Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The Feldenkrais Method
Hello! So much to blog about. I will be blogging heavily over the next few days so get pumped! :)
Throughout my life I have been so blessed and incredibly supported by my family and friends. My mom always pushed my to excel in choir, audition for the high school musicals, and pushed me take piano lessons. When I announced that I wanted to double major in vocal performance and vocal music education no one in my family really questioned it
There is always the starving artist/poor musician stereotype, but my family told me to go for my dreams. I was never told to find something "practical" where I could make a lot of money.
Just before I left I did have someone say, "Come on! Singing isn't hard. Can't you just sing around the house?" I felt an angry sense creep inside my body, but I stayed calm. Because... Honestly? If singing was so easy then anyone can do it... And that's not the case. Chautauqua provides a safe and hardworking environment for me to work on IPA, foreign languages, technique, breathing, stage presence, repertoire, and much more. All of this i will talk about in future posts, but here is your intro. So much to do! One of the best things I've discovered is the Feldenkrais Method.
My freshman year of college I was getting ready to go watch The Pull with some girlfriends
(ODD YEAR!). We had ordered maroon and gold shirts with our last names on the back. We were so excited to support our class. Well, in an effort to stay uniform we all decided to French braid our hair. I sat and had my hair braided. When my hair had finish I came up to look at my reflection. I was happy with the result, but when I went to say so I couldn't open my mouth. My jaw had locked. Ever since then I have had crazy jaw problems. It pops, clicks, locks, and has to be unhooked constantly. When I saw a professional about this they told me that I would need surgery in the near future. Yuck! I would need a large hunk of time to recover. The plan was to have the surgery the summer after I graduated college... Right now! Instead, I decided to come to Chautauqua.
Last week I had a coaching with Maxine Davis. I went in with my loot: water bottle, binder full of music, some books, iPad for recording, pencils, blank paper, and positive attitude. I walked into the room and saw a cot and an ADORABLE shih tzu. I introduced myself to Maxine and the puppy and started talking. Maxine is a Feldenkrais coach.
The Feldenkrais Method offers a way to learn what we don't know about our bodies. We all have habitual ways of moving and thinking that limit our success and comfort and, over time, create pain or difficulty. This method of learning occurs when we increase our awareness of how we do what we do so that we can do want we want.
Maxine found my problems right away and began working. After just one hour with her my body felt perfectly at peace. She said that many people with TMJ try out the Feldenkrais Method as an alternative to jaw surgery. I worked hard in that hour and was able to bring my jaw forward and to open my mouth without an resistance. The method feels like physical training! My mouth needs to learn how to open and close easily. I left this coaching able to do so. Unfortunately, the ability left after an hour. I need to do several jaw exercise a day in order to accomplish such a small task.
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