S3NSE Blog: Back to Basics

“Returning to fundamental principles helps reset your focus and simplifies life when things get complicated.”

~ AI?

Playing a musical instrument is often challenging.  When learning songs, you sometimes encounter difficult passages.  I used to get very frustrated and sometimes give up.  Learning how to go back to basics helped me simplify the process and make progress.  How do I hold the guitar?  Do I use a more classical style to make playing fast licks easier?  Or hold the guitar lower to make bending the strings more bluesy?  Is it better to use a pic or my fingers?  How do I finger the notes in a more efficient way?  Would slowing down the tempo make the song easier to learn?  Getting back to the basics and asking questions provides the answers needed to make progress.  

How a Feldekrais® lesson is done is more important than what lesson you do.  You may find the perfect lesson meets your needs.  If done haphazardly, however, it will not give you the same results of any lesson done with care and awareness.  By going back to the basics, we improve and refine how we do a lesson. 

The most important basic principle is being comfortable and at ease with your positioning and movements.  A good start usually ends with a productive finish.  Also important is developing the ability to move much slower and gentler than normal.  This improves your awareness and ability to learn new movement patterns.  Breathing and reversibility are two great quality control basics.  Holding the breath is often the result of using too much effort or force.  Being able to return or reverse the movement along the same path is a good indicator of efficient movement.  

These are just a few of the many basic principles of the Feldenkrais Method®.  We will highlight these and more in October.  Let’s go back to basics, reset our focus (and nervous system), simplify and enjoy life with www.s3nse.org