SIGNALS IN THE NOISE
Have you ever had the feeling that “it is all too much” – too much to do, too much information, too many potentially interesting links to follow or “summits” to listen to? I certainly have. There is a lot of “noise” out there. How can we learn to attend more to those more meaningful “signals”?
My focus here is going to be on movement and your physical well being. How much attention do you typically pay to your movement unless you are in pain, or struggling with a new skill? Often these two catalysts become “signals in the noise”. The “way of doing” that has worked in the past no longer is. I am not about to say that being able to move through your day without conscious attention is always a bad thing.
If we had to think about every step we took or every movement of utensil to mouth, life would be pretty challenging! That said, if something isn’t working how can we begin to address that. The first step is to become conscious of what you are currently doing. And that brings up back to the question of “signals in the noise”.
Just about anyone who has trained to be a Feldenkrais practitioner has heard one or both of these examples. Imagine you are in a brightly lit room with 99 lights turned on. Someone turns on the 100th. Are you likely to notice? Now imagine being in a pitch black room and someone turns on one light. It is very likely you would notice it. Now for another example. Imagine a fly landing on your finger. There is a pretty good chance you would sense the bit of weight and texture. Now imagine that you and a buddy are lifting a heavy piece of furniture and a fly landed on it. Would you notice the extra weight? – not likely.
So what is this all about? In order to notice “ a signal” – that light or the weight of a fly, there needs to be little competing information (many lights, heavy weight). The desired “signal” – (one light or the weight of a fly) must be stronger than the distraction of competing information or “noise”. This can be referred to as a “signal to noise ratio”. Real geeks refer to the Weber-Fechner Law. The next question becomes how do we apply this to improving our movement.
What it boils down to is how can we decrease “the noise” so that the signal can come in loud and clear. Here are some suggestions …
1. Slow down your movement (though not necessarily forever). Neuroscience tells us that if you move quickly you can only move in your habitual way.
2. Decrease your effort. Extra “efforting” or muscular tension increases the “noise”.
3. Pay very close attention to the feeling of the movement inside yourself. Can you learn something from this?
Working with these practices and a few others are essential to how the Feldenkrais and Anat Baniel methods work.