Your Breath from the Inside Out

Celebrating Feldenkrais Week
Free Feldenkrais Lesson: Thinking and Breathing
September 29 at 10:00 a.m.
Join Live or by Replay

How do you breathe?

You know that air enters your lungs. But can you sense where it goes? Can you distinguish your right lung from your left, or one lobe from another? Can you feel your breath moving into the front, sides, and back of your ribs?

This is one of my all-time favorite Feldenkrais lessons. It reveals breathing possibilities that our daily habits have hidden from us.

At first, directing your breath toward a particular lobe may sound impossible. With curiosity, it becomes probable. And with attention, intention, and movement, it becomes possible.

We begin with breathing as one familiar, undifferentiated action. Then we narrow the spotlight of attention to one region, one lobe, one side. From there, we gradually widen our awareness—to the whole lung, the other lung, and finally both lungs—until all five lobes participate in a more complete, three-dimensional experience of breathing.

This is a truly remarkable experience, unlike any breathing exercise you have done before.

By the end of the lesson, you will sense more movement through your ribs, chest, back, and diaphragm. Your breath will feel fuller, quieter, and easier.

We do the lesson lying on the floor. It is the final lesson in my September class series and a primer for October’s exploration of breathing.

This free class is offered as part of the Feldenkrais Week celebration sponsored by the Feldenkrais Guild. “Thinking and Breathing” is Lesson 12 from Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais’s book, Awareness Through Movement.