Happy Independence Day

Okay, I don't have a flag shot.

But these petunias on my porch seem pretty happy to be alive.

They've been given a place to find support for growing from a seedling to a plant that sprouts large flowers.

Similar to plants we too can live a life with more independence by finding and using our support system.

Our skeleton.

Our intention.

Always the question:

From where I am now, at this moment, am I able to move in any direction without hesitation or preparation?

Where do I find support, and how can I change support with as little effort as possible.

Always ready and flowing with our environment.

The environment has already met us, it's hand is always open.

Happy Independence Day!

For more on the Feldenkrais Method®:

http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Feldenkrais in West Seattle
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http://www.alkimoves.com/
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Erik LaSeur GCFT
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher

Feldenkrais in West Seattle

Some more beauty from my yard in the past month.

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This beautiful lilac grows right out my kitchen window.

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Watching all the spring growth lately has helped me to see how other beings find support for their growth.

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As in watching time-lapse photography, some of the new bamboo shoots are over 20' tall already, in one month's time since poking thier heads out of the ground.

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How do they find enough support to quickly climb 20 feet into the air.

Beginning as a soft grass, hardening into a wood.

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How do you find support?

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Feldenkrais in West Seattle

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http://www.alkimoves.com/

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Erik LaSeur GCFT

Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher

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Erect this

Tis the season for new bamboo shoots in the yard. This one is already about 12' high and has only been out of the ground for a couple weeks.

Having a physics brain I'm always looking at how things are constructed. How do they find support to stand up? What type of stresses can they take in order to remain erect?

The human body posits the same questions in my daily journey as a Feldenkrais® teacher.

How does one find support in order to be as erect as possible given the forces against us, mainly gravity?

My students will say I probably harp on the finding support theme a bit much. But I find this aspect of the Feldenkrais Method® as an important foundation (pun intended) for potent action in the world.

Sure there are many lessons we can learn about being more flexible, connecting the movements of parts of ourselves with others to have more fluid actions. But without a sound support any new actions we may want to perform won't have the power they could.

When you want to be erect how do you find support?

For more on the Feldenkrais Method®:

http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Weekly Awareness through Movement® lessons at:

http://westseattlewellness.com/

Tuesdays @ 7:00PM

Erik LaSeur GCFT

Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®

http://www.alkimoves.com/

Red Clover, move on over

Since I live on a corner lot there are two parking strips I maintain. The main strip is on the busy road that brings everyone down to the beach...it's grass.

Then there is the other parking strip, where no one can park. I decided a few years ago to plant wildflowers here and just let them do what they do naturally.

Grow wild.

The first and most abundant flowers that show up in the spring are these red clovers. There are hundreds and hundreds of them packed in this little spot.

Since many people walk past here on their way to the beach I always hope that the ones that need to have some flowers to cheer themselves up will help themselves (within reason, of course). I've already seen a few people do just that, and it does make me feel good that I can help brighten someone's day a bit.

So if you need some floral cheer, come on down and pick a few. They don't last forever. Soon they will pass and other wildflowers will take their place.

Amazing how much joy a $1.98 seed packet can bring.

For other ways to uplift your life come check out my Awareness through Movement class being held at:

West Seattle Wellness

http://westseattlewellness.com/

Erik LaSeur

Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®

http://www.alkimoves.com/

For more on the Feldenkrais Method:
http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Snooze button = dissin my self

I tried hitting the snooze button many times this morning.

I gave myself almost no time.

In the end those obstacles weren't enough to deter me from showing up at 7:45am for my first ever BNI breakfast meeting.

I was the official first-time visitor.

Got to stand up and give my 45 second commercial...oh the anticipation of it all.

My somewhat-well scripted speech didn't get unfolded, I winged it.

It reminded me of all of my lessons.

Just showing up and being present, and having fun.

And learning new things.

Weekly Awareness through Movement lessons at:

West Seattle Wellness
http://westseattlewellness.com/

Erik LaSeur
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®
http://www.alkimoves.com/

For more on the Feldenkrais Method:

http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Stretchin the truth

Living down here on Alki I see all sorts of runners and walkers going by, occasionally they stop and stretch.

The normal, violent stretching that we were all told was beneficial to us.

I recall our track workouts in high school, over 30 years ago. Before we could run, the coach made us go through a half-hour or more of painful pre-workout stretching. All the while telling us that this would help us run better...blah, blah...

One of the things that Feldenkrais Teachers learn to understand is the futility and harm that stretching can cause.

What are we after when we stretch?

We want our leg muscles to lengthen, yes?

Well, I can teach anyone in less than a minute a simple, painless way of lengthening their muscles without stretching.

Massage therapists may remember a concept known as reciprocal inhibition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_inhibition when they were going through their training. The firing of the antagonist muscles will reflexibly lengthen their protagonists. Ie...if you want to lengthen your hamstrings you fire your quadricep muscles.

If you think I'm full of it, the following article exposes the truth about stretching:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html?_r=4&scp=1&sq=STRETCHING%20THE%20TRUTH&st=cse

Yes, stretching may feel good. But it's similar to scratching an itch. The more you do it, the more damage you do, the more you crave it...ad infinitum.

There is such a thing as beneficial stretching, done with awareness. Paying attention to where your support is from the ground while slowly moving in a stretching direction, and with much less range.

The best performances come when one is aware of what they're doing with their bodies while in the act. The best way of prepping for this, of course, is during training and not the actual performance.

Becoming aware of our habitual nature is a continual learning experience, and can be started at any time, at any age.

The next time you're running, walking, skating, biking, etc. down on Alki, stop by and I can show you a more efficient, less painful way of getting your muscles ready for potent action.

To learn more about becoming more potent in your actions and thoughts:

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Weekly Awareness through Movement® classes are being held on:

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Tuesdays 7:00PM
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At: West Seattle Wellness
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http://westseattlewellness.com/
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For more on the Feldenkrais method:

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http://www.feldenkrais.com/

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Erik LaSeur

Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®

http://www.alkimoves.com/

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Learning to Fly

"You've got to learn how to fall, before you learn to fly" Paul Simon from 'Rhymin Simon'.

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We spent a couple weeks during the first year of our feldenkrais training learning many different ways of falling. To the outside observer it would've looked like we were learning to stand on our heads.

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Once we learned that there was a safe way to fall from any direction, standing on our heads was easy.

It's funny that I never could do this when I was a child and had to wait till I turned 40 to accomplish.

But then Moshé taught Ben-Gurion to stand on his head at age 70!

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Now I'm learning many ways of not doing a business correctly, different ways of falling in the self-employment world. It's been a bit tough on my psyche as I was raised that I had to do everything perfectly the first time or else I shouldn't bother.

Luckily I'm outgrowing that belief structure.

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"To learn to succeed, you must first learn to fail." - Michael Jordan

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"The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed" - Lao Tzu

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These are useful sayings for us when we're learning to fly.

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Learn how to fly with

Weekly Awareness through Movement classes are being held on:

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Tuesdays 7:00PM

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At: West Seattle Wellness

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http://westseattlewellness.com/

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For more on the Feldenkrais method:
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http://www.feldenkrais.com/
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Erik LaSeur
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®
http://www.alkimoves.com/