Photo by Quinten de Graaf on Unsplash
February 4, 2022
Seeing Clearly: Connecting Your Eyes to Each Other and Yourself
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From the EditorsYour eyes orient you in space.They tell you where you want to look.Their movement gives you perspective, focus and clarity. So what happens when we get trapped staring at screens? While many people complain about their deteriorating eyesight, the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education can help.
This issue of SenseAbility offers real-life advice on how you can improve your vision. Al Waldleigh and Erin Finkelstein offer anatomy tips and ideas that you can try out right away. Darcia Dexter shares a very personal story of her own eye journey. Raz Ori, who studied vision in depth, and has created many courses to help one improve eye health offers insights in an informative interview. Be sure to check the vision resources at the end!
Lavinia and Yulia
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Improving Your Sight: An Interview with Raz Ori, Feldenkrais® Trainer
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Raz Ori has spent the past decade studying the role that our eyes play in our perceptions and actions. Interviewed by Yulia Kriskovets.
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About Raz:
Raz Ori is a Practitioner and Trainer of the Feldenkrais Method. He has served on the educational staff of training programs in Tel-Aviv, New-York, Germany, Italy, and South Korea, teaching with Ruty Bar, David Zemach-Bersin, and Lior Pessach. Raz runs The Ramat-Aviv Feldenkrais Center where he teaches Awareness Through Movement® classes and gives individual Functional Integration® lessons. His website is www.razori.co.il
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Photo by Diego Jimenez on Unsplash
By Erin Finkelstein, M.M., GCFPCM
“Come into my eyes, and look at me through them,
for I have chosen a home far beyond what eyes can see.”
- Rumi
What is your relationship with your eyes like, away from your computer or smartphone? Most of us take our eyes for granted, until some vision change sends us to the optometrist or ophthalmologist. With the increasingly narrow use of our eyes due to our dependency on computers and smartphones, many are having eye issues at an earlier age and with increased frequency. I often encounter complaints of jaw and neck pain in my private practice, but people rarely link this to their eye usage, or to the resulting breathing patterns. The muscles of the eyes have a direct connection with many other muscles in the body, and help guide all of our movement patterns. When not engaged with full and complete movements, the resulting disconnect can create obstacles to proper functioning and freedom of movement throughout our whole body and nervous system.
From an evolutionary standpoint, humans once used the eyes in more diverse ways than our current societal structures demand, and the potentially detrimental effects of this on movement, nervous system, and overall health are extensive. In modern society, we don’t have the need to utilize all of the eye movement patterns as frequently as our ancestors did. We don’t hunt for our food on a regular basis, we don't live and sleep under the stars or build our houses and communities by hand, and advances in transportation have had the effect that our bodies are not tasked to function at their highest level of capacity and design. This change in physical functioning has had a mirroring effect on the range and quality of movement in our eyes. (...)
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About Erin:
Erin Finkelstein is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais PractitionerCM with 15 years’ experience. Her in-person Feldenkrais® practice, Sound Movement Services, encompasses a wide range of people; from children with Cerebral Palsy, to the aging population, and people of all occupations. With her online practice, she holds a weekly zoom class and has a learning library with over 130 ATM® lessons available on demand. Erin is a professional clarinetist and a member of Urban Nocturnes in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Carmel Bach Festival in California. Her website is www.erinfinkelstein.com
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What is Vision? What is Seeing?
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Photo by Harry Quan on Unsplash
By Al Wadleigh, GCFPCM
My wife, Sarah, and I are out for a Sunday drive. Our two dogs, Fred and Pliny, are in the back seat, napping away. I suddenly swerve to the left! I somehow realized the car next to me was drifting into my lane!
I didn’t consciously “see” the car until after my quick reaction.
How did this happen? I perceived the car next to me in my peripheral vision. Peripheral vision is a broad view of seeing that allows us to see what is not in our direct line of vision. You are reading this article on your computer or mobile device. While looking at the screen, expand your attention and notice what you can “see” to your left and right without moving the eyes to the sides. That is your peripheral vision. It’s not very clear, but your brain takes in a lot of information about what is happening around you and responds to it.
The Many Functions of the Eyes
The eyes see, take in sensory information, anchor us in time, express emotions, organize our movement, and are part of our thinking. This article will primarily focus on the movements of the eyes related to seeing. (...)
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About Al:
Al Wadleigh is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais PractitionerCM based in Longmont, Colorado, for over 20 years. Al is deeply passionate about the Feldenkrais Method. He owns The Feldenkrais® Store, one of the largest collections of Feldenkraisaudio, books and videos. He co-hosts the Feldenkrais for Life Podcast with Donna Ray. He is the publisher of the books by Dr. Feldenkrais: Hadaka-Jime (Practical Unarmed Combat) and Thinking and Doing. Al has taught thousands of classes and individual Functional Integration® lessons. His website is AchievingExcellence.com
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Insights Through Eyesight: My Eye-Opening Journey in the Feldenkrais Method
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Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash
By Darcia Dexter, GCFPCM
“Mom, I can see you!”
“Really? The eye doctor said you would only see out of your left eye if your right eye was covered up.”
“I know, but I can SEE you!”
“Okay, how many fingers am I holding up?”
“Two.”
“That’s a good guess, honey.”
“But you're waving your hand…”
It was a Sunday morning in 1988. Mom was standing in the kitchen to my left and squeals of delight ensued as we realized that I could see out of both eyes simultaneously (binocular vision) versus the single-eye (monocular) vision that had been my destiny up until my first Feldenkrais® experience the day before.(...)
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About Darcia:
Darcia Dexter is A Lifestyle and Movement Educator based in Orange County since 1996. She works with individuals, teaches weekly classes and designs Feldenkrais®-based wellness programs often integrating her additional certifications in Pilates, Bones For Life® and Neuro-Linguistics. Her website is www.darciadexter.com.
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