AY # 114 Four diagonals in folding

This is a terrific lesson. On the back, the student lifts, one at a time, each of the four limbs straight into the air and moves it across the body in the direction of its diagonally opposite limb. The lesson progresses to lifting both arms at once and moving back and forth across the opposite diagonals, then doing the same with the legs and finally raising all four limbs, folding up to take hold of the ankles and, in this position inscribing a circle (clock) with the relatively small area of the back that's left on the floor. Speaking about drawing that circle at the end of the lesson, Dr. Feldenkrais says, "It is very difficult to do because it is necessary to hold [contract] the abdominal muscles powerfully so the back doesn't soften…. All the work is done in the abdominal muscles." (AY pg. 757). Pilates has nothing on this lesson, baby! Sometimes I think in our work the notion of "letting go" is stressed so much that we forget that a cornerstone of the Method is learning to work efficiently which does not necessarily preclude working hard when hard work is called for. That's what I remember about doing this lesson in my training--it was very hard work. Doing it again yesterday was one of those revelations with respect to what happens when you lead a "Feldenkrais life." The lesson was so much easier to do than it was five or six years ago. Don't get me wrong, it's still a strenuous lesson, but the degree to which I've learned to work more efficiently during the past several years was made manifest in a very satisfying way. Also, everything sinks into the floor by the end of the lesson; the shoulders open (yoga folks: when the teacher comes around at the end of class and tries to flatten your shoulders to the floor--this will show you how to easily find that feeling) and the whole back flattens deliciously.