Degrees of freedom

On the Fourth of July, we celebrate the passage of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Ahead of my almost annual Feldenkrais Summer Camp, I taught an Awareness Through Movement class on July 4th, 2019. I composed a lesson in keeping with the theme of this holiday called, appropriately enough, DEGREES OF FREEDOM. 

The inspiration for the class came from a gesture I learned in grade school. Back then, the day began with students standing up, putting their hands on their hearts, facing the US flag, and repeating, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands . . . “

Using the hand-on-heart configuration as the central motif, this ATM explores what liberty means, illustrating how the passage to possibility goes through the land of limits. The lesson delves into the connection between motion and emotion by bridging action, attention, and attitude. Rolling from side to your back and returning, you monitor your breath, noticing when you interfere, and discovering how you can breathe more easily.

You can find the recording of DEGREES OF FREEDOM in the Mind in Motion Online Library. 

The audio (MP3) file is available to download or stream directly from the website via any Internet-connected device. You’ll find it in the Library/Files section of the website under Free Lessons > Original Compositions.) The lesson is shy of one hour and 12 minutes long.

If you have a professional Become a Better Teacher MIMO account, you’ll also be able to access the recording of our post-lesson discussion after logging into the site.

(If you have yet to sign up for a free MIMO account, you can do it now.)

I used a photo on the WCPO website as the basis for the image at the top of today’s blog. I made the illustration of the figure doing the lesson for the post I wrote when we made this recording available a few years ago. I created the image of the flag from a photo of a neighbor’s holiday decorations.