This video demonstrates an Awareness Through Movement (ATM) exercise to reduce back pain. Lying on her back, the student crosses one leg over the other, dropping the weight of her knees to one side, straining her back. Another student assists her to experience the movement more by placing her hands under the student’s shoulders as she executes the movement again. This time, the student can turn and twist further comfortably without any pain. Segal instructs her to think about her shoulders as she repeats the same movement again to the other side. She can execute the same range of twisting to the other side. The student was able to integrate her whole body into the movement. As she recovers to standing, Segal instructs her to notice any differences in her body weight and send her weight into the floor. She turns her upper body from one side to another, standing the in parallel position, sensing and experiencing the new movement pattern that is embedded into her body. Segal points out that the student is not shifting her weight on the left side so she cannot turn her body as much to the back. The student can execute the movement nicely on the right side.
ATM is beneficial to dancers as it makes them more aware of how they execute or move their bodies differently from one side. It cultivates awareness, consciousness of their bodily movement and movement alignment of their body structure. In this exercise, the student gains knowledge of how to integrate and move her body more efficiently so as to reduce the back pain that she usually experienced. With ATM, she can prevent this from happening and is more aware of how she moves.
Reference:
Mbscentresuatin (2009) Master Teacher Mia Segal Teaching A Feldenkrais Basic Training. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNYseMQDC14 [Accessed 4 May 2015].
ATM is beneficial to dancers as it makes them more aware of how they execute or move their bodies differently from one side. It cultivates awareness, consciousness of their bodily movement and movement alignment of their body structure. In this exercise, the student gains knowledge of how to integrate and move her body more efficiently so as to reduce the back pain that she usually experienced. With ATM, she can prevent this from happening and is more aware of how she moves.
Reference:
Mbscentresuatin (2009) Master Teacher Mia Segal Teaching A Feldenkrais Basic Training. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNYseMQDC14 [Accessed 4 May 2015].