All of Falk’s exercises are a challenge, but not in the usual sense. The exercises have a deep purpose. The goal is to make the exercises, each of them, effortless. To do this, one must pay attention. Rushing through any exercise program just makes it harder.
The challenge is to:
- Sense the body.
- Become aware of subtle movements.
- Eliminate extraneous movements and tensions.
Then, all of a sudden, perhaps in stages, an exercise will truly become easier.
A given exercise may need several breakthroughs in awareness in order to make it effortless. For example, in doing Bicycles, one may have to understand how to relax the neck, and then relax the foot, and then to connect with the abdominal muscles, and so on, until the exercise is almost as easy as walking down the street. It may take years, but it will happen.
To achieve this sense of “effortless effort,” one should consider any exercise like reading book. When you read a book, you read and understand several paragraphs or pages and then an idea occurs to you about its deeper meaning. The same can be said for exercise. You cannot force your legs to be light, but you can try to sense when it happens and what makes it happen. The best attitude is simply to do the exercise and listen to the body. If the neck or a leg slowly feels lighter, if a rotation gets more even and effortless, or if the pull on the back slowly becomes lighter and the muscles relax, pay attention, for herein lies the key to doing the exercises effortlessly. Think of reading a book–the book is you.
Why is this important?
It is important so we can become aware of ourselves. Many people subconsciously rush through life. They do not see themselves, or others, or how others see them. By focusing on the exercise, we (1) learn about our physical state, (2) relax the mind.
For instance, when I first started doing the Single Leg Bicycle, it was tiring and hard. I could do no more than 10 or over 20 without completely fatiguing my right leg. I tried the exercise over and over again, and still the effort was hard. At first I sensed tension in the shoulders, and eventually found a relaxed position. Later, another time, I felt my foot relax. I had not even realized that I was putting stress throughout the leg and made the exercise harder. When I finally learned to let go of my foot, instead of doing 10 or 20, I could do 60 without tiring. But that is not all. When the foot finally loosened from my leg, it felt wonderful.
What did I learn?
I realized that all of my life my feet have been tense–When I walked, sat, moved, perhaps, even when I was sleeping. My foot was always tight and tense and thus a source of stress throughout the day. When I finished the exercise and finally loosened my foot and tried to walk, my foot moved with pleasure. It was even a bit magical to realize that one small storage area of stress was being worked out. This is the kind of excitement that exercise can bring.
Similarly, when doing Head-Hands Sequencing, my right side always hurt a bit. As long as I listened, that is, paid attention to what was happening, I realized it was odd. It took years, but one day I realized my neck was slightly tilted. Thus, bingo! I straightened my head, and it was easy. I now know that this was a problem all my life, how one stores stress in subtle ways.
This kind of achievement is true for all of the exercises. When you get it, you will know that you have it. It will improve your movement and you will feel proud. Exercise will be a pleasure. But to do it, you have to pay attention, to read the book.
Selection of Exercises:
Disclaimer:
I am not a qualified physician. As with all exercise programs, when using these routines and examples shown, you need to use common sense. To reduce and avoid injury, you may want to check with your doctor before beginning any fitness program. By performing these exercises, you are performing them at your own risk. Theoryofexercise.com will not be responsible or liable for any injury or harm you sustain as a result of this information shared on this website.
