Never fall again! Improving stability and security in walking
By Richard Adelman, M.A.

Workshop

Never Fall Again

Introductory talk, Fri, Oct 12, 7pm

Workshop, Sat, Oct 13, 10am–5pm

LifePath Center

Recreo 80

154-8465

“This is the most sophisticated and effective method I have seen for the prevention and reversal of deterioration of function. . . . We’re condemning millions of people to a deteriorated old age that’s not necessary.” Margaret Mead

Would you like to avoid becoming one of the “fallen women (or men) of San Miguel”?

People who have already fallen or those who are concerned about falling are likely to brace and stiffen themselves in order to give themselves a sense of safety and security. This is a normal reflex reaction of our nervous system. Unfortunately, this stiffening introduces a brittleness and an awkward lack of adaptive flexibility into the gait so that one may actually become less secure and more likely to fall. For instance, such people usually glue their arms to their sides, motionless, depriving themselves of the wonderful capacity of the arms to facilitate and regulate rhythmic flow, balance and speed in walking.

What happens emotionally if we begin to lose our natural grace in walking—if we begin to feel awkward, unsure and lacking in confidence? Declining physical capacity can result in a shrinking of our emotional self and our sense of bodily identity. Anger/resentment, denial/carelessness, anxiety, fear and depression are frequent reactions to a changing body. Anger is often directed toward oneself. Or it may be aimed at other people or the world itself (such as when one develops a cynical, pessimistic philosophy of life). A person can come to feel that his body has betrayed him. These emotional attitudes of alienation from one’s own body are very likely to accelerate the process of deteriorating coordination and self-confidence on a physical level.

Yet one need not be a victim of these processes. While daily life stresses and perhaps the aging process itself may tend to take us outside of our body, it is possible to work toward living your life experiencing yourself as being inside your own body rather than being on the outside looking in. Somatic psychology teaches that being inside yourself generates a sense of groundedness, of self-possession, of having a secure place in the world. This state may be our birthright, but it is not a given. Self-contact is something which can be—and I believe, ought to be—cultivated. 

Maintaining our balance in standing and in walking requires an incredibly complex symphony of coordinated neuromuscular-skeletal activity from head to toe. We are constantly making an endless series of finely calibrated adjustments and readjustments involving many, many parts of the body simultaneously. Aging often brings joint or muscle weakness, stiffness, or pain; a slower reaction time with less-nuanced responses; and weaker vision. All of these factors can make it much more difficult to move through the world gracefully, adaptively and securely. 

Slow, gentle movements and hands-on work synthesized from the Feldenkrais Method, somatic psychology, and Pilates offer a way back into contact with your bodily ground and the earth which supports you. While you lie fully clothed on a massage table, these methods help to loosen excess tension, relieve pain, stimulate postural reflexes and develop a feeling of integration and wholeness in your body.

To a greater or lesser extent, depending on the individual, these same goals can be accomplished through self-initiated movements. In both private and group sessions you can learn a wide variety of intriguing, gentle, stress-reducing lying, sitting and standing movements to restore body contact, flexibility, comfort and awareness. Incorporated into your daily life, these movements—or better yet, a combination of these movements and hands-on work—can go a long way toward improving how you relate to and use your body in all daily life activities. In this way walking may become possible when it was impossible, easy when it was difficult, elegant and flowing when it was easy. 

You will have two opportunities to be personally “walked through” applications of ideas presented in this article. On Friday night, October 12, I will present an introductory talk, followed by a workshop on Saturday. I will be available for private hands-on and movement sessions from Sunday, October 14 to Friday, October 19. All events take place at LifePath Center, Recreo 80.

Richard Adelman, M.A. Psychology, has been a student of somatic psychology and the Feldenkrais Method since the early 1970s. His body-awareness studies have been enriched by 15 years’ experience with Pilates. Email: richardadelman@yahoo.com