Thursday, March 18, 2010

Running a business and teaching a Feldenkrais lesson


I had an interesting conversation tonight with a fellow West Seattle businessman at a West Seattle Chamber event.

We met at a previous function a few months ago and talked about our similar ways of looking at life. He studied martial arts, and I worked in a profession that was partially based on the martial arts, Judo in fact.

After talking with him a bit tonight I was curious how long he'd worked for himself, and how long it took him to feel successful in his current venture.
He told me he started working for himself at the age of 13 when he lived in Argentina and was in his current business for 10 years.

The conversation got really interesting when he started talking about the way he viewed his business and how he took time often to step away from it, to get a different view of it.
Some key things I remember him saying as a way of running his business were:

Stay creative
Be flexible
Step outside your business sphere on occasion to get a different look or perspective
Have fun and play with the process
Don't be afraid to make mistakes, sometimes these are really gifts
Have a strong foundation to build upon

Now, if you've ever had a Feldenkrais lesson, either in a class format or a private lesson you may recognize the above points as things we also use to enhance the learning process.

So running a business can be like giving a Feldenkrais lesson....who knew?

For more on the Feldenkrais Method:
http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Erik LaSeur GCFT
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher
Alki Feldenkrais

http://www.alkimoves.com/

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Learning to move, moving to learn

Often when marketing my work I only have 45 seconds to tell a clear, compelling story to my audience.
So usually it revolves around learning to move easier.
This is something that most people can relate to, and doesn't send them running for the doors too quickly.
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But it's a funny thing...this feldenkrais stuff.
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Yes, you can learn to move with less effort and greater ease. But the point of the Feldenkrais Method is to use movement as a means of learning.
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We use movement mainly because it's easier to measure than our feelings, thoughts, or senses.
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Learning to learn so we can escape the 'fix' mentality that is prevalent in our society.
We're addicted to someone fixing us when we're broken.
"Doctor can you put me back together?"
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Taking back our own inner knowledge of how to help ourselves.
This is the learning that is available to each one of us, at all times, wherever we are.
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This learning isn't new to any of us.
We all did it when we were infants.
"How do I pick up my head so I can see Mommy?"
"If I can only figure out how to reach farther up, then I can grab that funny thing they hung over my crib."
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No one taught us how to sit up, roll over, stand up, walk, etc.
These are things we all figured out. That we learned by exploring how we could find support from the environment we were in.
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This same ability to learn is available now.
To learn how we can work and play without hurting ourselves, and do so with pleasure.
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To learn more about the Feldenkrais Method:
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Erik LaSeur GCFT
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher
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