Gravity is a drag. Claim your (flower) power! Uplift the sag: tips up, shoulders down, chest open.
Hippie chick goddesses - those bra-disdaining, freedom seeking, wild dressing, convention challenging, joy embracing, chart busters - are our guides.
A series based on classic Awareness Through Movement® lessons
Hippie Chicks - 1 - Janis - Take Another Little Piece of My Heart
Based on “Ribbons and Gentle Fingers” as taught by Alan Questel, GCFT®
Toes!
Lying on your side of choice, or seated in a comfortable chair, our imaginary perfect practice partners invite us to expand the heart and spine between the shoulder blades, and the belly below pubic bone and sacrum.
The finale unites top and bottom, front and back, for supported uplifted posture. Come on - take another little piece of my heart now baby!
Set Up:
Side lying on a floor mat, head supported, knees drawn up
You will want some head support that allows your neck to align with your sternum. If your chin is too high put more support under your ear; if chin too low, support the jaw
You may want support between the knees so the thighs are aligned with the hips
OR - sitting on a firm, comfortable chair, knees level with hips.
Note: I’m posting both the morning and evening recordings. In the morning session, students laid on the floor. In the evening, students preferred sitting in a chair.
Hippie Chicks - 2 - Cass - Make Your Own Kind of Music
Based on several breath-related Awareness Through Movement® Lessons by Moshe Feldenkrais
Slumping cuts off your deepest breath.
We begin by shifting weight in the foot, breaking down what it takes to roll each foot to the outside edge, then the inside. Could be very different. There’s a Feldy fun interlude of rolling the feet side to side in coordination with the head.
Cass Elliot - Mama Cass - makes space for and uses every milliliter of breath
A remedy: using your breath to lift the upper chest - front and back - and create lightness that allows the hips, legs, arms a little room.
Lying on your back or side, or seated on a chair, we breathe into the ‘middle’ ribs, then the lower, and, finally, finding that space at the top of the shoulders between the clavicles and shoulder blades. We will also recall how nasal breathing, as opposed to mouth breathing, helps keep the cervical spine long and the head held aloft.
Set Up:
Lie on a mat, either supine or side-lying, whichever you prefer
OR - sitting on a firm, comfortable chair, knees level with hips.
Hippie Chicks - 3 - Linda - Different Drummer (Shoulder Blades)
Lift Your Tips
Based on a “Clarifying the Shoulder Blades,” a JKA lesson as taught by Tiffany Sankary, GCFP®
So young, and oh, those eyes. Her posture improves with age and confidence.
This lesson is a deep, detailed exploration of the relationship between the shoulder blades and the sternum, upper arms and ribs. It comes from Jeremy Krauss, a direct student of Dr. Feldenkrais, who is developing his own canon of lessons.
Lying on your back or side, or seated on a chair, we will follow a now familiar format. We press inward toward the center line (spine or sternum) with the inner edge of the middle’ of the shoulder blade. Then the bottom tip of the blade, and, finally, the upper, inner edge towards the spine. Notice how the sternum and ribs respond to the shoulder blade and arm movements.
This step-by-step exploration creates a pathway to recreating a lifted chest in the car, at your desk, walking.
Set Up:
Lie on a mat, either supine or side-lying, whichever you prefer
OR - sitting on a firm, comfortable chair, knees level with hips.
How You Might Feel After This Lesson: Open Ribs: Front, Back, Side to Side; Deep breath; Shoulders active and mobile; Chest lifted from back to front; Chest to Pelvic Floor connection; Taller and leaner; All around alignment.
Hippie Chicks - 4 - Joni - Both Sides Now (More Shoulder Blades)
Lift Your Tips
Based on “Fiddling Arms” ATM by Moshe Feldenkrais
This variation on the “Fiddling Arms” explores connections between the shoulder blades. In side lying - BOTH SIDES NOW - the top shoulder blade moves while the floor side is immobilized.
Feel into how the two shoulder blades relate to one another, how the spine and head move, and how the sternum and pelvis can guide or follow.
Set Up:
Side lying on a mat, with support to hold nose level with chin, and a blanket between the knees so thigh is level with floor - if desired
OR - sitting on a firm, comfortable chair, knees level with hips with support for holding the arms at shoulder height - if desired
Hippie Chicks - 5 - Gracie - Airplane Arms
Find Lift, Find Freedom
Based on the “Chanukia (AY18)” Awareness Through Movement® by Moshe Feldenkrais
In this variation of the “Chanukia/Candelabra” lesson, we again connect the shoulder blades to each other and, via the clavicles, the sternum. This lesson starts with arms out at shoulder height, fingers magnetized to the sky, arching and releasing the spine between the shoulder blades. Gradually the arms extend fully. The finale is deep lie-on-your-back twist of the torso and ribs.
Set Up:
Lying on a mat on the floor with knees bent and arms extended at shoulder height, with support for head and knees as needed
OR sitting on a firm chair with knees and hips level, with possible support for arms at shoulder height
Hippie Chicks - 6 - Marianne - As Tears Go By - Align and Stabilize from the Corners
Find Lift, Find Freedom
Based on the “Minimal Movement” as taught by Arlyn Zones, GCFT®
In pursuit of a light and lifted chest, and freedom in the spine and hips, we have sensed into the inside edges of the shoulder blades - as the shoulders move together, in different orientations relating to arm position, with one immobilized and the other mobile, moving in opposition.
This lesson takes those connections further - from shoulder blades and sternum down to the pelvis. Lying supine or sitting on a chair, the intention is to connect the top of the shoulder blade (the Sgt. Pepper epaulets) to the bottom tips of the pelvis, namely the tailbone and pubis. Then connect the bottom tip of the shoulder blade to the pelvic crests. We do this first on one side, then the diagonal and around.
Set Up:
Lying supine on a mat on the floor with knees bent, with support for head and knees as needed
OR sitting on a firm chair with knees and hips level
Hippie Chicks - 7 - Judy - Amazing Grace - Prayer Hands
Find Lift, Find Freedom
Based on the “Prayer Hands” lesson as taught by Moshe Feldenkrais
This classic lesson - with hands, heart and head lifting, bowing, twisting - is not specifically spiritual, though the “prayer hand” gesture is central to devotional practices across the spectrum.
For this series, we focus on the elbows as they guide the shoulder blades, sternum and spine to uplift, to round down (in humility?) and connect to the pelvis for full body connection.
Same move in a different orientation: hip and shoulder come together and looking over the shoulder is easy!
Hippie Chicks - 8 - Carole - You’ve Got A Friend - Soft Hands
Find Lift, Find Freedom
Based on the “Bell Hands” lesson as taught by Alan Questel, GCFT®
Her artistry at the piano is the inspiration for this variation of the “Bell Hand” lesson, modified to bring attention to the connection between the hands and shoulder girdle. Our aspiration is to experience our hands as soft enough to feel for and control piano keys, yet strong, to be able to keep playing those chords for hours-long performances.
Lie supine or sit for this lesson. Your attention is on the soft and subtle movements of the hands and wrists, connected, as we have been exploring, to the shoulder blade, sternum, and pelvis. An image for this hand gesture might be a tulip opening, a jellyfish sinking and rising, a mushroom emerging under palm, or a hand cupped like a bell.
Set Up:
Lying supine on a mat on the floor with knees bent, with support for head and knees as needed
OR sitting on a firm chair with knees and hips level
Hippie Chicks - 9 - Rickie Lee - The Second Time Around - The Hug
Find Lift, Find Freedom
Based on the “Flexors and Extensors” lesson by Moshe Feldenkrais
This lesson is a bounty of favorites, and a return to a favorite lesson - the one where, lying supine, the knees tip in one direction while “triangle arms” tip in the other direction. Eventually, the arms wrap into a cross-chest hug - so wonderful to love yourself.
Set Up:
Lying supine on a mat on the floor with knees bent, with support for head and knees as needed
OR sitting on a firm chair with knees and hips level
Hippie Chicks - 10 - Mary - Where Have All The Flowers Gone - Coming Full Circle
Find Lift, Find Freedom
Based on “AY 60” by Moshe Feldenkrais
This is the lesson where we survey all the major joints, hips and spinal actions, looking for improvements, new kinks that show up as our systems change, and new areas of curiosity. Highlight the connections we have been developing, and, consciously, lift up and out of our slumps, changing the world from the inside out.
Set Up:
On a mat on the floor, with possible extra padding for belly and chest when prone
OR - on a firm bottom, armless chair with a small footstool to help keep back released
