The Primary Image: Exploring the Five Cardinal Lines in Action

A Feldenkrais audio series exploring the five cardinal lines of the self-image in action and imagination.

Product Description

When you begin a familiar movement, you often bring past experiences and expectations with you. You may already have an idea of how far a leg can bend, how a shoulder usually feels, or what a twist will require. The primary image offers another frame of reference: five cardinal lines of the self-image that have no mass, no weight, and no past.

The central line rises from the sacrum through the top of the head. Two arm lines branch from the base of the neck, and two leg lines branch from the sacrum through the hip joints. When you attend to the direction and changing shape of these lines, you may notice something immediate: a leg can unbend, an arm can lengthen, or a head can turn while the rest of the self-image begins to reorganize around that action.

“You will experience the five lines as a moving constellation.” — Al Wadleigh, GCFP

What if, for a few moments, you followed the movement of a line instead of the familiar effort of a limb? What if the line could bend with the joints, change shape, and move without the usual prediction of what is possible?

Drawn from Moshe Feldenkrais’s Alexander Yanai series, these five recordings develop this exploration through lying, sitting, side-lying, standing, and walking. You will encounter the five lines as a moving constellation and as tubes with direction and flow. Over time, the image can accompany you beyond the lesson—into your relationship with gravity, space, and ordinary movement.

What You Will Explore

• Sense the five cardinal lines as an image of the self, with their branching points at the sacrum and base of the neck.
• Notice how a small movement in one line changes the relationships among the others.
• Shift between close attention to one action and a wider awareness of the whole self-image.
• Explore the five lines as tubes with direction, branching, pressure, and flow.
• Bring the image into sitting, standing, walking, balance, and your relationship with space.

Who It’s For

This series is for anyone who is curious to explore the primary image through movement and imagination. People new to the Feldenkrais Method® can use the lessons as a gentle introduction to sensing themselves in a new way.

Experienced practitioners and trainees may appreciate the historical value of working with lessons drawn from Moshe Feldenkrais’s Alexander Yanai series. Experienced movers and meditators may enjoy the movement of awareness itself—and the way attention to the five cardinal lines shapes experience.

Download the Series

The lessons are designed to inform one another. Work with one each day or every other day, and allow the questions from one lesson to remain available in the next.

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Lineage:

These lessons are drawn from the Alexander Yanai series: AY 338, AY 339, AY 340, AY 341, and AY 343.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the five cardinal lines of the self-image?

The primary image is organized as a central line, two arm lines, and two leg lines. The central line rises from the sacrum through the top of the head; the arm lines branch from the base of the neck, and the leg lines branch from the sacrum through the hip joints.

Why work with lines that are imagined rather than physical?

The lines have no mass, weight, or physical substance, which makes them available to the imagination in a different way from the body’s familiar weight and effort. Attending to a line can clarify the direction and shape of a movement while bringing habitual assumptions about that movement into view.

How can one small movement involve the whole self-image?

When one leg line bends, lengthens, or turns, the central line, arm lines, and other leg line also change their relationship. The lessons use small, slow movements so you can notice this wider organization rather than attending only to the part that appears to be moving.

What does the image of the five tubes add to the exploration?

The tube image gives the lines a sense of direction, branching, and flow. It offers another way to imagine lengthening through an arm, leg, or central line while sensing how all five lines are related.

Can the five cardinal lines be explored beyond the lessons?

Yes. The series brings the image into sitting, standing, and walking, where the lines can be sensed in a changing relationship with gravity and space. You can revisit the image after a lesson while moving through an ordinary part of your day.