This amazing event is seamless...amazing...and beyond our control
The Strata of Development
Isn’t it amazing? The event is seamless…we couldn’t control each even if we tried. There is too much going on and the amount of entropy in the system would be too much for our brains to handle…so it just flows along its own course.
If you think about it…do you know how you learned to stand? To crawl? To roll over? Do you know how you stand now? You may know that it is not comfortable, but how do you do it?
Moshe Feldenkrais defined development into three stages:
- The Natural Way
- The Individual Way
- Method and Profession
The Natural Way
For the most part, we all get to the same place in movement in the same way. We babble and it becomes speech…and in some people multiple types of speech. We roll over and it becomes walking…because I want to get to that shiny thing in the corner of the room as fast as I can. We rest…and yes…we all rest. All natural activities…and even more than described above…happen seamlessly as we develop. How do we get there? How do most of the humans on the earth develop in much the same way and follow the same path? And yet there are certain outliers in human beings that make us individuals.
The Individual Way
This is the fascinating part…the individual way. Even though we all do mostly the same thing, there are small differences…and these small differences make a huge impact on the world. When there is a slight change in the way that something is accomplished..it may become viral. Viral in a good way. It may be a unique and special way of crawling…of running…of jumping… of doing a task that is different from the Natural Way…and yet it has advantages. When it has advantages over the Natural Way it catches on. People take notice and try it…it is adopted by others and maybe more progressive changes are added. How about this for an example: Dick Fosbury.
Fosbury was born in Portland Oregon and first started experimenting with this new technique at age 16, while attending high school in Medford. He disliked the dominant style of the day and began experimenting with the another outdated method o the high jump. Fosbury won the 1968 NCAA title using his new modified technique, as well as the U.S. Olympic Trials.
At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, he took the gold medal and set (not only set, but crushed the old record) a new Olympic Record at 2.24 meters (7 feet 4.25 inches), displaying the potential of the new technique. Despite the initial skeptical reactions from the high jumping community, the “Fosbury Flop” quickly gained acceptance and is the current standard for the High Jump…it was viral. From a motor coordination standpoint the Flop allows athletes of a slender build to use great coordination (not strength) to a greater mechanical effect and jump higher without risking injury. Coordination…not strength…anybody get that? Anybody? Bueller…..
Method and Profession
The third stage is that the process, the Natural Way and the Individual Way becomes defined in a specific method…graduated steps…a linear path. We see this all the time in jobs and work…you will learn to do it “this “was first…then maybe if you are good enough (or smart enough to lead the employ) you will develop your own method…your own experience and natural way and then individual process. How many times have you started a process…your own process…and then been told that you are all wrong? How would you have known? Somebody else told you…otherwise you would have adjusted to the feedback (Individual Way) and carried on (Method and Profession).
So…in your life…look back and see how you have developed naturally…then in some aspect added your own flavor…and then allowed it to become part of you. It a powerful part of The Feldenkrais Method and The Anat Baniel Method…because you are allowed…NO…given permission to explore your natural way that may have escaped you. then after playing with the Natural Way you apply your own flavor and ideas…and then apply that to your life!
Holy Cow…so important. How does being given permission to experiment make you feel? Charlie@4seasonfitness.com
