Moving Forward
Moving Forward
In an age full of distractions, how do you sharpen your awareness to drive the change needed to make forward progress? This process is a journey to reclaim your awareness, a practice known in many cultures as awakening. No one but you can do this, for your awakening is woven into every moment of your life and experiences. How do you interpret these experiences as learning events? When each of us can fully awaken, we meet who we really are, what motivates us, and whether our actions benefit all. Each of us will have our own experiences and, despite the fear and anxiety of the unknown, can find a way to progress with calm focus, redirecting our attention to what is most important in life.
“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” – Rainer Maria Rilke – Austrian Poet
The tradition of waking up goes back centuries, and too often falls outside our daily awareness. No remarkable ability is necessary other than your interest in finding better questions to ask and better answers to them.
Two steps, natural to any living being, are required: first, you begin to notice you are asleep, then from this realization, you open your awareness to whatever is in front of you. It begins simply by noticing: perhaps it’s the shift in day length; atmospheric currents that move cloud formations and change the color of the sky within minutes; the seasonal evolution of plant life; nature, as birds migrate and return depending on the weather…
Birds sing, like little ones play, not to perform or to receive applause, but because it brings them joy to be alive and do what life has gifted them with. Since I live an old-growth forest, I marvel at the many different songs birds sing, or which trees drop their leaves in the fall, and which ones, like the Beech trees, hold onto their dried and withered leaves until the spring, awakening new growth that forces the old leaves to drop off so the new growth can take its place.
Just like our daily hygiene routines, Awareness Through Movement (ATM)® is best practiced daily to stay awake rather than fall asleep. Explore small, gentle movements, avoid rushing and pushing into resistance. Is there a limiting belief here that dictates how long to play with awareness? It’s as simple as turning on a light as you enter a room to notice what comes alive. It is best when you can balance between awakening and sleeping to rest and restore. This is the dance of life.
Are you a bit curious? If so, please reach out, as I welcome you to explore and play with ATM. I offer my students brief, daily explorations they can engage with for a few minutes, as the integration of new information is cumulative and allows comparisons and the emergence of new patterns. This is also the case when receiving private sessions.
A student of mine termed these sessions “table time,” which is clearer to the public than the Feldenkrais term “Functional Integration” (FI)®. To clarify for those not familiar with the term, it simply means enabling a higher level of functioning, physically, mentally, emotionally, and, as George Gurdjieff shared back in 1860, the 4th way, including the realm of the spiritual. You improve one aspect of how you function, and, as a result, every aspect of your life improves exponentially.
“In the course of the lessons, the reader will find that the exercises suggested are in themselves simple, involving only easy movements. But they are intended to be carried out in such a way that those who do them will discover changes in themselves even after the first lesson.” Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais
Today I am wishing you all the very best as we move forward into a new year. Seek better questions and answers to life’s questions. Cherish your memories, hopefully of good things, also learning what to be mindful of, and aware of, what to steer clear of. It’s all learning, and I hope it fills you with enthusiasm to find improved ways to move forward together. We are not islands unto ourselves, but rather social beings. Here’s a prayer that we learn to come together with kindness for all and care to make this world better for future generations.
I hope I have earned the privilege of your time and attention, and look forward to seeing you in 2026.
Warmest for a safe and healthier new year,
Peggi
