This "visual noise" is your optic nerve working overtime, constantly sending signals to your brain when it should be resting. For many, the optic nerve continues to send out these signals, creating white flashing lights and streaks—sometimes even at night.

This happens because of the constant bombardment of light from smartphones, electric lights, and screens, as well as from not having a dark enough sleeping environment. As a result, your optic nerve never fully relaxes, leading to stress in your brain and nervous system, and poor sleep.

If I could wave a magic wand and have everyone do one Feldenkrais session to help, it would be the one below called "Covering Your Eyes."

I’m sharing it with you now because I recently made my bedroom even darker than usual, and I found myself naturally doing parts of this session.

For years, I’ve used blackout curtains, but I took things further and added tinted film to my windows to keep more light out. And I went up on the roof to cover two small skylights. Now, my bedroom is so dark I can’t see my hand in front of my face at night.

The result?

Not only do I sleep better, but my eyes and the muscles in my face have visibly relaxed.

You can experience this too: Find the darkest room in your house, close the blinds, turn off the lights, and listen to this Feldenkrais session below.

Even just a few minutes can make a difference—you don’t need to do the entire session.

It is done lying on your back, and you can even do it in bed if you like:

Click here to open in a new window and downlad: Covering The Eyes

Peace,

Ryan

Several Feldenkrais-based series on the eyes can be found here.

The post bathe your eyes in healing darkness – Feldenkrais session for deep relaxation appeared first on Emergent Somatics.

A Feldenkrais session that can help you get rid of strain in your neck and shoulders. Very genle. You can do just the first 5 to 10 minutes of the session below and you will benefit.

You can do the session on your back on a mat on the floor or even in bed.

First Watch The Intro

And then click to play the Feldenkrais session:

By the way, you may not only find it relaxing, you might even feel a little taller after you have done it. Go slow, only do what is comfortable, and feel free to start the session without the need to finish it.

The session is from my Feldenkrais Pain-Relief Series which is currently available on a sliding scale. More info on this link: Feldenkrais Pain Relief course.

The post Feldenkrais Pain Relief Step-By-Step appeared first on Emergent Somatics.

Have you heard about David Webber and his experiences?

In 1996, David was diagnosed with an immune system disorder that caused severe inflammation in his eyes.

And in his words:

For the next six years, I was in pain and afflicted with complications including significant damage to my optic nerves, cataracts and glaucoma. I had five operations. My ophthalmologist told me that my condition would probably get worse and that I could expect to be on immune suppressant drugs for the rest of my life. By 2002, I could barely count fingers in front of my face and my visual acuity was 20/200. I was declared legally blind.

He consulted with students of the Bates Method. And with Yogis and Buddhists who had eye exercises. And he spent hours a day working with various sessions. But eventually, he gave up. It was not working. In his words,

...to my great disappointment, my damaged optic nerves and visual system threw off a continuous stream of visual “noise” in the form of white/grey flashing lights in the center of my visual field. As I tried these various exercises, I grew even more anxious and frustrated. Eventually I gave them up.

The point at which his story began to pique my interest is this quote:

In 2002, I discovered an early Awareness Through Movement lesson by Dr. Feldenkrais that explored the essence of Dr. Bates’s relaxation method for the eyes and three of the four Buddhist eye exercises I had learned. To my great surprise and delight, during the lesson, I suddenly experienced a release of unnecessary tonus in the muscles of my eyes. At that moment I knew, for certain, that I had found what I needed to heal my eyes. And so, I began to explore these three practices in concert.

An early Awareness Through Movement session? hmmm...I got very, very curious as I had an idea of what session he might be referring to.

And after doing a little digging, I discovered that David gave a talk in which he mentioned the exact session:

Two years into the Feldenkrais training process, we were able to access some lessons that Moshe had taught called the Alexander Yanai lessons...and very fortunately I was given the transcript of number 10, called "Covering The Eyes."

That is the session that I have sent the people on my email list several times over the last few years.

How cool is that?

I have put the link here again in case you missed it the first time.

Covering Your Eyes: A No-Cost Feldenkrais Sessions (transcript included)

Just click to play

And for good measure, I have also attached a transcript of the session to this blog post: Click here to view and download.

To be clear, it is not a transcript of the original session taught by Moshe. But a transcript of my recording of it.

Many people have achieved stunning levels of relaxation in their eyes from the session.

Though, as always, your mileage may vary.

That's all for now.

I hope everyone is doing great out there.

Ryan

My streamable and downloadable Feldenkrais sessions for the eyes can be found here:

https://ryannagy.samcart.com/products/easy-eyes-volume-1/

And here is a pdf that tells more of David Webber's story:
https://www.ryannagy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/DavidWebberArticle2010.pdf

The post Feldenkrais For The Eyes appeared first on Emergent Somatics.

So it was a great pleasure when Bryson Newell of the Somatic Primer asked me to be a guest on his new show Somatic Primer Podcast

Bryson is a really mellow, thoughtful guy.

The main reason that I agreed to do a podcast with him is that he speaks to people from many different disciplines within the Somatics field including meditators, Buddhists and Martial Artists.

Bryson casts a wide "net" and he has some great interviews with people from different perspectives.

If you are interested, here is the link to Bryson's conversation with me:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/somatic-primer-podcast/id1607750857?i=1000558510580

If you link above does not work or you would rather listen elsewhere, just search for "Somatic Primer Podcasts" on Google or go to your podcast player and do the same.

Peace!

Ryan

The post Somatics Podcast: Bryson Newell Speaks With Ryan Nagy appeared first on Emergent Somatics.

Those of you who have been reading my emails and blog for a while, know that I speak about these things.

And one of my colleagues got very frustrated and wrote:

"Ryan, why do you keep bringing this sh*t up?!"

You know why?

Because that is what interests me. I have been doing that kind of thing since childhood.

And I think it is important.

So, before I tell you about my first-ever memorial day sale on my Feldenkrais download series, I would like to tell you that the first recorded memorial day parade commemorating fallen soldiers after the civil was organized and celebrated by black Americans.

This is a fact that I was never taught in school.

And as far as I know, is still not being taught.

Memorial day celebrations began when newly freed slaves in Charleston, South Carolina were paying homage to several hundred Union soldiers who had been buried in a mass grave after being horribly treated as prisoners of war.

The war had ended and they wanted to give them a proper burial. After doing so a group of more than 10,000 African Americans had a parade to pay them homage and put flowers on their graves.

That was the first memorial day parade and celebration of this important day in the United States.

And it was conveniently forgotten just a few years later when cities, states, and later the entire nation began the celebration of our fallen soldiers who gave their life for their country.

Our own bodies have forgotten histories.

And as we get older we have forgotten abilities and room for growth and flexibility that we can remember and use.

So, if you have missed any of my sales over the last few months, you can check out the download store on my website and use the code "memorial" for a 50% discount on any product.

Not all of my Feldenkrais series are listed there, but most are:

https://www.ryannagy.com/feldenkrais-downloads/

Again, if you put in the promo code "memorial" after "add to cart" and before paying, it will give you 50% off your entire order.

If the code no longer works that means the sale has ended. My apologies. You can grab my free course and get on my email list so that you do not miss the next one: Free Feldenkrais Course.

The post Forgotten Histories appeared first on Emergent Somatics.

Not only relaxing for people who have TMJ or jaw pain but relaxing for just about anyone.

The movements of the mouth and tongue occupy a large part of the sensory-motor processing center of the brain. Think of how early in our development we learn to use our mouth.

Changing the dynamics there can be deeply relaxing and calming to the nervous system.

So here you have it, a session called, "Head, Pelvis, Tongue"

You do not have to do the entire session to benefit from it. And falling asleep while doing it is not uncommon.

Enjoy!

Ryan

More weird, fun and deeply relaxing sessions can be found in Volume 2 of my low-cost TMJ series below. This series is due for a price increase soone:

https://ryannagy.samcart.com/products/tmj-vol-2/

The post weird, gentle session for relaxing jaw, face and tongue appeared first on Emergent Somatics.

Do a standing Feldenkrais session on the first day of the New Year? You can just do the first few minutes if you would like. Enjoy!

Feldenkrais Alexander Yanai #88 Circles In Standing

Lower your arms and rest MORE than I ask you to do in the session. If you are short on time, just do the first 15 minutes of this session. No need to lie down! You can start in standing. Click below to play?

Or download Feldenkrais Circles In Standing

The post Happy New Year Life Possibilities (Feldenkrais Session) appeared first on Emergent Somatics.

It is a bit more challenging, but also very accessible if you are willing to go slow and stop and rest whenever you feel the need.

In the past, I have called this session, "Classic Four Points," because it involves contacting the floor with your two hands and two feet (thus four points of contact). But I recently did a version of this session by Ryan Hoffman, a practitioner in Calgary, Alberta and he calls it "Bear Walking." I like that name better. It speaks to what Moshe was likely trying to get at - a developmentally early form of locomotion that most of us engaged in before learning how to walk on two feet. We usually crawl, before we walk, yes?

The session does not involve crawling on the floor, but it does involve playing with having weight on your hands and feet. Interested?

If so, take a moment and watch the intro video that I created below. And then start by doing the first few minutes of the audio session below it. It is one of the more interesting and useful Feldenkrais sessions that I do on a regular basis. I think you will find it has some fascinating effects:

Feldenkrais Video: Intro to Esalen Session "4 Points Classic" (Bear Walking)

Feldenkrais Session:"4 Points Classic" (Bear Walking)

And here is the audio version:

Download: 4 pts classic/bear walking

When I say that you can benefit from doing just a few minutes of this session, I mean it! Do not let time stand in your way. Start by doing just a few minutes of the session and see how it goes.

The session above is about 34 minutes. There is a longer version of it in my private member's only area and in the downloadable Feldenkrais Classics series.

Peace!

I would love to know how the session affected you. Leave a comment below or on the YouTube video?

The post Bear Walking: Feldenkrais at Esalan appeared first on Emergent Somatics.

It has gentle movement variations that nearly anyone can do. Every time that I do it, it has a relaxing effect on my entire being that I cannot quite put into words...enjoy!

Here's a link to download for later use: Rhythmic Tapping.

It is from volume 2 of my Feldenkrais Classics series which is based on the Esalen workshop.

The Esalen workshop was Moshe's first training in America. It was six-weeks and at the end, participants were allowed to call themselves, "Certified Awareness Through Movement Teachers." There were only 14-people in attendance. My understanding is that Moshe limited enrollment to those he had invited. There are those who currently do Feldenkrais and teach Feldenkrais who credit the Esalen workshop with a deep evolution of their ability to do the work.

Ian J. Grand, Ph.D. wrote a nice write-up of his time at Esalen with Moshe and the other attendees.

Enjoy!

Ryan

The post Rhythmic Tapping: Feldenkrais At Esalen appeared first on Emergent Somatics.

Below is a somewhat weird, but enlightening, Feldenkrais session that can help you dramatically open up your ribs and spine. To do it, you will need a stable chair without wheels. Just click the link below. It will be fun. Only 31-minutes

You download this session for later use: click to download.

I do consider this an "advanced" session, so go very slowly and rest often. Rest more often than I ask you to in the session. And feel free to do just a few minutes of this one. AND - if you want to have some fun - consider doing parts of this session in areas of your life where you do not normally do Feldenkrais. Perhaps in a chair in your kitchen, in your home office. Maybe go on your back or front porch if you have one. But the effects of doing sessions in non-habitual contexts can be quite strong.

The post Feldenkrais Session: A Pretzel In Sitting appeared first on Emergent Somatics.