Awareness Through Movement at Home

• If you wonder whether beginning movement and awareness self-study is safe and appropriate for you, check with a healthcare professional.
• Move Slowly, Breathe, and Move Restfully. These lessons prompt neuroplastic changes--you are literally rewiring your habits of movement and awareness to create better self-organization and decrease injury and discomfort.  Moving quickly, comes from habit; moving slowly with attention prompts learning. 
• Do not continue if you experience discomfort. Even slight discomfort is an opportunity to move more small, or even to stop. Use your curiosity to try to discover a way to move that doesn't involve resistance or discomfort. Please improvise and adapt the movements and even your position as needed  for your comfort.  A good learning environment is filled with self-compassion, and gentleness. 
• Move with Awareness. Typically, we are trained to repeat movements robotically. If you notice yourself falling into this pattern, pause. This is often a sign that you need a rest, or to try to find other sensations associated with the movement. Boredom, frustration, or mind-wandering are all signs to pause!
• Do as much or as little as you like. You are learning how to learn in an intrinsically individual way, by following what feels good to you, and trusting your innate curiosity and intelligence. Feel free to stick with things longer, or for less time by using the pause button. No need to do a whole lesson--it is fine to play with a little at a time. 

Tips:

• Which lesson to choose?  Often it's better to choose a lesson that DOES NOT deal with your area of difficulty. Why? Because you have a difficulty there, so that already means there is some disorganization internally to do with that area. By working in an area of ease, you have the best chance of generalizing that ease throughout yourself, and in fact, you may find that a lesson on eyes, for example, will improve your difficulty surprisingly. Rather than fighting with a lesson, if you aren't comfortable, choose a different lesson. 
  
• Setting up for your lesson Lessons usually last about an hour (although you can do the lessons in stages if you prefer).  Lying on a carpeted floor is ideal: a yoga mat with a blanket/towel on it also works.  Think: can I slide with just a little friction? If not, your mat won't work for many of these lessons. 

• Wear comfortable layers and be sure the room is warm enough. People can become quite cool in these classes, in which you are using small movements to challenge your coordination, to inspire learning. This means small, slow movements (usually), with rests between. 
• Bring a folded towel for firm head support as needed, depending on the positions (lying on your back, side, or front). Use the least amount that you need, and rather than a pillow which will get in your way, and be too soft to be a useful learning tool, the towel gives support, while also allowing you free movement. This is important!
• Where's up? Directions are relative to you. If you are standing,"up" is in the direction of the ceiling: if you are lying down, up is towards the wall above your head. No matter where you are, the directions are always about you, where is your right, where is above your head, where is below your feet, etc. 
• Help, I'm lost. It happens. Occasionally, you'll get lost, fall asleep, or zone out. Trust that this is completely fine. Most likely, I'll be repeating the instructions or clarifying them any moment. After all, it happens to everyone! Rewinding is an option, but it's okay to simply wait until the next thing. If you do fall asleep, often it's because of what the movement was, that you are doing some reorganizing, or that you needed the rest!.