After the thaw, sun and wind.

After about 2 weeks of snow, ice and slush, it's finally in the past.

Now we have strong winds, top reported gust I saw at the Beach Drive weather station was 56mph!

My empty garbage can was blown across Admiral Way, empty of it's 3 weeks worth of trash.

With the new year comes the symbolic gesture of setting goals.

For myself, I've found that the 'attained' goal usually arrives not out of striving for the end goal, but rather honoring the path I'm on and meeting with what ever presents itself...the rain, thunder, snow, ice, wind, and even the sun.

The process of an Awareness through Movement lesson is one of paying attention to how you do something. The simple command 'lift your arm' for some can be one of a compulsive need to compete, raise their arm quicker, higher, longer.

Moshé called these 'stupid movements' only because the movement itself wasn't really that important, but rather the attention given to the movement. So even though there are over 1000 Awareness through Movement lessons floating around for different movement/sensing sequences, they all can teach the same idea of paying attention.

Have a happy new year.

For more on the Feldenkrais Method® you can go to:

http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Erik LaSeur

Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®

http://www.alkimoves.com/
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Coming Tuesday, January 6, 2009!
Awareness Through Movement® lessons (group) at:

West Seattle Wellness in the Alaska junction.

Every Tuesday

9:00am

11:30am

1:45pm

happy solstice!

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hmmm...it's 4:04am...

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It's winter solstice time!

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Break out the volleyball net 'B' and meet ya down across from Dukes.

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I've been up all morning excited by the latest snowfall. Went out and cleared the walks and a path to the car.

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Whatever holiday tradition you follow, I wish you and yours the best!

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For more on the Feldenkrais Method® you can go to:
http://www.feldenkrais.com/

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Erik LaSeur
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®
http://www.alkimoves.com/

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Coming January 6, 2009!

Awareness Through Movement® lessons (group) at West Seattle Wellness in the Alaska junction.

If you know what you're doing, it's correct.

We're all brought up to think of the duality of life. Some things are right, some are wrong.

When it comes to movement we often think of doing it right or wrong and inevitably the student will ask "what is the right way to do this (or move)?"

Moshé's answer to this question would be "if you know what you're doing, then you're correct."

This answer sets the Feldenkrais method apart from how all other methods and techniques look at health and how they go about attaining it.

Setting aside our preconceived notions of what good posture or movement should look like, and relying upon the student's ability to become aware of how they do something, whether static or dynamic. This is the simplicity of the Method.

This is also why the Method isn't classified as 'therapy.' We don't work to some ideal of what proper movement or posture should be or look like. Since we're all constructed a little bit different and all have unique experiences while growing up, we all will have our own way of being in the world...

...and the answers for each won't be the same.

For more on the Feldenkrais Method® you can go to:

http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Erik LaSeur

Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®

http://www.alkimoves.com/

Coming January 09! Awareness Through Movement® lessons (group) at West Seattle Wellness in the Alaska junction.

count the colors

My new neighbor unveiled it's paint job today....yikes!

I count 7 colors and woodtone...lol.




I guess the pressure is on. How manycolors can I paint this house?






For more on the Feldenkrais Method® you can go to:
http://www.feldenkrais.com/


Erik LaSeur
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®
http://www.alkimoves.com/


Coming January 09!
Awareness Through Movement lessons (group) at West Seattle Wellness in the Alaska junction.

Fall colors - red

I took these pictures about a month ago on a walk around the neighborhood.

The fall leaves were at their full-on red glory...

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This was my favorite tree on the street.

The brightness of the leaves helped me see it from 3 blocks away with ease.

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Some mid-sized berry like things down at the beach.

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The combo of pink and green looked delicious!

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One of the christmas cactus flowers in my living room, a few days ago:

For more on the Feldenkrais Method® you can go to:
http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Erik LaSeur

Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®
http://www.alkimoves.com/

Coming January 09!

Awareness Through Movement lessons (group) at West Seattle Wellness in the Alaska junction.

Back pain? Just pay attention

I hear so many people complain about their sore backs and the many ways they try to alleviate it.

They go see their Massage therapist/chiropractor/Physical Therapist/Acupuncturist/herbalist/ect. ad infinitum.

While these methods all do wonders for temporarily alleviating the suffering and sometimes even long-term, none of them addresses the lifetime of habits that eventually led to this state of being.

I believe one of the most effective means is simply to pay attention to what you're doing. Once we begin to re-learn how to pay attention to how we do any action we then find how we incorporate (or not) the rest of ourselves in our actions.

The most efficient action is one where it's spread out evenly throughout the whole body.

Every action.

There is a reason Moshé entitled his last book "The Elusive Obvious." The Feldenkrais method is simple mechanics of efficiency, but this seems to elude most of us. If you want to watch a master at this type of learning look to the nearest infant, they're the most potent learners on the planet.

You can pay me (or the multitude of other LMP's) for a relaxing massage, or have a PT or physical trainer put you through the paces of strengthening your weak muscles, or have a chiropractor adjust your spine, or someone can balance your chakras, or do a voodoo dance to chase away the sore back demons.

But in the end did you learn anything about your habitual nature that got you into this condition in the first place? I do see the value in the other professions, I also believe that when the client feels they have control over their own healing, it's that much more powerful.

"If you know what you're doing, you can do anything." Moshé Feldenkrais

The next time you feel a muscular pain, whether it's your back, neck, shoulders, ect. pay attention not to the pain but rather to how you are using the rest of your body. How are you standing? Is more pressure on one foot than the other? Where on your feet do you support more of yourself? How are you sitting? Is there more pressure on one sitz bone (butt) than the other? Do you hold your breath during certain actions? Pay attention to excessive strain or holding patterns....etc.

You just might experience a little bit of your own magic (although I hesitate to use this word as it's really not magic just the nervous system responding to new information).

For more on how to apply this simple (fun and playful too!) yet very effective method for alleviating pain:

For more on the Feldenkrais Method® you can go to:

http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Erik LaSeur
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®

http://www.alkimoves.com/

I'm currently teaching individual lessons on Alki.

Gratitude today and always

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is the traditional day of the year when we give thanks for our lot in life. For our family and friends, home, job,health...etc.

In my own life I've found that regular sessions of thanks or gratitude have really opened up the beauty that life can be.

I find that not only having gratitude for all the things we deem 'nice' but also for all the people/things that we feel have given us challenges is important for us to move along in our growth as fully functioning humans.

It's those tough situations/people that have taught me valuable lessons in patience and forgiveness among other attributes. I've found it easier to put my experiences in perspective of how they shaped my life...to thank those that forced me to learn the tougher lessons.

In the end we all do the best we know how, the best we were taught by our siblings/parents/and other family members while we were in our formative years. In addition to this familial learning we also add in our extra-familial experiences and learnings that form how we are as mature (more or less) adults.

Hopefully today you'll take the moment to give thanks to all those (whether you judge the experience as positive or negative) that have impacted your life. And tomorrow....and the next day....and so forth.

Gratitude or giving thanks is one of the most powerful tools we have for our own growth.

For more on the Feldenkrais Method® you can go to:
http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Erik LaSeur

Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®
http://www.alkimoves.com/