Once again!
This isn’t the first time I’m writing about An AY a day, the amorphous group of Feldenkrais® teachers and trainees that meet online every day to study Awareness Through Movement® lessons. This group is working with ATM® classes that Moshe Feldenkrais (MF) taught on Alexander Yanai Street in Tel Aviv for twenty-plus years. 550 of these lessons were recorded and then typed up, later they were translated into English and, ten years after MF’s death, published by the International Feldenkrais Federation (IFF). These lessons may be purchased from the IFF individually, in 50-lesson volumes, or as a collection of 11 volumes.
Two years ago, when he was the Northern California Regional Representative of the Feldenkrais Guild® of North America, Kwan Wong invited colleagues around the world to do and discuss these lessons together via video conferencing. Participants — be they experienced elders, recent graduates, or still in training — take turns teaching each other, signing up on an ad hoc basis. Kwan is a gracious host who takes a mostly minimalist approach in guiding the group.
This past Saturday, exactly two years after its 1 June 2017 launch, the group started going through the AY lessons in order once again but with a slight twist to the schedule. Instead of doing the lessons one right after another, for this time around after doing five lessons, the group will review two of the week’s lessons either by redoing them, by doing a lesson related to one of them or by . . . well, this is a new idea, one that is yet to be worked out in the group’s ongoing self-organizing process. This willingness to be innovative and try things out keeps this lively and engaging venture above and beyond the value of simply experiencing these incredible lessons.
Especially if you missed this ATM series the first time around, you may benefit from this rare chance to study this encyclopedic collection of MF’s masterworks with colleagues. You can join in whenever — as often or as infrequently as you like — from wherever you are — at home, at work, or on the road — from whatever device you like — smartphone, tablet, laptop, computer, or Internet-enabled TV. You don’t have to pay a thing. The only things you’re asked to do are:
- Log in with your full name and location a few minutes before the start of either daily meeting (promptly at 8 am and 6 pm sharp Pacific Time).
- Mute your microphone when not talking (for the sound quality).
- Point your camera to yourself during the lesson (if you choose) so that the day’s reader can follow your movements.
To respect the lessons’ copyrights, the sessions are not recorded. (On the rare occasion that the presenter paraphrases rather than reads the ATM, the copyright restriction doesn’t apply and then the lesson is recorded.)
Your thoughts?
Please let us know your perspective! Add your comments, reactions, suggestions, ideas, etc., by first logging in to your Mind in Motion account and then clicking here.
Commenting is only available to the Mind in Motion Online community.
Join in by getting your free account, which gives you access to the e-book edition of Articulating Changes (Larry's now-classic Master's thesis), ATM® lessons, and more — all at no charge whatsoever.
To find out more and sign up, please click here.
Please share this blog post
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This blog may contain one or more affiliate links. When you click on a link and then make a purchase, Mind in Motion receives a payment. Please note that we only link to products we believe in and services that we support. You can learn more about how affiliate links work and why we use them here
thank you Larry for reminding me about the AY a Day project. When you first mentioned it (over a year or so ago??), there was only one session. 8.00am Pacific time is a truly awful middle of the night time for me, so, though I loved the idea and had always intended to work through the AY’s, I couldn’t face the thought of getting up then, on a regular basis…..
It was wonderful to see there is now also a second time, 6pm Pacific, which is mid-morning for me, just perfect! As i am also coming out of a post operative convalescence period (nearly 5 weeks of bed rest, no lifting, bending over, tightening neck or shoulders etc etc => “jelly-fish’ or super limp “noodle” ), I have the time and its an opportunity to observe how someone with little muscle tone can still get benefit from these wonderfully challenging lessons, now in the high 300’s. I am so enjoying helping my body improve and recover. Much of Saturday’s lesson was impossible for me, so tiny approximations of the start of the movements, lots of pauses, using my imagination etc. At the end the test move was enormously improved. I was pretty wrung out even with pacing myself, but still felt the exhilaration of movement.
I encourage other practitioners and students to join in when they can – its a unique opportunity to connect with and explore the base of our work, under no pressure, just for yourself, and to casually meet with other practitioners.
Sue McKibbin Rokeby, Victoria, Australia