same elbow. Stand hand above wrist, then let hand rest and come down. Now turn hand toward face. Did you lift your hand? How do you know your fingers are closer to your face? Is there a change in sensation in your face? Rest with feet standing.
    1. Turn hand comfortably, softly away from face, with fingers and hand hanging down. Move like a breeze is moving your hand. Rest.
  11. Stand feet, bend same elbow, stand hand. Soften the wrist, letting fingers hang. Turn your hand toward your face. In that position erect your hand, then let the wrist soften. Pause and bring our arm down.
  12. Bend at the elbow, soften the wrist. Turn hand away from your head. Erect your hand, then soften a few times. Rest.
  13. Stand feet. Slide both legs long, then bring them up. Repeat, pushing into the heels. Do one at a time if you can’t comfortably do both. Rest.
  14. Stand feet. Bend elbow, making forearm vertical. Soften wrist. Turn hand so it is more toward our face. Erect and soften hand and wrist. Turn your arm 10-15 degrees, and erect and soften in this orientation. Repeat until hand is pointing as far away from your face as it can comfortably. Continue, going back to your face. Rest.
  15. Bring feet to stand. Bend elbow, forearm vertical, relax wrist in position most comfortable. Now lift elbow a little bit and return to floor. Slowly, float arm up again, a little more. Keep going a little more each time. Use any part of the body to raise the arm up. Keep wrist relaxed, back of wrist oriented toward the ceiling. Don’t lock the elbow but get it near straight. Rest.
  16. Stand feet. Bend elbow. Stand hand and soften wrist. Float arm up toward ceiling. With arm up, turn whole arm, as though in a cylinder. Keep wrist soft. Rest.
  17. Stand feet, arm, hand. Soften wrist. Float arm to vertical.
    1. Make a circle with the hand. Back of hand to ceiling. Feel a smaller circle in the shoulder blade?
    2. Same position, but draw circle in the other direction. Is wrist bent? Fingers hanging down? Is your chest available to allow this to happen? Rest.
    3. Same position, with arm lengthened. Tap shoulder blade on the floor. Rest.
    4. Same position with arm extended and then swing your arm toward feet, then toward head, keeping wrist soft, fingers down. Small swing. Feel contact with shoulder blade move. Pause. Swing arm side to side.
  18. Rest. What is happening on the side of your neck? What about the eye on that side?
  19. Stand feet, arm, hand. Relax wrist. Bring the pads of pinky and thumb towards each other. If you can bring them to touch, rub them together. Rest.
  20. Bend knees, feet stand, bend elbow. Bring pads of pinky and thumb towards each other. Can you stand hand and other 3 fingers? Let that go and rest.
  21. Stand feet. Slide both legs long, then bring them up. Repeat, pushing into the heels. Rest.
  22. Stand feet, arm, hand. Let wrist go. Turn arm toward head and away. Let elbow rise up, keeping wrist relaxed, and keep turning arm. Come down and then back up. Keep hand hanging down. Rest.
  23. Stand feet, arm; let wrist go. Let arm float up and make a circle. Let hand down. Reverse direction. Rest.
  24. Feet stand. Place back of hand on breast bone, finger toward public bone. Press gently. Wrist is bent, elbow comes in a little.
  25. Rest. Sense the hand you’ve been using. Feel all that side.
  26. Come to standing. Is one hand lower? One shoulder? Is one eye more open?

Second Outline

This lesson is done lying on the back, legs long, and works only with the dominant hand. The key movements are:

Table version

# Preparation Action to be repeated and explored Hints & Comments Approximations to look out for
1 Lie on back. Stand dominant hand on elbow. Hang the hand and lift it to vertical. Slow: throughout you’re giving the sense of letting the hand fall in a slow, controlled way. People taking the hand backwards, not just to the vertical. You can have everyone do this to clarify.
2 Pay attention to fingers: does each move separately?
Close eyes. Move only thumb, and each finger in order. Which fingers move with the one you’re moving?
Hinting that this will affect the whole side.
3 Hang the hand and lift to vertical. When you lift the hand, do the fingers bend or straighten?
Hang hand. Turn hand towards the face and away from the face. As if the wind is turning the hand.
What limits the hand moving in each direction?
Turn hand outwards and stay. Erect and lower hand. Start to hint about the strain in the dominant hand, and this interferes with breathing, length of spine.
Turn hand inwards, towards face. Erect and lower hand. As if it hangs down and straightens by itself.
4 With hand turns towards face. As though the wind lifts from the elbow, begin to lift the arm towards straightening it (loosely), a half-centimeter at a time. Lengthen spine, floating, imagine someone pulling from head and you don’t resist.
Stay with arm extended. Make a pendulum up and down. (Towards head and leg.)
Turn fingers outwards. Same pendulum.
Neutral rotation of arm. Same pendulum.
Same. Tap shoulder blade. Tiny lifting–just the shoulder blade.
Same. Oscillations (pendulum) left and right with arm.
Stand elbow on floor. Erect and lower hand. How each finger moves away from the others.
5 Same, hand to ceiling. Move thumb towards little finger.
Same. Move little finger towards thumb. Touching on the nail.
Alternate.
What else moves.
Touch tip of thumb with tip of little finger. Hang hand. Do fingers straighten and bend?
Stay hanging, and straighten and bend the three fingers.
Switch thumb and little finger. Do the same.
REST
6 Hand standing on elbow. Run through raising and lowering hand, turning hand, lifting elbow to more-or-less straight arm. Tap shoulder blade until clear.
Pendulum in a circle around the point the shoulder blade is standing on. Other direction. As though it’s happening by itself.
STOP
7 Bend at elbow and place back of hand on sternum. Tap shoulder blade.
Take the elbow in pendulum direction, head and legs.
Pendulum right and left.
Draw circle with elbow.
REST Which arm longer?
8 Stand Lift arm you didn’t work with. Arm you did work with.
Turn whole body to side you didn’t work. Side you did work.

Focus of Moshe’s Teaching

Focus on moving slowly, with delicate movements, like the wind is pushing you.

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