Whole Body/Soft Hands

The muscles of the hand are tiny, yet we ask them to do some seriously heavy lifting.  Experiment with letting the big core muscles support your upper body to leave your hands free for the details and your wrists are free from overuse and pain.
  
Soft hands are the difference between grace and grab.  We might start an action with gentle hands, but moment the activity gets complex, our instinct is to grip.  Tightly.  

Take some time to experiment with ways to get around the gripping habit and let the big muscles (and spine) do the heavy lifting.  And with the appropriate division of labor, your hands may surprise you with new expressiveness and openness to form themselves around a basketball, paddle, coffee cup, paintbrush or spatula.

This lesson is best done on the floor, lying on a yoga mat or rug. You can, as always, sit on firm chair.  We begin with small cupping hand movements and slowly add support from the hip and leg, the head and spine, and eventually the shoulder blade and whole arm.  There are a few "don't try this at home" detours just to highlight how some movement options, often our most familiarly unseen habits, are noticeably uncomfortable when you do a little compare and contrast.

This lesson builds on a hip lifting session, but don't worry if you forgot about the change in time or couldn't make it.  This lesson is accessible in its own right and has a different focus.