Learning and Re-learning

Dear Reader,

My almost four year old granddaughter told me, with great certainty, that I’m old. That’s okay, I told her that she’s full of beans. I even looked down her throat to confirm—yep, full of beans. Now that I’m old, it’s fun to watch these little ones and how they learn. It’s almost as if you could see the wheels turning as they observe, process, imitate and try things out. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but I wonder if I’d ask what made her think that I’m old. Then again, maybe I don’t really want to know the answer to that.

It’s nice to know that although we learn differently from children, we adults keep on learning. Sometimes we re-learn; sometimes it’s brand new; and sometimes it’s un-learning. I appreciate that no matter how much I learn, there’s always more to discover. Thomas Leonard (some call him the father of modern coaching) once asked a client if he had ever considered the possibility of not having any problems. I’ve asked that a few times, and the response usually has something to do with boredom. I wonder though, even without problems, could we entertain ourselves with learning new things? Exploring how things work.

I’m not sure it’s possible to have a problem-free life, but I do love learning. And, you probably know where this will lead: one of my favorite avenues of learning is the Feldenkrais Method. The more I learn through this work, the more I find to be curious about, and the easier it is to learn new things. Feldenkrais was sneaky that way. He’d point you toward moving—moving with awareness—and whether you wanted to or not, you’d learn something new and you’d find learning easier. Maybe it was more magic than sneaky. Maybe we humans have a magical quality that we don’t usually acknowledge. Either way, it’s fun to keep on learning and improving. I hope you’ll join me.

My Tuesday Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement class is Free Pay as You Wish.

This week is the final session of the October Thursday series, “Easy Twists and Turns—Lengthening the Spine.” Registration is officially closed, but if you’d like to join for this session, contact me directly and we’ll set it up.

Next week we’ll begin the November Thursday series, a three-session course called, “A Grown-up Approach to Baby Steps”. It’s a great example of learning, re-learning and unlearning—all about something that’s uniquely human: walking on two feet.