Can you remember being Pain-Free
When was the last time you got through a day without experiencing any pain? If you’re one of the 100 million Americans who, according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, deals with pain on a daily basis, it’s possible that you don’t even remember what living pain-free felt like. And then there are those of us who deal with discomfort on a regular basis. Maybe it manifests as a tightness in the shoulders that doesn’t quite register as pain, but still affects one’s ability to feel comfortable while moving through the world getting things done.
The Method for those in the Know
The Feldenkrais Method® is known for helping people manage their pain and discomfort. Its benefits are well documented and have been written about in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Huffington Post. Maybe you’ve experienced the benefits of the Method firsthand when you attended a local Awareness Through Movement® class or had a private Functional Integration® lesson with a Feldenkrais® practitioner. But what happens when you’re experiencing pain or discomfort, and you don’t have time to get to a class or work with a practitioner, and you want relief right away?
Pain-free in One Lesson
That happened to me recently. I had just moved to Chicago, IL from Portland, OR and was busy exploring my new neighborhood when my lower back started acting up. It began with a dull ache but transformed into a sharp pain after a few miles on foot. I stretched at the stoplights while waiting for it to turn green to no avail-although the stretching felt good at the moment, it didn’t change anything as I started to move again. After a day and a half of trying to ignore the pain, I ended up prostrate on my bed at 12 pm on a Saturday. I realized that if I didn’t do something more proactive than stretching I was going to end up bedridden for the rest of the weekend. It was then that I turned to YouTube and found a twelve-minute Awareness Through Movement lesson for back pain. I was not confident that such a short lesson could do anything for me, but I figured that it wouldn’t hurt. I grabbed my yoga mat, laid down on the floor, and started rotating my pelvis while rubbing one shin against the other.
Afterward, I decided to test the lesson out with a short walk. As I started down the street, I noticed that the ache had diminished, yet for the first few blocks, I kept waiting for it to return. It didn’t. By the end of the day, I’d walked over six miles without having to bend over and stretch once.
Movement your way to Greater Ease
If you’re curious about what a short Awareness Through Movement lesson can do for you, check out our new playlist on our YouTube page or try one of a few gems from that list highlighted below.
Feel free to share with us your favorite video under fifteen minutes and let us know how much better it helped you feel!