In Synch with the Pendulum

By Maureen McHugh

 In the Feldenkrais Method we often take swinging movements. These are like a pendulum. We can do this standing, but more commonly we lie down and swing a leg along the floor, or an arm in the air. The movement is comforting, fun, and a great antidote to the feeling of being cooped up all day. On top of this, these movements have another purpose: the oscillations aim to restore the natural reciprocity between muscle groups.

The design of the body is that the muscles are arranged around the joints in pairs.  The muscles work following the pattern of equal and opposite: when one set shortens, the other lengthens. For instance, when you want to bring food to your mouth, the elbow joint must bend. The biceps on the front of the arm shorten to accomplish this, and the triceps, along the back, lengthens. The inverse happens when you take your hand away from your mouth.

As long as this pattern works, there is no movement problem in any joint. Unfortunately, the pattern is vulnerable. It can be disrupted by many things, certainly by injury, but most commonly by habit. Habit makes it so that certain patterns repeat and others are never enacted. It is as though the pendulum swings only to the left.

Below we’ll take a look at the place of habit in our lives. We need habits, but as our servants, not our boss.

Growing Up

And the Place of Habit

Being a Baby

When a little boy (or girl) is born, he has a great range of potential open to him. Although he comes with his own personality, he can learn any language that his parents or the people around him speak. He can also learn their social habits, physical activities and musical styles.  

 This openness is represented above by a chart with all the colors of the rainbow equally available and equally distributed. The pattern is orderly, but not excessively fixed.

Habit plays a small role in the life of the young child. The larger role is played by exploration.

Growing Up

As the boy grows, he specializes. He learns a specific language. He learns how to get along within a specific family, neighborhood, school, and eventually within a specific profession.

In the chart below this process is represented as the formation of a tool, a schematic wrench, with which he can perform a function within his society. Other areas of life, represented by the white spaces, recede from his sense of self.

As the child grows into an adult, habit plays an increasingly strong role. It can become very domineering, and invisibly so.

Adult Potency

In the process of becoming good at something, the adult may also feel that he has overspecialized. Emotionally, there may be a feeling that the world has become too narrow, resulting in a loss of vitality. Physically, the adult may be feeling pain and limitation. He feels too young, still, for “just getting older” to seem like a good explanation for his pains.

While maintaining his adult skills, he looks for ways to regain some of the coloring and spontaneity of childhood.

Habits become updated. They take their place as useful servants, and not as the master.

Working with oscillating movements is a way to undo the specializing effect of habit. The natural reciprocity of muscle groups is restored. You feel more vital and more able to meet the challenges of the day.