Limberness
By Maureen McHugh
Recently, a man told me a story that took place many years ago. The man’s name is Doug, and when we were talking he was a young, active retiree. The event had taken place 20 years earlier. Doug had been ice skating, in an indoor rink, enjoying himself, and gliding along in a simple way. All of a sudden, he felt his weight pitching forward. He comprehended that he was about to fall. Time, in its obliging way, expanded, so he could make an arrangement. He pulled his arms to his sides, bent his knees, tucked his head, and let the forward momentum convert into a roll. All curled up, his back rolled across the ice, and by staying curled, his weight came over his skates again. He rose and continued gliding forward, grinning and looking around him—it was a beautiful day.
This type of spontaneous adaptability is something that I see as evidence of limberness.
It reminds me of another story. Moshe Feldenkrais was once talking to a three-year-old boy. The boy said, "I am smarter than you are." And Feldenkrais said, "Oh, really? Why’s that?" The boy replied, "I do dangerous things, and I don’t get hurt."
Where does such creative adaptability and resilience come from? Maybe you are lucky and were born with it, or saw it modeled around you while growing up. But, besides these gifts, it can also be trained. It is part of the purpose of the Feldenkrais Method to develop this exquisite human capacity.
Exploring Rolling
One of the ways that the Feldenkrais Method trains limberness is by exploring rolling movements. Most of the people who come to Feldenkrais classes are not world-class athletes, or gymnasts, or Aikido masters, or anyone of that sort. Those people are welcome! But most people are regular adults, who sit a lot, and many have had some sort of injury or feel a significant restriction in their movement.
So, in the class, we begin slowly. We take simple movements and build up to more complex actions gradually.
One of our favorite movements is this: Lie on your back, draw your knees up to your chest, and roll gently from side to side. Your head can rest on the floor.
Many people find this movement pleasurable and relaxing. The gentle shifting of weight across your back feels like a little massage. We do this for a little while, letting the breath and the mind settle.
Once we have explored the basic movement, we move on to variations. For example, while the rolling is going on, the arms can:
 | stay on the floor or |
| rest crossed over your chest or |
| reach alternately to the ceiling or |
| reach from side to side across our body or |
| trace an arc over your chest in the air or |
| trace on arc over head on the floor or |
| hold on each to its same side knee--from above (over the kneecap) or from below (between the thigh and calf) or |
| both hands can hold on to one knee or |
| the hands can cross so each hand holds its opposite knee or |
| the elbows can come to the knees or |
| the hand can hold the ankle or the foot, from the outside of the leg, or from the inside of the leg, on the same side as the arm or opposite side, etc. |
While the arms have all these possibilities, the head, too, has various options. While remaining on the ground, it can stay still, or roll with the torso, or opposite the torso. It can come into the air and be held there for a long cycle, or it can rise and fall at different times in the cycle. Also, the legs have possibilities, for instance, to remain bent or to open and close at various times.
So many combinations in just rolling from side to side!
You can get different kinds of benefit from this exploration. First of all, it is quite amazing to experience that so many varieties of rolling are possible. Something happens to your mind. It broadens. In addition, the body opens up. All sorts of places that were kinked up--unkink.
And then, very often, the awareness of possibility enlarges into other areas of your life. You start to see, often right there in the moment, that you don’t have to "always do what you have always done." There is another way. In fact, there are lots of other ways.
And, then, you may feel a new kind of freedom, and a new kind of strength. The ability to be present, and to adapt. The gift of limberness.
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These drawings come from Moshe Feldenkrais’ book, Higher Judo. The man who is rolling is working on his ability to draw his arms and legs to his center, so his opponent can’t get a grip on him. (London: Frederick Warne & Co, Ltd., 1962, pg 62.)
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