Instructor: Fritha Pengelly
4-week Series:
Mondays
November 4 – 25, 2024
7-8pm ET
ONLINE
This class series will be dedicated to exploring small movements of the eyes to discover habits of vision and the ways in which how we use our eyes connects to how we “see,” how we organize our whole self, and how we perceive the world around us.
“What we are used to thinking about senses, sense organs, and, above all, training the senses, is usually contrary to what happens in reality. The sense organs themselves are so complete that there is nothing about them to “train.” If so-called training of the senses achieves any kind of improvement, it can only be that we become more experienced at consciously interpreting the stimuli that reach us through our receiving organs. If people want to experience more, or experience things in a more sophisticated way, they must try above all to become quieter. Using our ability to be and become quiet, and allowing it to unfold, are vitally important if we are to experience and achieve at a high level.”
– Heinrich Jacoby, “Beyond ‘Gifted’ and ‘Ungifted’”
November 4: Quieting the Eyes, Quieting the Nervous System
We’ll begin this class series by noticing how active our visual field remains even with our eyes closed. In this first class we’ll then take the time to slow down and calm our visual field so our eyes begin to relax, allowing for more blood flow and nourishment of the eyes. You may notice a difference in how you experience what you see as well as a change in the state of your nervous system.
November 11: Rods and Cones
There are two different kinds of photoreceptor cells in the retina that help us see shape, color, lines, and movement. We will play with focus, peripheral vision, movement, and explore the implications of how we use our dominant and non-dominant eyes differently and perhaps how lots of screen time could be affecting not only our eyes, but how we relate to movement and experience our connection to our environment.
November 18: Letting Light In
As noted in the above quote from Heinrich Jacoby’s book, our sense organs are designed to gather information from the environment. We don’t need to try to see. Improving our vision can be invited by doing less. The Feldenkrais® Method is a perfect way to explore doing less! This lesson will invite you to sense how you may be reaching out into the world to see rather than letting the light in.
November 25: Integration
This class/lesson will invite you sense the integration of your eyes to your whole self. The movement of the eyes organizes the whole self, and you will be invited to explore the relationships between the movement of your eyes and how you sense your head, spine, pelvis, and even how you experience your feet on the ground!
Guidance will include invitations for explorations in-between sessions.
$85 for the series ($72/early-bird)
$25 drop-in