Finding support
Knowing our support - feeling it as part of an embodied pattern of movement at any moment - is one of the most powerful ways to relieve and recover from stress.
In almost every lesson I teach, I bring people's attention in some way to how they receive support. I'm talking about physical support - giving our weight to the surface we are standing, sitting, or lying on. Which parts of us are in contact with our support? How big are those parts, how much of us is touching our support? What is the sensation of receiving support - is it comfortable or constraining?
The mere act of paying attention to where we receiving support can lead us to change our internal organisation to make ourself more comfortable. Over the course of a lesson we find ways to increase the support we receive, giving us more possibilities for movement.
Even when we are at rest, our subconscious mind knows what parts of us are in contact with the floor, bed, or chair. And it will continue holding the parts which are not touching a supporting surface, even though that might not be necessary. I usually find some parts of me easily know how to rest, while other parts do not. For example when I lay on the floor on a yoga mat this morning and observed how I was lying, I noticed my feet and legs quickly let go whereas my shoulders did not.
Bringing our conscious attention to the extent of our support, and noticing how that changes, helps us find deeper relaxation, letting go of parts that we habitually hold even when we are 'resting'. We can even use foam pads or folded towels to pack the places where we are not touching a supporting surface, to provide additional support for perhaps 10 or 20 minutes to help those places let go. This a great way to reset our nervous system. When the padding is removed, we find we can relax further than before.
We can also help ourself by paying attention to how our support changes during movement, and exploring ways to increase support to make movement lighter and more pleasurable. The more we get to know our patterns of movement, the better we can make small adjustments to maximise support. This helps our system feel grounded and calm, and is fundamental to being able perform consistently in any body-based activity such as sports, dance, playing music, or any situation where we want to be the best we can be. This is why many top athletes, sportspeople, musicians and dancers use the Feldenkrais Method to inform their practice and make themselves more capable.
What do you do to increase your support? Please leave a comment.