Yoga/Feldenkrais/Neuroplasticiy/The Vigorous Mind

I've been reading my yoga books again, in between all of the other books.  Maybe the feeling of Spring and regrowth and the beauty of azalea blossoms re-kindled my interest in yoga reading and more devotion in my practice.  I do yoga almost everyday, sometimes skipping Sundays, and usually attend two classes a week, but my yoga reading has slowed down in the last few months.

 Whether it was picking up the grandchild or moving furniture or a too enthusiastic practice, or a combination (most likely) of all of the preceding and the ever-present scoliosis, I've done something to that right SI joint.  As a result, I've been taking slower, gentler, more exploratory sequences of asanas and reading more about  joints, muscles, and lower back problems and choosing asanas that calm and strengthen and omitting those that interfere with strength and ease.

I have had a new yoga center on my radar for several months and finally decided to give it a try.  It was a lovely practice that seemed remarkably geared to what I needed.  The Arodasi Center is located in a wonderful old home in the Highland District, and the teacher, Kristin Hanna, is one of those people who seem intrinsically at home with herself and others.  The practice was slow and gentle and left me with the feeling of alertness and peaceful relaxation that I adore about both yoga and tai chi.

 Kristin Hanna is also a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator in the Feldenkrais Method.  I'm finding myself with a new fascination and have a one-on-one private session for Functional Integration scheduled for Friday.  

It is one of those synchronicitous discoveries -- when reading The Vigorous Mind (the first time), my interest in the workings of the brain and in neuroplasticity was aroused.  Norman Doidge's The Brain That Changes Itself  (one of my favorite "brain" books) mentions Feldenkrais' work and the way it can change brain patterns.  

Here is a bit about the Feldenkrais Method and Moshe's Feldenkrais' work as a physicist, his escape from Nazi-occupied Paris with French atomic secrets, his training of British paratroopers in hand-to-hand combat, and more about his method.  Yes, I definitely want to read a biography.

This post on my self-challenge inspired by The Vigorous Mind needs some serious updating, but the journey it set me on has included:  becoming a Registered Yoga Teacher, reading more about the brain and neuroplasticity, deepening my yoga practice, and now, perhaps, a new discovery that will further my understanding of the mind/body connection.
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Have any of you had any experience with Feldenkrais? 

Self-Challenge

An update on my Renaissance Mind self-challenge (Inspired by Ingrid Cumming's The Vigorous Mind):

1. Franklin Expedition: 5 books- which began with the novel The Terror by Dan Simmons. The others are all nonfiction: The Resolute, Frozen in Time, Talking to the Dead, and Exploring Other Worlds.

2. The Brain and It's Abilities: 6 books - The Intention Experiment, The Vigorous Mind, The Brain that Changes Itself, Blink, The Three-Pound Enigma, (completed) and How the Mind Works (in progress).

3. Biographies/Memoirs: 6 books - Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, Galileo's Daughter, Marley & Me, The Mighty Queens of Freeville, Jane Austen, and Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor.

4. Yoga Study: Chakra Yoga, Hatha Yoga Illustrated, (completed), and Yoga as Medicine (in progress).

I've reviewed all of the completed books here on the blog and provided links to each book with the posts.

5. Documentaries: 8 - Secrets of the Samurai Sword: Nova; The Bronte Sisters; The Orphan Trains; 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama; The Cats of Mirikatani; Arctic Passage: Nova; A Century of Quilts: America in Cloth; and Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion.

6. Magazines: The Smithsonian, Mental Floss, and Budget Travel.

The quality of my reading has improved drastically since January in both fiction and nonfiction (and a lot more nonfiction than last year) as a result of this self-challenge. I've been much more satisfied with my reading and have read better books for the most part, both fiction and nonfiction.

While I am making an effort to expand my reading horizons, I'll never give up my escape literature -- science fiction, fantasy, and mysteries. :) The only other reading challenge I'm participating in is Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge which encourages me to read one of my favorite genres.

Ingrid Cummings (The Vigorous Mind) has a blog. I stumbled on it inadvertently from one of those outdated Google Alerts and wondered how many people who have read the book have delineated a plan of action for themselves? I know Booklogged has been reading the book and Kim at Skybelle Arts was using Kaizen (although you've been so quiet lately, Kim!)