Clive: The story of a man who’s lost everything.

Clive Wearing has what Oliver Sacks calls “the most severe case of amnesia ever documented.” Clive’s wife, Deborah Wearing, tells us the story along with Oliver Sacks. And they try to understand why, amidst so much forgetting, Clive remembers two things: Music and Love.

I borrowed this from Wikipedia.com:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,^[71] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

This may be the most well-known sentence in US history.  What interested me most was what comes next…

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

I often think of the body as a community of individuals, all working together to help us function.  With this in mind, the ‘Government’ can be seen as the Nervous System – the appointed system in place to determine what needs to happen when based on input from the rest of the community – in this case the rest of the body.  The Nervous System derives its power from the “consent” (habitual patterns) “of the governed.”  And when these patterns of power become destructive it is the “Right of the People to alter or abolish” them.  How often do we suffer through ongoing pain needlessly?  How can we abolish these patterns?

If you can make it to my free class on July 12th, you can find out for yourself.  If not – stay tuned here and I’ll tell you more next time…

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2NJWTM5

After all, I spent a whole lifetime developing work habits before I started my journey with the Feldenkrais Method.  When we are injured, we get amnesia.  I’m no different.  I got amnesia.

I forgot how wonderful it can feel to live with ease.  And until I remembered, I moped.  I resented having to sit around with my foot propped up when I’d rather be working in the garden.  But then it hit me.  PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH!  I remembered to enjoy the process rather than focusing on the outcome.  I remembered that I like to rest and have a chance to take in the world around me.  And I got to be really creative as I figured out how to go through life with limitation.

Now that my foot has healed, I am able to do many of the things I previously took for granted.  Hindsight is 20/20 and now, rather than feeling limited and sorry for myself, I’m taking my lessons with me into the future.  I’ve decided to create change and encourage choice rather than feeling stuck all the time.

I’m not going to look this gift horse in the mouth!  I’m living life as if it were a Feldenkrais lesson…..

I got what I wished for. Almost.

I spent last Friday evening in the ER. I dropped a snowplow blade on my foot. They took X-Rays of my foot to see if I did indeed “get a break.” Miraculously, I didn’t fracture a single bone. I certainly bruised a lot of things. (I’ve been icing and elevating for a week now) I got all the rest I needed and more. I’ve had to cancel several appointments, and rearrange meetings to take place in my home office since I can’t drive. Everyone has been remarkably accommodating.

In many ways, I got the R&R I was craving. But next time, I think I’ll wish for some rest instead!

We are programmed this way. Efficiency is what we strive for. We have sayings like “less is more” that show up everywhere from Zen Buddhism and the skimpy attire of pop culture. We are always looking for simplicity. Less. Why? Because we want more! Somehow these two opposing concepts make sense to us on an intuitive level. Why? Because we’re lazy, people.

It’s no accident that this is true. Our brains are set up to look for the path of least resistance. On a biological and evolutionary level, this helps us to survive. While survival today doesn’t involve running from the saber tooth tiger, our reptilian brains don’t know the difference and frankly, don’t care.

The sticky part comes when we take this drive to do less, and combine it with another valuable survival skill we have: identifying patterns. Can you imagine having to think about each step you took? Each sound that makes up a word or sentence? No? Of course not! And thank goodness! How exhausting that would be! We also create patterns to protect ourselves when we’re injured. If I sprain my ankle, I organize my whole self around not causing pain through further injury until it’s healed – good thing! We simplify the process by learning these useful patterns. We do less so our attention and energy can be focused elsewhere – on doing what we want.

What’s sticky about that? Well, we take these learned patterns and habituate them. In essence we get stuck. We rely on them so heavily that regardless of the situation we still do the same thing and expect a different result (….remember the definition of insanity?). We fail to recognize when the ankle is healed, and still maintain a pattern of protection, even though it is no longer useful to us. This pattern likely isn’t balanced. The uninjured leg takes more weight to allow for healing. But once the ankle has healed, this extra work is no longer justified. Just like the home in which the division of labor is unbalanced – after a while, someone’s going to complain, right? Our bodies complain through pain. They are trying to communicate a need for change. The ankle has healed, so why are we still doing the same old thing!?

The good news is that when offered a simpler, easier way, we are drawn to it. We know we want to do less. We want to feel good and comfortable in our bodies. We’ve simply forgotten that we know how. As babies, we all fumbled around with limbs and sounds until we figured out the proper pattern to get what we need. We learned to walk, we learned to communicate without anyone explaining each step along the way. We sill have these skills. We each have an innate ability to sense and feel and choose the path of least resistance.

In my work with the Feldenkrais Method®, I help my clients remember. I work with them to tap into this innate skill, and learn to move with ease, grace and comfort. In essence, I teach people how to do less, and gain more. More energy and comfort to devote to what they really want. What a gift! To learn more, visit www.bodysongcenter.com.

Thanks for listening!
Sharon