Erik LaSeur, Feldenkrais Method® in West Seattle Washington

On the road of learning how to market my work, I've been focusing my energy on the face-to-face meeting.

I primarily choose this way over passive means because the words 'feldenkrais' 'Awarness through Movement' and 'Functional Integration' mean nothing to the vast majority of people (9 out of 10 in my rough estimation).

So I've been doing the 1 to 1 meetings in an attempt to make myself more visible.
Meeting people for an hour to talk and/or demonstrate what I do and how I work.

To speed things up I've become a member of my local BNI (Business Networking International) chapter.  I see this as a way of working on clarifying my message in front of larger groups.
Every thursday morning I meet with 35 other entrepreneurs and we all have a chance to talk for 45 seconds.
It's only 45 seconds, yet these are precious golden moments where I can craft a clear, compelling message to my audience.
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How do you say what you do in 45 seconds or less.
Or as my business coach puts it:
Benefit
Benefit
Benefit
Testimonial
Offer
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Over the past 5 months I've been playing with my elevator speech at these weekly meetups. This has really upped my confidence level not only in marketing what I do, but also in my actual practice.
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Feeling my support
and feeling confident in how I can use this support in a clear and compelling fashion.
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For more on the Feldenkrais Method and how it can help you:
http://www.feldenkrais.com/
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Awareness through Movement®


Classes now offered:

Monday 7:00am - 8:00am

Monday 6:15pm - 7:15pm

Thursday 6:15pm - 7:15pm


www.alkimoves.com/

Erik LaSeur GCFT

Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®

erik@alkimoves.com

One of the reasons I love being a Feldenkrais teacher is the challenge of dealing with unknowns.
When someone comes to me with a need or a problem they're looking for an answer to, it's not simply a matter of pulling out a template I can apply.
Everyone is different. We all have our unique histories that got us to where we're at right now.
Sometimes it's easiest to ask a few questions by observation.
How do they support their weight?
What side to they roll to?
Where do they fall when moving?
Where do they rise when moving?
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Hopefully I'll ask the right question for the moment so we can both move along the learning path.
I've had times where the best questions have come to mind after the client has finished with the lesson and left.
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This is learning, it doesn't have a timeline, and there are always the next moments to attend to.
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My ability to stay in the moment, to not force a lesson, but rather to allow it to unfold.
To let my own ability to notice changes take over.
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Where are my feet?
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To walk with the most confidence in the field of unknowns it's always helpful to know what I'm doing.
Am I finding my own support so I'm able to notice the person I'm with?
If at any time I depend upon my own muscular system for support, then I lose sensitivity and clarity in my interaction with my client.
And the lesson suffers.
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This work has helped me to live and work in the unknown.
To be okay with being incorrect in my own assumptions about my work, about my client.
To step and move with boldness in the direction my sensing leads me to.
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For more on the Feldenkrais Method:
www.feldenkrais.com
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Erik LaSeur GCFT
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher

www.alkimoves.com

Improve your movement
Improve your life

Two weeks ago I started wearing a new type of outside-the-ear hearing aid. It has drastically changed the way I interface with my environment. I've worn hearing aids in the past with mixed results.
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Now I'm hearing conversations that used to be mysterious whispers or mumbles.
I've seen the little birds in the trees in my yard for years. Now I can hear them sing.
Lyrics to songs finally make sense after 30+ years.
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Today I went in for a follow-up at the hearing aid place. They hook the aids up to a computer and tell us how much they've been used over the past two weeks.
"In all my years of doing this I've never seen this before. All 3 channels on both ears match by how much you've used them."
"And it requires multiple visits and adjustments till we can agree on what sounds good. You've figured it out, have selected out the sounds you don't want."
Well, you know us men with our selective hearing and all.
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My years of lying on the floor in the midst of self-inquiry into how I am, helped out. How do I do something?
How do I hear?
With the new hearing aids I began to notice how I supported myself now when listening.
How did I rest when I couldn't hear so well?
And how do I rest now, when hearing is less of an effort?
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Another interesting thing I've got to practice since wearing these new hearing aids is of how we can select out certain sounds, or parts of sounds (a top limit).
After the first few days, sounds that used to be annoying we being muted more.
At times I wasn't sure if maybe my own hearing was getting worse because of the other sounds going away.
But no, I could still hear conversations clearly, and birds singing.
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I was in the midst of change.
Ever seeking my own support while moving about, with new hearing.
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What change are you in the midst of?
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Awareness through Movement group classes currently ongoing:
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Sundays 2:00 - 3:00pm
8 limbs Yoga/West Seattle
$15.00
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Erik LaSeur GCFT
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher

I was out taking pictures today of all the 4th of July parties going on in my neighborhood. I live two blocks from a very popular beach in West Seattle so there are lots of parties going on.
Along with all the flag pictures I got a picture of these beautiful petunias on my porch.

I was admiring how these short plants were able to support such large flowers.

The petunias on my porch seem pretty happy to be alive.

They've been given a place to find support for growing from a seedling to a plant that sprouts large flowers.

Similar to plants we too can live a life with more independence by finding and using our support system.

Our skeleton.

Our intention.

 

Always the question:

From where I am now, at this moment, am I able to move in any direction without hesitation or preparation?

Where do I find support, and how can I change support with as little effort as possible.

Always ready and flowing with our environment.

The environment has already met us, it's hand is always open.

Happy Independence Day!

 

For more on the Feldenkrais Method®:

http://www.feldenkrais.com/

Feldenkrais in West Seattle.
http://www.alkimoves.com/

Erik LaSeur GCFT
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher

Most of us grew up with the belief drummed into us that if we want something bad enough we just need to have a stronger will.
We just need to try harder to accomplish our goals.
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This habit of using our will-power often translates into over-exerting ourselves doing even the simplest of physical tasks.
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How much effort do you use to turn your head?
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If you were to stand up how little effort can you use?
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Moshé Feldenkrais' first lesson in his classic 'Awareness through Movement' book is a study in learning how to suspend our will and learn to use skill in the simple act of coming from sitting to standing.
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Imagine there is a scale under your feet and the only instruction is:
Stand up without having the needle go past your weight on the scale.
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Of course Moshé has the reader go through many different ways of doing this lesson to find how they can use their own skill to pull this off.
Once will enters into the picture the experiment fails, the needle will fly past your own body weight, and too much exertion was used for the act.
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This act is multiplied dozens of times per day, for a lifetime, mindlessly.
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For Moshé he needed to find a way to use skill when standing up. He was facing possible amputation of one of his knees because of the severity of injuries he sustained as a younger man.
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How could he stand up without putting pressure on his knees?
This was the beginning of the Feldenkrais Method, his own learning of skill over will.
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"If you are using will then you don't have any skill" Moshé Feldenkrais
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Find out more about the Feldenkrais Method at:
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http://www.feldenkrais.com/
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A question I often get asked by students is:
"Why do we have to look here and look there. How's that going to help me walk?"
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We play with learning to pay attention to ourselves, and to how we support ourselves.
Noticing various parts of your self during lessons, we then learn to tie them together for clearer action.
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The slow pace of an Awareness through Movement lesson affords the students time to experiment with different ways of performing the movement to their satisfaction, or not.
I often tell students the value of being taught the same lesson again.
I've taught myself the same lesson over 20 times and learn something new about myself each one.
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The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
Author: Albert Einstein
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There is something about learning for learnings sake. For me it adds spices to my life that may of been in short supply or never existed before.
It's nice when learning can also teach us how to live as more fully functional humans.
Learning to treat ourselves with compassion, and others too.
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For more information on the Feldenkrais Method:
http://www.feldenkrais.com/
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Feldenkrais in West Seattle, WA
http://www.alkisandbox.blogspot.com/
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Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect.
Author: Steven Wright

I've had many opportunities to hang out with kids lately. I went from being a 47 year old widower to dating a woman with four kids. The two youngest at 7 and 14 years old are both boys.
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Lately I've begun skating again with the seven year old, down at the beach along the bike path.
A neighbor gave me this board last summer. I never used it as it's rather large.
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58 inches.
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4 foot 10 inches.
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The last time I really skated with a skateboard was around 30 years ago when I was a senior in high school. We had our own team and skateshop based out of a friends garage. And most skateboards are about two (2) feet long.
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Life happens
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Flash forward 30 years and I'm confronted with this huge toy I can learn to ride on.
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Finally the kids says "lets go get your longboard!"
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"Okay."
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From the thrill of the small hill in the beginning, to the cruising comfort the longer length afforded me as we rolled on the smooth, flat path.
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I rested along the boardwalk and watched the kid practice kick-flips and such with his board. The constant trial and success that he went through. How could he keep his head atop his spine as it and the body float in different directions.
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The child-like play that children go through is how they learn to adapt, to function in their environment.
Exploring the wonders of their world. The grass, bugs, rocks and other inhabitants of the yard or park they play in affords them another lesson if they so choose.
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The world is always presenting useful lessons for us.
If you want to know how to proceed, watch an infant for awhile! 
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For more on the Feldenkrais Method.

http://www.feldenkrais.com/
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As you're sitting and reading this, notice how the chair and the floor support you, to be upright.

If you're sitting, stand and notice how your support changes.

In Feldenkrais classes I often bring up the support theme. How do you find support within you, skeletally, for action?

The clearer the path, the more potent the action.

This is often why group classes (Awareness through Movement) and individual lessons (Functional Integration) are done while lying down. This position affords us the greatest chance to rest our muscular and nervous systems. Which allows a greater ability to discern differences or changes within yourself.

As we slow ourselves down enough by sensing the floor, how do we lie on it?

How do you sit in that chair?

If you had to stand up right now where would you press into the floor first?

Where do you press into the chair?

This is what a baby is doing as it lies in the crib or is moving around on the floor. It's sensing where to find support, to lift it's head, to turn it's head, to roll over, to crawl, etc.

I recently worked with a woman in her early 70's for the first time, with lumbar spinal stenosis. She had sporadic jolting nerve pain down her leg.

My first job was to help her feel as much support as possible from the table she was lying on. This is why we have lots of pads and rollers at our disposal.

Being in this space of comfort allowed her the chance to relax and shut down the pain mechanism for the moment.

She was now in the place to notice herself as she lie on the table.

How could her and I learn to find support during this lesson for our actions?

She was learning how to discern her own actions, and learn to move with more awareness. I was learning how to stay in the moment during an organic experience, not knowing where this lesson would go.

I feel taller! Why?

We can talk about that some other time, right now just notice how you feel.

Where do you find support?

http://www.feldenkrais.com

Erik LaSeur
http://www.alkimoves.com