Some basic awareness questions and practices.
Disclaimer: if you have a medical condition you should seek qualified medical help. The quality of your life is at stake. This is in no way a way to change that and is only meant to be educational. The author of these exercises did not solve his problem by these techniques but by physical therapy techniques that were prescribed for him personally.
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How much time is a person concentrating on the body's symmetry verses how much time is the person's awareness in extension away from its symmetry? One's skeletal-muscular health can be somewhat affected by altering this ratio. Concentrating on the symmetry of the body can help us notice stress and strain in the muscles and relax them.
Compare the right arm and hand with the left arm and hand. What are the sensations the brain registers of the two sides?
Compare the right elbow and with the right knee. How are they similar in function and structure?
Compare the right hand and with the right foot, and so on.
The symmetry of our body is in almost every section: hands and feet, arms and legs, shoulders and hips, buttocks and chest, and even sections of the abdomen. The eyes, nostrils, ears and cheekbones, all have this symmetry.
It is the loss of consciousness of the body's symmetry that possibly worsens some physical problems. Holding the symmetry of limbs in the mind for a period of 30 seconds or more can be seen as a type of Symmetry Therapy (ST) exercise. When the muscles are relaxed and in an equal placement, the body may be stressed less and the whole structure may be aligned better. This may ultimately have an important role in keeping the parts of the body in their proper places and with less tension and stress (such as the organs). When you look at medical photos of people with various diseases, including the elderly, you see bodies that are very out of alignment with the natural symmetry they are born with.
For most of us, understanding a simple principle regarding why our body is out of alignment is very important. The principle is: we have abused its symmetry and state of "relaxation" throughout the day, and we have to make an effort to get back to that symmetry. Some do yoga, some do massage, some do chiropractic. Some do nothing.
The solution is in monitoring how much time the body is held in concentration on its symmetry verses how much time is it in extension away from its symmetry. How much time can we arrange it into its symmetry?
All athletes and body practicioners such as Feldenkrais, even massage practioners and Chiropractors work on this symmetry. Massage practioners do it when they work on tensions in one part of the body, releasing them. Focusing on symmetry helps the individual to do that.
Shoulders and hips are a strong symmetry to hold in the consciousness. The full length and tonus of the arm can be compared to the full length and tonus of the leg from these points.
The two sides of the teeth provide a symmetry as do the eyes, ears, and face all over shows symmetry. Tune into the symmetry of the nostrils.
One of the big perceptual shifts is sensing the big toes as somewhat "opposable," like the way the thumbs are. This comes in tracing the ankles of the hand and comparing them with the ankles of the feet.
The ankles of the hands are on the wrists. They are those small bones on the end of the forearm. What parts of the foot are also on the hands that we don't realize. Is there a type of ball of the foot on the hand?
Practice:
1) Holding the toes with the fingers -- lining up each finger on each toe
2) Holding the knees and elbows in attention for two minutes --- The Hollow space in each in mind (the point of relaxation)
3) same with ankles and wrists
4) same with hip joins and shoulder joints
5) same with head and genitals
6) Trace a type of meridian that goes from the tips of the toes to the tips of the fingers, going throughout the whole body. Notice the symmetries in that. How does having that in consciousness make your body feel?
Lengths from left shoulder to left elbow are symmetrical with left hip to left knee. There are other lengths in the entire body like this.
Can you lay down on the ground for five minutes and gain an awareness of the differences between your two sides? Put a timer on, such as a cell phone's, and try it.
What are the actions for mental stillness?
1) presence at the level of thought
2) attention to the breath
3) witnessing instinctive processes without comment
4) presence at the level of movement
A mathematical grid in architectural time is a pattern of our observation of ourselves.
All material copyright 2006 by R.S. Pearson. All rights reserved. Quotations may be made in articles or books if author is cited.
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