Hippie Chicks - 8 - Carole - You've Got A Friend - Soft Hands
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®
Carole King’s second album, Tapestry, spawned four GRAMMY Awards® — Record, Song and Album Of The Year as well as Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female honors, and remained the best-selling album by a female artist for a quarter century. Carole was introduced as a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2015; Aretha Franklin, James Taylor, Sara Bareilles and Janelle Monae performed. PBS premiered "American Masters" - Carole King: Natural Woman," a documentary about her life and work. She has become politically active in the last 8 years, using her music to share her hopes for the future.
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.
This lesson is equally applicable to holding a knife or wooden spoon in the kitchen or a stick for games: tennis, golf, softball, kayaking, bike handlebars. Soft hands allows you to push your grandbaby’s swing gently while protecting your back.
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.
Try this soft movement of allowing the fingers to slip together as the wrist bends with different elbow and hand positions.
Give yourself a few extra minutes after this lesson - it can be trance inducing.
Science Nerd Candy Bowl: a look at how the hands move and how the elbow moves the shoulder girdle:
How to Draw HANDS - Proko (9:42) - Fun approach to hand anatomy, told by an artist
Anterior Elevation of the arm and synergies of the rotator cuff (3:10) 3D Anatomy Lyon - how the muscles of the entire shoulder girdle enable lifting the arm forward and up (prayer positions)
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
How you might feel after this lesson: Hands soft and flexible; Hands flowing with elbow and shoulder blades; Hand movement supported by breath; Chest lifted and open; Breath deep; Shoulder blades resting quietly over the ribs, Neck released; Upper back flexible; Connected from pelvis to sternum, head to shoulders; Ready to be your own best friend.
Iconic - the first recorded version
An a capella version from the wiser women