Each week during for the past year, I met with a friend who is a Professor of Economics at a college in Boston.
He is curious, funny, silly, kind and thoughtful. He has studied everything economics to theater and Feldenkrais. He grew up in New York in a family from both Sri Lanka and Lebanon so – he always brings an amazing perspective to any conversation.
He asked to meet, because while he loves teaching, he was frustrated that his students were focused on the grade and the ‘right’ answer. They showed little interest in learning or creative thinking.
These students were trying to look at incredibly complex global issues – like the impact of the global economy on farming for the European market in Central America. He want them to succeed in solving some of these issues, but he also wanted them to understand that the answers were not simple and there was rarely one solution.
My friend has been a student in many Feldenkrais classes and understood that what Moshe Feldenkrais created was a method of education. Movement is simply the means used to explore a way of learning and change – but the process can be extracted and applied to many situations.
I had heard these stories – about people who used the Feldenkrais Method process to learn a new language and things like that – so I was delighted when he called me!
The applications are endless. Ultimately the movement and learning how to direct our attention is a means to the change and learning people seek.
My friend wanted to figure out how to take the method Feldenkrais teachers use for lessons and apply it to his classes.
It is one of the most fun projects I have ever done.
We talked about basic principles that I use when teaching – like beginning with what is easy and already known and building from there, using intentional mistakes to clarify what works, engaging the nervous system so that the present moment is all consuming, and teaching from less to greater complexity so that there is no way to know what the end point or goal might be.
In a test run class, he taught to a group of colleagues, he asked the participants when the last time they “recalled being fully immersed in a process? When were they in process and not focused on the outcome? When were they in the zone?”
Each person, unprompted, talked about a physical experience – riding a bike, rock climbing, cooking, baking etc. I don’t think it was by chance that they all connected and described being in flow by being connected to their bodies.
Our bodies get our attention like nothing else can. They call us to the moment we are living.❤️
This past week I heard poet David Whyte pose questions while being interviewed by Krista Tippett.
“How could you be the ancestor of your own future happiness? What conversation could you begin? What promises could you make to your future self? What promises could you break to become the ancestor of your future self? What could you do to step onto the path that would make a better future for yourself in the world in which you have been given your gifts? “
Most of us, early on in our lives, when we were still dependent mammals, established relationship patterns, dynamics, habits that it would now serve us to disrupt.
My friend, the economics professor does that all the time. I think this is part of being someone who never ‘fit in’ anywhere. He always had a unique perspective. Plus he’s spent years training himself to be self aware and to respect what he discovers.
He could show up at work and only step into his role as an economics professor, leaving the parts of him that didn’t traditionally belong in that role at home and just act as he is expected. Instead, he pays attention to the many aspects of himself – including the years spent studying meditation and Feldenkrais – and brings those into every room.He doesn’t say ‘this is an economics class and mindfulness doesn’t apply here.”
When frustrated, he thought about leaving his job, but then he asked, “how could this be better? How could this experience be more meaningful to me and my students once they leave the room?”
He dreamed of the students respectfully engaging with these complex issues, understanding their complexity and yet, being willing to find solutions.
It is what I hope for all of us – not to stay in boxes society has drawn around us, especially when they limit us.
He did not stay in just one box. He didn’t want his students to either. He disrupted the roles expected or imposed. He grew beyond them.
When we can show up with our whole self, and allow all of that to be present and unfold into being, we are onto something truly satisfying.
3 weeks ago it felt like my life was beginning to be future facing. I had 4 projects come through that were all met with a ‘yes’ to what I proposed. I was THRILLED.🌈
Then within two weeks, one project needed to be put-on long-term hold and another is on pause. For various reasons my collaborators realized that they were not ready to move forward. Like me and most of us, they are clearing off the cobwebs after 2 years and slowly finding our footing.
We might not know the precise way forward, but for most of us it is safe now to begin to dream 🌈🌟 again – what is it we want to dream into being?
I’m going to begin with the questions from poet David Whyte.
“How could you be the ancestor of your own future happiness?
What conversation could you begin?
What promises could you make to your future self?
What promises could you break to become the ancestor of your future self?”
Wishing you all the best,
Astra
