These last few weeks I’ve been part of the Royal Opera House’s performance of Arminio, a Handel opera.

And as I was sat in the pit this afternoon, I was thinking about the large amount of people involved. Some we see clearly, like the singers, artists, ushers, and service staff, and others offer their part to the performance behind the scenes: the stage crew, sur-title writer, copy-writers, stage door staff to name just a few.  

All contribute to a performance, along with the audience, without whom, it’s a rehearsal. And it made me think about the similarities to the human system. Some, conscious: our ability to see, hear, connect, move. And others unconscious, part of our autonomic nervous system, or below the level of consciousness. Some we can feel, sense, others we can’t. There are no nerve endings in the diaphragm for example, but we feel the effect of its moving. The heart refers its sensations. And some things, we imagine are only in the brain, but we in fact feel them in the body.  

It’s why the Feldenkrais Method works on many levels. What we sense, how we move, informs our brain and sense of self image. What we think gives us possibilities or limitations.  In the next weeks, we’ll be looking at lessons that help us feel more of the whole of ourselves at once to feel more complete. To sense both limitations, we all have them, it comes with our human form, and our possibilities. And hopefully more ability to appreciate ourselves, in all their imperfect, messy, wonderfulness.