Ahhhhrrrrrgh, another lesson in patience!

Patience. Frustration.  Currently co-existing.

My shoulders are whining and growling at me.

The metatarsals on both feet are complaining about the amount of time I’m spending in Bow Stance.

And my hips and knees are arguing over who is feeling the crankiest over turning.

Just when I’m having so much fun dancing the 4 newest routines, U, Feeling, Bailando and Rise – all at the same time.

Too much of a good thing?! Always a possibility. First time? So definitely not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I get to figure out how many variations there are for the moves that are in relationship to pain and discomfort.

Since these are warnings and not full-blown injuries, I’m not going to stop moving.

I’ve been healing shoulder impingement issues for a couple of decades and I know that the “ball” or the top of my humerus tends to roll forward in the joint, causing significant pain.

Morton’s Syndrome and Morton’s Neuroma are yearly visitors that whisper before they scream, so reducing the amount of time I spend on the balls of my feet can often defuse a potentially challenging opportunity! (Foot “Undeez” can sometimes help as well, though not always.)

Hips and knees… 3 knee surgeries, my all-or-nothing disposition, tendencies, and tension… Nia has taught me to use my feet in such a way that allows me to do almost anything in any range of motion without pain. Turning is about the only move that can slow me down. For my hips, the deep sinks that may belie flexible and healthy hip joints are possible without pain but I’m on borrowed time. Even when my hips are painful, I can still accomplish the deepest sinking. It’s the return to the top, that the screaming begins and until I began the Feldenkrais Method training it didn’t much matter what I did or took. For me, relying on Feldenkrais to “fix” me when I do more than I should is like taking antacids so that I can eat more chili that’s going to give me indigestion or irritate an ulcer.

The fun is that I get to plunge into h o w.

Wriggle around in creativity.

Roll around in juicy inspiration.

Slow everything down so that I can see, hear and feel what I could not before. Move in such a way that reveals the subtle structure of how I do what I do – or the matrix – my personal matrix.

What is revealed is a whole new world of detail and possibility…

Part 1