10 Irrefutable Mind Body Principle for Living (Feldenkrais) 978-1099483424

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M I N D BODY

S T U DIES

1o~rt~bfe Jrr MINDBODY PRINCIPLES FOR LIVING

L EO R A GASTE

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)r~ft~bfe Mind Body Principles for Living A Pocket Guidebook

Leora Gaster

Copyright© 2019 All Rights Reserved . No part of this publication may be used or reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written consent of the author, except as provided by the United States of America copyright laws. MBS Academy 9600 Escarpment Blvd Suite 745-137 Austin, TX 78749 ,v¥lw.mbsacademv.org Ordering Information: Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address above. Published by MBS Academy . Printed in the United States of America .

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Acknowledgements I want to thank my team of trainers and our students, who expressed the need and interest to have this collection compiled . My special thanks to my dear friend Carol Silverberg for her perseverance, dedication, and love to making this book come to life. And Dani elle Whitston, witho ut whom almost nothing would happen at MBS Academy! Leora Gaster Palo Alto, Stanford, 2019

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Preface With 50 years of teaching all over the wor ld, in multiple cultures, testing and distilling philosophies of life and action, we bring you these simple unifyin g princip les that make sense in all situations and make life easier. We have applied these principles in thought and action, in movement and in discussion . These principles are so obvious, so universal, completely irrefutable, perhaps this is why nowhere have they been laid out clearly for everyone to use . Here at last is a concise, thoroughly tried and tested collection, which you can use in any situation to make a little more sense out of life and point the way to ease and com fort.

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I promise you that if you apply and test them in real situations in your life, they will help you toward clarity and insight. Leora Gaster

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What is Mind Body Studies? Mind Body Studies (MBS) is a philosophy of movement and learning that applies to everyday living. The focus is on the way in which our mind (physical brain and mental processes ) and our body continuously collaborate. It is clear that any movement is directly related and governed by neural configurations throughout the system, including in brain, and therefore intricately connected with thoughts, emotions and self-image. We can learn about ourselves and change our behavior through thought and we can learn about ourselves and change our thought through movement. A fundamenta l building block of selfmastery is self-knowledge. MBS 1s a 7

language of communication the brain and body.

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The essence of MBS is experiential . This pocket guide can be used as a companion to the MBS Collection of Movement Lessons. Although the m beneficial are movements themselves, the deeper and more significant value lies in them serving as experiential confirmation to these principles, which anyone can test and make their own. These principles are an introduction to the MBS philosophy and organized for you as a quick reference. How to use this Book

Each of the princip les in this book is powerful in its own right. Check them out in a variety of situations and see for yourself how much they clarify and ease this challenging life.

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MBS Principles Table of Contents Preface What is Mind Body Studies? Ho w to use this Boo k

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Awarene ss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A System of Qu estions . . . . . . . . . Di stributi on of Work . . . . . . . . . . You are Your Own Best Teacher. Simplicity and Ease . . . . . . . . . . . . Relationship to E nvironment . . . . Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Differentiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Habitual Pattern s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Approach from Anoth er Direction

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Awareness MBS defines Awareness as the systemic, harmonious and balanced attention to oneself and others in the here and Awarenes s generates a feedback now. loop of balancing the internal process of and communication mind-body environmental int eraction . It is a skill we can develop, in order to utilize and expresses our full pote ntial. MBS provides p ractical, straight forward too ls for developin g awarenes s through easy tasks of ph ysical and mental activity.

In toda y's busy world, it is common to multi-task, often under pressure . We are able to pay attention to many things at once, prioritize and, most of the time, react automatically . Th ese are useful skills, yet, with out knowing how to pay attention to ou r system, at the end of the day, we find ourselves stre ssed and exhauste d .

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Acting with Awareness creates a different reality. Awareness helps identify early signals of unnecessary pressure and the skill to do something abo ut it. It enables us to connect with more resources and react with more choice, so that we can proceed along the same lines, at a similar pace, yet with efficiency and less attrition. The Principles of this work are activated by precise mov ement sequences, in which each person is guided to pay attention to specific elements of their thought-action network . This develops new pathways of behavior throu ghout the system, creatin g a continuous collaboration from within, which self-knowledge building between streamlines the connection optimizing action, and intention individual potential.

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A System of Questions Curiosity is the key to learning, which is clearly demonstrated by infants and children, as they develop the most fundamental and vital skills. Therefore, in order to function at our best, we need the skills to continuousl y refresh our way of gathering information. How can we be most open to observe what is in front of us? How do we make sense out of patterns of behavior and opportunity? Approa ching a situation with the mindset of knowing the answer can be useful, but also limits the ability of truly seeing and applying even more appropriate and creative ideas.

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People often act habitually and automatically, which can be unsuited in the moment, in an ever changing world. Questioning one's actions and even creating some initial confusion is a good sign: it means we have no 'old files' and old patterns of behavior, so we are free to find new ones. If we remain with a questioning mind, we can find new solutions and discover a larger array of options. The key to opening the mind and learning is to develop the skill of asking the right questions. Questions orient us to the present moment.

The questions that work best are those that are easiest to answer. Simple easy questions, to which there are straightforward answers, builds

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confidence and motivates us to learn more. Mind Body Studies is a system of questions, rather than answers. By asking ourselves simple, but preci se questions as we do movement s, we provide a framework within which we can learn, most directly, about how we organize ourselves.

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Distribution of Work In a community, every person plays a different role depending on their strengths and talents. From the builder to the chef, the adult to the child, when you distribute tasks according to individual roles their abilities, the communit y runs better, more happily and more efficiently. The same is expressed in the bod y. Our bodies are designed with the largest and strongest muscles and largest bones (except for the skull, which is the operational and observational essence ) in the center and progressivel y decreasing in power, but growing in sensitivity toward the extremities.

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So in order to efficiently lift something heavy, the power comes from the core and final placement of delicate objects is manipulated by the fingers. This fits the structure to the task. Throughout our system there are endless possible configurations of actions. As we develop patterns, we neglect many options, which limit tl1e amount of brain power we apply, as well as physical abilities. But these can be easily re-ignited by using MBS thought in action exercises . Anyone can do it! These are the sort of questions MBS exercises -address: • Is every part doing a job best suited tl1eir ability and role? •

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Is every part doing the amount of work fitting this task?

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Start any movement and notice how much of you is participating?

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How far along your bod y do you feel the movement?

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Where does the movement stop?

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Where can you do less or more to make this movement easier?

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You are Your Own Best Teacher In a world filled with standardized measurements and comparative evaluations, there is constant pressure to live up to the way others perform . This applies to every activity: from school grades, how you look, measuring how fast you run or how high you jump, to what job you get and how much you earn. The resu lt is that one forgets that you are the best at being you. No one can be better at that! No one is more familiar with you than yourself. No one can tell you what you are feeling right now or what is best for you. Once you know how to listen to yourself you gain confidence to tru ly appreciate yourself.

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When given the confidence and tools to listen within, each one becomes their own best teacher, because the knowledge comes from a clear sense of identity, abilities and limits. We are born with a sophisticated and capable internal system, primed for self-referenced learning. Humans are learning machines. We are able to model and learn from others and we are also capable of learning and expressing ourselves individually .

In comparing ourselves to others and to given standards, we force ourselves to ignore doing things in ways which can work best for our specific configuration of abilities, physiology, psychological range and levels of comfort. Mind Body Studies gives you the tools to find your personal best, by a system of questions which only you can

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answer, such as: 'where do you feel the most differences in your body?' No one can answer this better than you. And when you change, only you can feel the differences. This expands self-image and selfappreciation, helping each person fit their environment and know their needs and ways.

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Simplicity and Ease In our quest to learn about ourselves and find the optimal way to organize and use ourselves, working within a range of ease is a framework for exploring what we do well. By contrast, our culturally ingrained belief of forcing mind over matter or 'no pain, no gain' encourages going beyond that range, to try harder, to remain at the very place where we can't go further, the very place of difficulty. The result is that we stay at the point in which we are limited and keep practicing and reinforcing those very limitations. In fact, we become more and more experts at what we can't do. In Mind Body Studies, we retrain ourselves to let go of this instilled

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belief. We do this by learning how to focus on the range in which we are operating easily and smoothly. By decreasing effort, making smaller movements and reducing speed, we can examine the elements which make the task successful and bring them as and, success for together importantly, prevent the risk of pain and injury. Once the 'how' is clear, quantity, speed and range follow naturally and easily.

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Relationship to the Environment

self-knowledge and Introspection alone disassociate a person from their surroundings and create a mismatch and ability intention, between outcome. In order to act most effectively in any circumstance, there has to be a balance between internal process and our relationship to the environment . Mind Body Studies develops skills for on-going constant, maintaining assessment of changes which take place internally, and gauges them in relation to simple environmental factors. If we notice a difference in the contact with the floor or the chair, we can conclude that the change occurred within ourselves. This clear feedback

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establishes a reference point, which allows us to continue our exploration . Fluently alternating between internal and external feedback encourages systemic multi-level attention and learning, which primes the brain to absorb new information and repattern neural connections, as well as to initiate its own regenerative and learning capacity.

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Differences

The simplest way to learn is by noticing differences. Differences and contrasts help us navigate the world around us: noticing moving objects against stable background, brightness and dark, hard and soft surfaces, heat As our knowledge and and cold. sophistication expand, we identify nuances and subtleties, such as the spectrum of colors, the variation of temperature and textures of surfaces. This applies also to our behavior: we can communicate in an infinite variations of tone and volume, we can enjoy interesting shades of colors in what we choose to wear, and we can feel textures and touch in many ways. Thus, we should be able to refine our behavior and goals. But to what

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degree are we masters of our states, our abilities to communic ate what we really want?

In 11ind Body Studies, we use movements as a context to learn differences. \Xie utilize the asymmetry and irregularity inherent in nature, in our bodies and in the way we move, to learn from ourseh ·es. By learning how to examine the differences bet\veen our sides: noticing how we do an action more easily or effectively on one side, or in a certain context, detail by detail, we can discover how to improve the other. As we explore differences in ourselves, we gain precision of selforgaruzauon. As we discern differences bet'i,veen the endless possibilities of movement combinations, we discover more choices, ·which enable us to progress effectively toward our goals.

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Once we notice the differences between what we do and what we could do differently we have the option of changing our automatic behavior and looking for choices. Identifying differences between our own beliefs and behaviors and those of others, helps us recognize our own individuality. This is the first step to real mastery of self: recognizing what and how we think and beha ve . The second step is that we start asking questions: What are we doing differently? What is our internal dialogue? Where would this feel different in our bodies? Are we making different pictures m our thoughts? It is important to find the simple, significant 'differences that makes a difference' so it is imperative to ask grounded and basic questions, because

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simple questions are more likely to have answers. We can then question whether we want to modify anything to make our life a little easier and more rewarding. These are the types of questions:

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Am I shouting or whispering?

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Am I imagining something negative? What is it?

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Am I holding my breath?

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Am I tensing my shoulders? My face muscles?

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Am I feeling happ y or sad doing this?

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Am I feeling more or less energized by this situation?

When we ask these types of questions we can identify differences in our reactions and transform our life experience from being automaticall y reactive and expand our choices.

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Differentiation In learning to master any skill, we need to recogruze the elements involved. For a chef, it's knowing what each ingredient contributes, in what proportions it is needed and how they all fit together which is different for each recipe. In the same way, the mechanic who can take the machine down to every nut and bolt and reassemble it, can ensure that it runs optimally. It is the same for working with our are There system. human combinations and configurations of movements, which connect muscles, and reason thoughts, nerves, emotions. We carry out most actions through a wired-in habitual way. These inherent

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patterns are effective for the sake of efficiency, but are also limiting, as they make us neglect all sorts of hidden options and abilities. Durin g the flow and demands of life, there is little opportunity to reevaluate, re-set or add options that could serve us better, expand our minds and ensure continued health and wellbeing.

In addition to these advantages, rewmng these patterns connects unexplored synapses in the brain, expanding cognitive and psychological capabilities on multiple levels. Mind Body Studies consists of countless simple exercises which enable each persons to recognize their linked patterns, take them apart and reassemble them with greater understanding, choice and a growing mastery of self.

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Habitual Patterns Habitual patterns are useful in order to functi on efficiently. These include our resp onses to everyday social norms, as well as how we perform basic ph ysical tasks, such as turning or looking around. If we had to figure these things out each time, we'd have little time to do much else. Thi s is a double-edged sword: habitual patterns are established as a result of cultural pressures, injury or incomplete self-image and therefore not always the ideal or most efficientl y organized. Since they are deeply ingrained and constant, we neglect finding alternatives, thereb y also limiting ourselves. Re-visiting and exploring options around habitual patterns brings surprising insight into our limits, enabling exploration of the options beyond them. This, in turn, re-sets these patterns and creates alternatives for performing the same tasks.

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In Mind Body Studies, we use movement as the context in which we explore how we think and how we put thoughts into action . By working through the movement sequences, all patterns are re-examined, relearned and reset . There are always more ways than one to do anything. Knowing and trying out alternative options frees the entire system to exercise more of its capabilities.

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The common belief is that we must focus on the place of pain, be it physical or psychological, in order to fix it. However, any issue is part of a system and cannot function or resolve itself taking the whole into without cons ideration . The painfu l issue is already traumatized and all the focus is on it, at the expense of ignorin g the which mechanism coping rich surrounds it, thereby curtailing useful reso urces.

In Mind Bod y Studies, we want to find ways of using all our resources. When we look at the whole, we can many from problem the see perspectives, we approach the issue

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from other directions, and can work aroundthe pain.

If you want to unra vel a knot, it is almost impossible to get to the heart of it if you start from the center. Much more effective is to look at the whole and start at the periphery.

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For more information on Mind Body Studies and MBS Academy, visit www.mbsacademy.org

A COLLECTION OF MBS MOVEMENT LESSONS By Leora Gaster A concise, clear reference guide with eight 'classic' Mind Body Studies Movement Lessons.

For purchase at www.mbsacademy.org

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Made in the USA San Bernardino, CA 27 April 2019

Leora Gaster has been teaching Mind Body Studies internationally for four decades. As founder of MBS Academy, she has conducted trainings for all levels and for multiple applicat ions. Leora enhanced her extensive knowledge of MBS wor k with an NLP Trainer certification, Judo instructor qualificat ions from Kodokan, Tokyo and a degree in Human Biology from Stanford University,

WI TH 50 YEARS OF TEACH ING A LL OV ER THE WO RLD. IN MU LTIPLE CULTURES. TESTING AND DISTI LLING PH ILOSOPH IES OF LIFE AND ACTION. W E BRING YO U THES E SIMPLE UNIFY IN G PRINC IPLES TH AT MAKE SENSE IN ALL SITU ATION S AN D MAKE LIFE EASIER. WE H AVE APPLIED THESE PRINCIPLES IN THOUG HT AND ACT ION. IN MOV EMEN T AND IN DISCUSSION THESE PRIN C IPLES AR E SO OBVIOUS. SO UN IV ERSA L COMPLETELY IRREFUTA BLE. PERHAPS THIS IS WHY NOWHERE HAVE TH EY BEEN LAID OUT CLEARLY FOR EVERYON E TO USE. H ERE AT LAST IS A CONC ISE. T HOROUGH LY TRIED AN D TESTED COLLECT ION. W H ICH YOU CAN USE IN ANY SIT UATION TO MAK E A LITTLE MORE SENSE OUT OF LIFE AND PO INT THE WAY TO EASE AND COMFORT

ISBN 9781091999893

9 781091 999893