Curious what your diaphragm does when you're breathing? Wonder how your ribs respond? Then this link is for you...
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/MCtWTgmghUv5osXr2D39em1TqdfHnodi5_jVaMkGlV9AvqkDPn84j4zi5OLwXp6hT8JxU90r_ha6pYr12qjdcej2tlC21J3g/85_stoughs_diafragma.mov
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Lesson 10 - Mindful Breathing
When the stress of the day gets to be too much, bring back the calm with this simple breathing lesson courtesy of Russell Delman's Embodied Life Program.
BEGIN:
Sit or lie comfortably.
TO DO:
Notice how you contact the surface that is supporting you. Feel that contact. Are you allowing yourself to really be supported by the surface you are on?
Continuing to feel your contact, expand your awareness to include any sounds you might hear - the furnace or air conditioner, people's voices, traffic, background music - whatever it is.
Holding both the physical sense and the auditory in your awareness, take 4 full breaths.
Release.
NOTICE
Do you feel more calm?
Special thanks to Russell Delman for a wonderful workshop. For those who don't know him, Russell is a Feldenkrais Trainer who has combined Feldenkrais, Meditation and Eugene Gendlin's Focusing into a program of mindfulness that he calls "Embodied Life". He offers public workshops for those looking to live more mindfully.
BEGIN:
Sit or lie comfortably.
TO DO:
Notice how you contact the surface that is supporting you. Feel that contact. Are you allowing yourself to really be supported by the surface you are on?
Continuing to feel your contact, expand your awareness to include any sounds you might hear - the furnace or air conditioner, people's voices, traffic, background music - whatever it is.
Holding both the physical sense and the auditory in your awareness, take 4 full breaths.
Release.
NOTICE
Do you feel more calm?
Special thanks to Russell Delman for a wonderful workshop. For those who don't know him, Russell is a Feldenkrais Trainer who has combined Feldenkrais, Meditation and Eugene Gendlin's Focusing into a program of mindfulness that he calls "Embodied Life". He offers public workshops for those looking to live more mindfully.
Whole Body Movement
Puppy fans will love the adorable pooch in this video. Cuteness aside, this precious pup offers a fine example of how movement in one part of the body ripples throughout. Notice how the the body and head move in relation to one another. Which is leading and which following? When do you do the same?
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/08/16/puppy-at-1000-frames-per-second.aspx?e_cid=20110816_DNL_art_2
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/08/16/puppy-at-1000-frames-per-second.aspx?e_cid=20110816_DNL_art_2
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Becoming an "Expert"
Want to learn to do something really well? Maybe even become and expert?
If you're not familiar with Dr. Anders Ericsson of FSU and his work on what it takes to become an "expert" you might enjoy this link...
http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson/ericsson.exp.perf.html
For years, Ericsson and his team have been investigating what it takes to become highly skilled, i.e., an expert. They studied everything from memory to chess to music to sports. What they found is that years of "practice" have very little correlation to skill level. Instead, what matters is HOW you practice. Although his work is often cited with the note that it takes at least 10,000 - hours of practice to become highly skilled at something, the research concludes that DELIBERATE PRACTICE is the essential ingredient.
DELIBERATE PRACTICE requires remaining in conscious control while practicing. Ericsson notes that experts do three things while practicing to increase their skills:
1. Focus on their technique - what they are doing and how they are doing it
2. Orient toward a goal - what it is they are trying to do/achieve
3. Get constant and immediate feedback - what they actually did and what effect it had
Perhaps most powerful of all is his observation that learning requires us to consciously challenge ourselves, allow ourselves to fail, review what we did and learn from our mistakes. He suggests as Feldenkrais did that we actually practice failing.
An interesting point is that at no time can intuition (unconscious action developed through repeated practice) substitute for continued deliberate practice. Even those who are highly skilled can lose their abilities if they do not continue to challenge themselves. He uses the example of radiologists whose skills diminish over time due to lack of feedback - they think they know what they are doing but because they don't get immediate feedback they can only assume that what they are doing is what they want to do.
If you're not familiar with Dr. Anders Ericsson of FSU and his work on what it takes to become an "expert" you might enjoy this link...
http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson/ericsson.exp.perf.html
For years, Ericsson and his team have been investigating what it takes to become highly skilled, i.e., an expert. They studied everything from memory to chess to music to sports. What they found is that years of "practice" have very little correlation to skill level. Instead, what matters is HOW you practice. Although his work is often cited with the note that it takes at least 10,000 - hours of practice to become highly skilled at something, the research concludes that DELIBERATE PRACTICE is the essential ingredient.
DELIBERATE PRACTICE requires remaining in conscious control while practicing. Ericsson notes that experts do three things while practicing to increase their skills:
1. Focus on their technique - what they are doing and how they are doing it
2. Orient toward a goal - what it is they are trying to do/achieve
3. Get constant and immediate feedback - what they actually did and what effect it had
Perhaps most powerful of all is his observation that learning requires us to consciously challenge ourselves, allow ourselves to fail, review what we did and learn from our mistakes. He suggests as Feldenkrais did that we actually practice failing.
An interesting point is that at no time can intuition (unconscious action developed through repeated practice) substitute for continued deliberate practice. Even those who are highly skilled can lose their abilities if they do not continue to challenge themselves. He uses the example of radiologists whose skills diminish over time due to lack of feedback - they think they know what they are doing but because they don't get immediate feedback they can only assume that what they are doing is what they want to do.
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