Low Stress Intro

8/4/2019 Low Stress Intro

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Low-StressComputingUsing awareness to avoid RSI

A Feldenkrais Perspective

Chapter 1Introduction

by

Ralph Strauch

...to live more fully

in your body

OptionsomaticS

TM


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Note

This docum ent contains the introdu ctory chap ter andtable of contents to a p reliminary version ofPart 1 of abook on Low-Stress Computing: Using A wareness to Avoid

RSI, A Feldenkrais Perspective. The fu ll text m ay bepu rchased in h ard copy u sing the enclosed ord er form, orin hard copy or p d f fomat from th e Somatic Op tionswebsite at w ww .somatic.com/ low-stress.html

This ma terial is copyrigh t 1997 by Ralph Strau ch Allrights are reserved . This d ocument may be freelyreprod uced an d d istributed , in electronic or hard copyform (includ ing p osting on w ebsites and electronicbu lletin board s) so long as it rema ins in tact, includ ingcontact an ordering information.

The terms Feldenkrais Method, Fun ctional Integration, and Awareness ThroughMovementare registered service marks of the Felden krais Guild.

Soma tic OptionsP.O. Box 194

Pacific Palisades, CA 90272rstrauch@som atic.com

www.somatic.com
http://www.somatic.com/low-stress.htmlmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.somatic.com/http://www.somatic.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.somatic.com/low-stress.html


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Low -Stress Compu tingIntroduction

Once upon a time, the term hazar d ous occup ationsap plied p rimarily to occu pations like wor king in a mine,logging, or bridge bu ild ing jobs involving th e risk ofsud den, violent injury or d eath. Today, the term mu st alsobe app lied to office work, comp uter p rogram m ing,

newsp aper w riting, and working as a sup ermarketchecker occu pations that su perficially ap pear to havefew h azard s associated w ith them.

The hazard s in these occup ations are not sud den,massive, and violent. On the contrary, they are insidiousand cum ulative a thousand tiny tap s instead of a single

massive blow. They are the hazard s created by d oing thesame thing over and over again, so that individuallynegligible stresses accum ulate to the p oint of injury.Someon e typ ing 60 word s per m inute w ill strike 20,000keys per hou r perhap s 120,000 keys in the cou rse of ad ay, accounting for breaks.

The inju ries and d isabilities resulting from th esehaza rd s are d escribed by nam es like repetitive stress injury


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2 Low-Stress Computing

(RSI), repetit ive strain in jury (also called RSI), cumulativetrauma disorderor syndrome (CTD or CTS), and overusesyndrome. These injuries d isable millions of w orker s, atleast temp orar ily, at a cost to the econom y of billions ofd ollars per year.

The usu al explanations for these inju ries focus on th e

repetitive natu re of the work (e.g., on typ ing or hand linggroceries at the check-ou t counter) or the d esign of thew orkstation (biomechanically poor chair or keyboardd esign, etc.). These factors are significant, to be sur e, butthey d ont tell the w hole story. Repetitive stress injuriesflow from th e confluen ce of the nature of the work, thedesign of the workplace, and the behavioral habits that you

bring to th e task and use (albeit unconsciously) toorganize the way you d o the job.

Ou r focus here will be on that third branch of thestream the un conscious habits w hich organ ize your

actions an d the u nconscious choices wh ich sup port thosehabits. We will exp lore the w ays those choices affect you ractions, and how you can learn to chan ge those choicesand work in ways that impose less strain on your self.

Most people worktoo hardat what they d o, in the sensetha t they exert more effort than th e job actually requires.

This extra effort d oesnt d issipate harm lessly into theether. It prod uces compr essive forces w ithin the bod y,

Nature of the Work

Design of the Workplace

Behaviorial Habits

RSI

Sources of RSI


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Introduction 3

w hich im pose the extra m echan ical strains that eventu allylead to RSI. You do th is becau se of a lack of self-awareness you literally do not kn ow wh at you are d oing toyou rself, or wh at alterna tives are available. That canchange.

Am I blaming the victim?

Because I focus on w hat you do to you rself, rather thanon w hat the workp lace does to you, I have been accused ofblaming the v ictim, of being an apologist for heartlessemp loyers who arent w illing to p rovid e a safe workp lace.That is not my intention. I dont see what I say as blamingsomeone w ho su ffers from RSI. Rather , I see it empowering

them to change their cond ition, irrespective of whatanyon e else does.

When I say you can d o things d ifferent ly, Im notsaying that you should have been d oing them d ifferently allalong. Im asking you to question d eeply ingrainedcultural habits, ways of thinking an d acting that w e all

learned as child ren an d accepted un critically as how thingsare, without ever thinking about th e fact that w e hadchoices. Im suggesting th at its time to rethink thosehabits, to see if we w ant to continue to pay the p rices theyextract from us. If not, then its time to chan ge them . I w illshow you h ow to d o that if you choose to.

If you r ow n behavior contr ibutes to you r RSI, then youcan redu ce your v ulnerability to RSI throu gh you r ow naction, whatever your w orkp lace env ironm ent. Thisd oesnt mean that you r RSI is you r fault and youremp loyer has no respon sibility for it. It doesnt red uceyou r emp loyers responsibility to provide a safew orkp lace, and to mod ify that w orkp lace if necessary tomake it safe. It d oes suggest a new tool which emp loyerscan emp loy to achieve a safer w orkp lace edu cation to


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make emp loyees more aware of the behavioral chan gesthat w ill redu ce their risk, and sup port for them inmaking those changes.

To pr ovide this kind of su pp ort, emp loyers mu stbecome m ore know led geable about the p roblem of RSIand the sour ces that contribute to it. Those that d o so

shou ld become m ore sympa thetic to the problem andmore willing to add ress it, rather than to ignore it andhop e it will go away. The app roach I ad vocate d oes notexcuse or apologize for em ployers wh o are u nw illing todeal with the p roblem. On the contrary, I see it as a w ay ofencour aging them to do m ore about it, and as providingnew tools to sup port that.

Scope and terminology

People apply m any d ifferent terms to the kind ofd ifficulties were d ealing w ith here, and d ifferent p eopled efine those terms with d ifferent degrees of specificity.Im going to u se the term RSIas a gener ic term for injuries

resu lting from r epetitive activities like typing, shelvingbooks, or w orking on an assembly line. Im avoiding term slike synd rom e or disorder, becau se these terms havemed ical diagn ostic connotations. I will not be d ealingd irectly with m ed ical diagn ostic categories such as carpeltun nel syndrom e, thoracic outlet synd rome, or ulnarnerve imp ingement, but w ill be looking at the p roblem

throu gh a somew hat d ifferent lens.Ill be concerned with how you organ ize your

movements, actions, responses to the world, and how thatorgan ization imp oses stress on your body. And Ill beconcerned with h ow you can change that organization toavoid or red uce tha t stress. Im calling th is way of lookingat the issue a Feldenkrais perspective becau se it grow sou t of my experience as a practitioner of the Feldenkrais


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Introduction 5

Methodover the past 13 years. Later on Ill d raw a m oreexplicit comp arison between this perspective and th emore familiar med ical persp ective, to see how th ey bothcontra st with and comp lement each other. For the timebeing, thou gh, Ill ju st let the ideas u nfold as w e com e tothem.

This is a different lens than you may be u sed to lookingthrough w hen you look at these problems, and mayrequire some conceptu al shifts and new conceptu alcategories. Ill lead you throu gh experiential exp lorationsintend ed to h elp you facilitate those shifts and make themmeaningful. Please take enou gh time w ith theseexplorations to allow that to happ en. The benefits from

this app roach come from changes in the w ay youexperience yourself. If you ap p roach w hat I have to sayfrom a p u rely intellectual persp ective those chan ges wonthappen.

Ill use the term exploration to d escribe shortexploratory experiences which I w ill guide you throu gh,and later to describe the larger overarching p rocess ofchange on w hich I hope to ind uce you to embark (wh ichIll call somatic exploration.) Ill use the term lesson (as in

Awareness Through M ovement lesson) to d escribe mor estru ctured learning experiences with specific learningobjectives. I will use a different t ypeface, like t his, fordirect ions which I hope you will follow and experience.

I am d eliberately avoiding the term exercise, wh ich issometimes app lied to experiences like these. My reasonfor this is to emphasize the learning value of theseexperiences.Exercise carries a connotation of somethingyou can d o withou t thinking abou t it, in w hich thebenefits are derived from the effort you pu t into the

mechanical performance of the act. Tha t is not th e casehere. The benefits of these explorations and lessons d erive


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from the information you acquire from them, and thelearning w hich that information m akes p ossible. Effort isnot d esirable, because it often interferes with learning .

Causes & prevention of RSI

Lets look a t th e term RSI, or repetitive stress injury, and

see what the term itself can tell us abou t the p roblem itdescribes.

Repetitive something you d o over and over

Stress (or strain) that imposes stress (or strain)each time you d o it

Injury lead ing to injury or d isability

Broken d own into its comp onents like that, themeaning of the term is obvious.

Doing something over and over in ways

that impose stress or strain each time you

do it will eventually lead to injury.

Typing is a h ighly repetitive act. If you typ e at anaverage speed of 60 w ord s per m inute, you w ill strike thekeyboard 20,000 times p er hour. If you p u t a little extrastrain on you r body with each keystroke, it can ad d up .

Im not going to take a p osition on whether th e S inRSI should stan d for stress or for strain. The term isequally d escriptive (and valid) either w ay. In p hysics, theterm stress refers to an external force wh ich tends tod eform a physical system, wh ile strain refers to theresulting d eform ation. In th e current context a similard istinction app ears useful. I w ill app ly the term strain tonegative imp acts on bod y tissues, such as tension in

muscles and tend ons, friction between tendons and thestructu res they move against, pr essure of one tissue


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Introduction 7

against another, etc., and the term stress to the stimu li(both external and internal) w hich p rod uce those imp acts.Thus strain is the d irect cause of inju ry, while stress, inturn, is what lead s to that strain. We can sum u p therelationship betw een stress, strain, and injury, then, asfollows:

Repetitive Stress Repetitive Strain RSI

This analysis suggests two app roaches to reducing an dpreventing RSI:

(1) red ucing the stress associated with each ind ivid ualaction, and

(2) reducing the effective nu mber of repetitive actions.

Ive includ ed the q ualifier effective in (2) becau se it maynot be possible to reduce the absolute nu m ber of repetitiveactions requ ired by the job that n eeds to be don e. Typ ing

that m anu script sitting in front of you may requ ire aha lf-million keystrokes, and theres no w ay of gettingarou nd that. The imp act of those ha lf-million keystrokeson you r bod y can be significantly redu ced, thou gh, bybreaking them up into smaller bun ches and givingyourself a chan ce to rest and recup erate between thebunches.

Ou r p rinciple focus w ill be on (1), on u nd erstandinghow you can red uce the stress associated w ith eachindividu al action the am oun t of force you pu t into eachind ivid ual keystroke, for examp le, or the tension w ithw hich you move the m ouse. In th is way, you can turnyou r curr ent h igh-stress, RSI-p rone style of compu ting

into a m ore low-stress, RSI-free computing sty le.


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Environmental and behavioral stressThe stresses that work ing at your computer (and

ind eed, life in general) impose on you fall into tw o classes environmental (or external) and behavioral (or internal).

Environmental stresses come from the world aroundyou . Sources of environ m ental stress includ e poorly

d esigned furn iture and equipm ent, inadequ ate lighting,excessive w ork schedu les, and the like. Environm entalstresses are imp ortant, and the w hole science ofergonomics has grown u p to d eal with them.

Behavioral stresses are those you imp ose on yourself bythe way you w ork and the w ay you organize your body as

you w ork. These includ e the stresses you p rod u ce byslouching or h olding you rself rigid as you w ork, forexamp le, or by typing w ith you r w rists bent and too mu chtension in you r arm s. They also include the stresses youimp ose on you rself by hu rrying (w hich, w ell see, d oesntreally get th ings d one any sooner a fter all); by being an gryat your boss, your mate, or your kids; or by going aroun d

all d ay w ith tight shou lders and a locked jaw.

Comm on ap pr oaches to redu cing work-related stressfocus on redu cing environm ental stresses throu gh thingslike split keyboard s, ergonom ic chairs, and better lighting.If behavioral stresses are ad d ressed , it is likely to be w ithenvironmen tal solutions ergonom ic chairs to imp rove

postu re, w rist braces to sup port you r carp el tun nel whenyou type, etc. The und erlying behavioral patterns tha tp roduce behavioral stress are taken as given, as part ofhow peop le are and imp ossible to change. That isnt true;you can learn to significantly redu ce the behavioralstresses you imp ose on yourself.

Significant behavioral change is not easy. It often seemslike the more you try to chan ge, the more stubborn ly


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Introduction 9

unw anted behaviors resists change. Ad mon itions likethose you heard as a child to straighten u p and d ontslouch only seem to make it hard er to comply. This isbecau se you attemp t to make change at the wrong level to change th e sur face behaviors, like slouching or typ ingw ith bent w rists, without attend ing to the un derlyingbehavioral substrate on w hich th ose behaviors rest.

You slouch in p art because excessive tension in thefront of your ribcage pu lls you forward and d own . Whenyou try to straighten u p, you tighten your spinalextensors to pu ll you rself up right, while maintaining thetension in your ribcage. The mu scles in you r chest and th emuscles in you r back fight against each other, one p u lling

you d own and the other pu lling you u p. You m aytemp orarily overcome the slouch and sit up straightwith effort, but it takes more effort than you can maintainover the long ru n.

The slouch isnt really the problem. Rather, it is amanifestation of deep er systemic habits. That chron iceffort in the front of your ribcage is one of those habits. Asyou habituate to that effort, you become un aw are of it.The effort and the tension it p rod uces blend into thebackgroun d , as unn oticed as the p ressur e of your clothingagainst your bod y.

Trying to sit u p straight d oesnt w ork because itfocus on th e surface behavior (the slouch). The u nd erlying

behaviora l substrate is not easily accessible to directvolitional control. To tru ly chan ge, you must chan ge thatun d erlying substrate. That m ust be d one ind irectly. Thed irect ap proach d oesnt w ork.

The app roach d eveloped later w ill be based onchanging th at u nd erlying substrate through increasing

self-awareness. By consciously noticing how you m ove andhow you act, you m ake new information available to the


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subconscious processes wh ich organ ize and control thosemovemen ts and actions. Your n ervous system can use thatinforma tion to imp rove your m ovement. Conceptu ally,the p rocess is simple, thou gh imp lementing it is notnecessarily easy.

One of the tools you can use in this process is a somatic(body-oriented ) teaching technique know n as AwarenessThrough M ovement (ATM), d eveloped by an Israeliphysicist nam ed Moshe Feldenkrais.Awareness Through

Movementuses gentle movements and d irected attentionto enhance your awareness of how you m ove and w hatyou d o that gets in you r w ay. You d iscover new w ays ofmoving and acting. Layers of habitual tension relax and

melt away, and your m ovement and action become easierand more fluid. As you integrate these chan ges intoeveryd ay activity, you r edu ce the behavioral stress youimp ose on yourself. This, in tur n, redu ces yourvu lnera bility to RSI.

A series ofAwareness Through M ovement lessons onau d iotape will sup p lement the later chap ters of this text.Movement explorations within the text lead you th roughexperiences similar to those in the ATM lessons, though ina shorter and less comp rehensive form. These lessons andmovem ent explorations w ill allow you to experienceschanges in the w ays you organize your action and youraw areness. The accompanying explanations will help you

und erstand th ose chan ges and give you strategies forintegrating th em into you r d aily life.

This form of learning can take p lace at very d eeplevels, levels initially below the th reshold ofconsciousness. This prod uces someth ing akin to anoperating system u pgrad e, and w ill do more than justredu ce comp uter-related injur y. The changes thu spr odu ced can generalize and extend to other aspects oflife as well, increasing ease and flu idity an d making life


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Introduction 11

more comfortable and rew ard ing.

Overview of whats to come

Three prim ary sou rces of behav ioral stress contribu teto the m echanical strains th at eventually lead to RSI.

Excessive Effort

Other form s of Poor Body Organization , and

Lack of Self-awareness .

The next six chap ters will focus on u nd erstand ing thesesources and the ways in w hich they contribute to themechanical strains w hich lead to RSI. Well see how each

comes about, and how it increases you r vu lnerability toRSI.

We will then look what you can d o to redu cebehavioral stress, throu gh a p rocess we w ill call somaticexploration. Simp ly pu t, that p rocess involves noticinghow you m ove and u sing the information gained to

imp rove the qu ality and ease of you r movemen t. Wellexamine some tools you can u se to facilitate that p rocess.

That w ill conclu d e this p art of the book. Ad d itionalchapters w ill be released in coming m onths. The first ofthose chap ters will be organized aroun d somatic themesw hich have a strong impact on you r vu lnerability to RSI.The specific them es we w ill exam ine are

Supporting yourself in gravity

Supporting you rself in gravity is one of the m ost basicand fund am ental of hu man activities. So fund amental is it,in fact, that it becomes largely au tomatic, and youprobably have little aw areness of how you d o it.

Your ph ysical supp ort in gravity is divided between


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tw o systems your skeleton and your muscles. Ideally,the w eight of your bod y should be balanced on yourskeleton. The p rimary role of your mu scles shou ld be toalign you r skeleton to provide that balanced sup port.

We will exp lore the mechan ics of this sup por texperientially, allowing you to feel the role played byd ifferent p arts of you r skeleton and the p atterns w hichconnect those parts. As you learn greater awareness ofbalance in gravity, effort an d strain d ecrease andeverything you d o becomes easier and more fluid .

Broadening your awareness

Your perceptual fieldis the field of aw areness through

w hich you experience you rself and your interactions w iththe w orld aroun d you. That field can be broad, or narrow .In fact, its bread th chan ges constan tly as you m ove fromone activity to anoth er. These changes are largelyu nconscious, and mu ch of the time you r field is probablynarrow er than it shou ld be for optimu m fun ctioning.

We will examine the way you m anage your p erceptu alfield , and exp lore the changes that take p lace as itbroad ens and narr ows. You w ill be able to experience thelim its that a n arrow perceptual field impose on you , andbegin to develop th e skills necessary to mainta in a broad erawareness as you w ork.

The relationship between aw areness, tension, and theperception of time plays a p articu larly imp ortant role inbehavioral stress. Tension narrow s awareness, andnarrow ed awareness makes time seem to go faster. Thisleads to w hat I call the hurry-up fallacy, the illusion tha tyou can get things d one faster by tensing. We will examinethis illusion and its consequ ences, and see wh at you can

d o to overcome it.


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Introduction 13

Acting as an integrated systemEverything you d o involves all of you, wh ether you

are aw are of that or n ot. When your perceptu al field isnar row , you tend to fragmen t you rself into pieces. Youhold m ost of you rself rigid , and fight against the natu ralconnections betw een d ifferent parts of you rself. Thisfragm enta tion is a major sou rce of mechanical strainwithin your body.

We w ill exp lore the experience of fragm entation, andof using your body as a m ore integrated w hole, and showyou skills w hich will help you learn to function in a m oreintegrated w ay.

Maintaining your center

We will tie these ideas together through th e theme ofmaintaining your center. When you are balanced on you rskeleton, broadly aw are, and functioning as an integratedsystem, you experience yourself as having a clear centeraroun d w hich everything you d o is organized . As you

tense and n arrow your aw areness you lose that center, andthe focal point of you r activity shifts elsewhere.

We w ill exp lore the experience of being centered, andof losing an d regain ing center. You will feel the stressesthat th e loss of center imp oses on you , and reduction ofthose stresses that rega ining center brings. We will

introd uce you to the skills necessary to ma intain more ofyou r center on a m ore ongoing basis.

* * * * *

The written explorations prov ided in the text w ill besupp lemented by Awareness Through Movementlessons onau d iotape, exploring the material in greater experiential

d epth . I hop e to make these lessons available on theInternet as RealAudio files, bu t hav ent actua lly played


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with the techn ology yet to see if tha ts possible.Ad d itional chapters w ill deal with a ran ge of issues

and questions about aspects ofLow-StressComputing nototherw ise covered , and abou t the relationship ofLow-Stress Computing to other w ays of dealing w ith RSI. Thosechap ters are not fully map ped out yet, but th e subjects tobe covered w ill includ e:

The rela tionship between the perspect ived eveloped here and

- the med ical mod el,

- conventional exercise p rogram s

- alternative therap ies such as acup uncture,bod yw ork, nu tritional therap ies, etc.

The relat ionship between behavioral andenvironmental stresses, and what the ideaspr esented here have to say about ergonom icchanges.

The nature of habitual behavior and w hat isinvolved in chang ing it.

Strategies for change, and sp ecific tools to help.

One of the advan tages of working on the book in partsis that Ill have a chance to get reader feedback w hile Imstill writing. This w ill allow m e to ad d ress questions

raised by read ers in these last chap ters as w ell.

Read ing th is book w ont keep you from getting RSI, orcure you if you have it. The p atterns of behavior that th isbook add resses are deep ly ingrained h abits, and cant bechanged overnight. They can be changed , though, andreading this book shou ld show you how to embark on th e

path to chan ge, if you choose to do so.


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Table of Contents 15

Low -Stress Compu tingTable of Contents

Table of Conten ts .......................................................................iiiPrefa ce ....................................................................................... v

Ch ap ter 1: In tr od uction ..............................................................1Am I b laming th e vict im ? ................................................3Scop e an d ter m in olog y ........................................................4

Causes & p reven tion of RSI.................................................6Environmental and beh avioral stress ...............................8Overview of what s to come ..............................................11

Supporting yourself in gravity...................................11Broaden ing your aw areness ........................................12Acting as an integrated system ...................................13Maintaining your center...............................................13

Ch apter 2: Excessive effort .......................................................15The Work H ard fa llacy ...................................................17Emotional str ess an d repressed feeling...........................18

Feeling is the interpretat ion of sensat ion ..................19Feeling as a d imension of experience. .......................21

The effort-injury connection..............................................24Some basic anatomy and biomechanics....................25Mu scles prod u ce force and movem en t ....................26Stabilizat ion an d cocontr act ion ..................................27Excessive tension and m echan ical str ain ..................29

Ch ap ter 3: Poor bod y organizat ion ........................................31

Supporting yourself in gravity.........................................33Poor align men t of you r skeleton ......................................34


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Treatin g you r bod y as a fragm ented system..................36

Chapter 4: Lack of self-awareness...........................................37Instinctive vs . learned behav ior ........................................38

Habitual and non-habitual interlacing......................39Functioning requires information....................................42

Sit st ill d on t squ irm.............................................43

Chap ter 5: Syn erg ies betw een sou rces of stress...................45

Chapter 6: Reducing Behavioral Stress.................................49The action / awaren ess cycle...............................................52Turning you r head ATM lesson ..................................55

Chap ter 7: The process of som atic explora tion ...................63Tools for somatic exp lorat ion ...........................................65

Aw aren ess p ractices ......................................................65The Feld en kr ais Meth od ........................................66Tai Chi.......................................................................68Other awareness practices......................................68

In tegration p ractice .......................................................70

Trigger s for p ractice......................................................72Sou rces of gu id ance ......................................................73

Develop ing you r sense of righ tness.....................75Concep tu al sh ift .............................................................77

Demanding is not the same as difficult...................78Three Dimension s of Behav ioral Ch an ge .......................80

Abou t the Au thor ......................................................................83Acknow led gm en ts.....................................................................84

Awareness Through M ovement au d iotapes ............................85Selected Article Rep rin ts .........................................................87Descr ip tion of The Reality Illu sion........................................88Ord er form ..................................................................................89


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Abou t the Author

Ralph Strauch, Ph.D. , has a p rivate practice in theFeldenkrais M ethodin Pacific Palisades, California, andteaches w orkshops in various aspects of awareness and

movem ent throu ghout the United States. He w as trainedby the foun der of theMethod, Dr. Moshe Feldenkra is, andhas been exploring the body/ mind interaction throughTai Chi and related practices since the late 1960s.

Ralph brings to his practice a wid e-rang ingbackgrou nd and experience. H e received his Ph.D. inStatistics from th e University of California, and was

formerly a Senior Mathem atician w ith the RandCorporation, where his research focused on issues ofhu man and organizational decisionm aking.

Ralph has worked with and around comp uters sincethe 1950s, and has been a p ersonal comp u ter u ser since hegot h is first Ap ple II in 1979.

He is the author ofTHE REALITY ILLUSION : How youmake the world you experience, and n um erous articles on therole of awareness in being hu man.


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Low -St ressComputingUsing awarenessto avoid RSI:

A Feldenkrais Perspective

Part 1: Reducing Behavioral

Stress

82 pages, 7x8.5, illus, $11.95

Published by Somatic Options

Explores sources of internal stress and tension w hichcontribu te to repetitive stress injury (RSI), and ou tlines ap rocess ofsomatic exploration to enh ance self-awarenessand increase ease and efficiency of movem ent. Thed iscussion shou ld be of value to anyon e interested inawareness and fluid m ovement.

Later chap ters (to be pu blished in coming month s) w illpr ovide m ore detailed m ovement lessons coveringsomatic them es related to RSI.

Chapter Titles

1 Introd uction2 Excessive effort3 Poor bod y organization4 Lack of self-aw areness5 Syn ergies betw een sou rces of stress6 Red u cin g Beh avioral Stress7 Th e p rocess of som atic exp lor ation


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The Reali t yIllusion

How y ou make t he

w orld y ou experience

By Ralph Strauch,

ISBN 0-9676009-3-6 $15.95

224 pages, 6x9, biblio, illus, index

Published by Somatic Options

This book deals with the n ature of perception and the

mechan isms we u se to create and maintain the collectiveillusion w e call reality. It doesn't d irectly add ress thep roblem of RSI, thou gh it does d iscuss the some of themechan isms by wh ich w e make the u nconscious choicesthat ultimate lead to traum a and pain in man y forms.

What other w riters say about The Reality Illusion:

... a tool for bringing mind , brain, and body into alignmen t, that we mightbe at peace with ourselves and so w ith others...personal reward s areendless.

Joseph Ch ilton Pearce, au thor ofCrack in the Cosmic Egg

...un usu ally clear, accessible account of the m ysteries of themu ltidimen sional world.

Marilyn Ferguson , author ofThe Aquarian Conspiracy

A pow erful learning tool...a clear guide for taking an imp ortant steptowar ds an enlarged wa y of perceiving our lives.

Timothy Gallwey, au thor ofThe Inn er Game of Tenn is

"Physics and metaphysics.. .a bold attempt at synthesis."Thelma Moss, auth or ofThe Probability of the Impossible

...takes you to the bou nd aries of your ow n m ind an d occasionally makesyou gasp w ith wond er at glimp ses of what l ies beyond

Serge King, auth or ofKahuna Healing

An important contribution to brain/ mind and how reali ty is viewed.Joan H alifax, author ofShamanic V oices


22/25

Aw areness Through Mov ement audiotapesby Ralph Strau ch

The follow ing tap es are cu rren tly available.

Tape# Lessons

610 Sensing the Head in Space & Varying the A lignment of theTorso Enhance awareness of your p osition and movem ent inspace, and d iscover the su rpr ising sensory consequen ces of minor

variations from your habitual posture.

611 Feeling your Cerebral Spinal Pulse &Making Waves Get in tou ch with d eep pleasura ble wa ves of motion that are alwa yspresent in you r bod y, and the altered states of consciousness they

allow.

613 Softening the Mouth &Movements of the Jaw Releasetensions you h abitually hold in your m outh an d jaw.

614 Supine Pelvic Clock& Freeing the Hips and Pelvis Increase the mobility of your hips and pelvis, and imp rove theconnections from you r p elvis through your spine to your head .

617 Softening the Ribcage &Breathing throughout the ChestEnhance the mobility of your ribcage and shou lder gird le, and

explore the inside of your torso with you r breath.

619 Spinal Flexion & Spinal Extension Enhance the m obilityof your torso by w orking with the pr imary movem ents of spinal

flexion (bend ing) and extension (straightening ).

623 Reaching with the Whole Body & Connecting the Fingers tothe Spine Release the tensions that fragment you r m ovements ofreaching/ touching/ manipu lating things, and reexperience the unity

of movem ent that is your birthright.


23/25

Awareness Through Movementtapes 21

These tap es were recorded d u ring live classes and

w orkshop s. They w ere not intend ed to d eal with RSI,perse, but w ere pa rt of ongoing exploration in self-aw arenessand movemen t. Nonetheless, they can be usefu l for peop leexper iencing th e effects of RSI. The descriptions belowshou ld help you d ecide w hich tap es might be of value toyou.

RSI often involves pain in the han ds and wrists. This isd ue in part to excessive tension in the han ds and arm s, andto a fragm entation of movemen t wh ile typing (trying totype in just the hand s, while hold ing the torso, shou lders,and arms rigid ). Tape 623 (Reaching with the WholeBody & Connecting the Fingers to the Spine) containstwo lessons wh ich relax and integrate the arms and hands,

and is probably most relevant single tape available herefor someone su ffering from RSI.

As you typ e your arm s should be supp orted byrelaxed shoulders an d a relaxed torso, itself supp orted bya relaxed spine. Excessive tension an d rigidity in you rspine and up per torso restricts the flow of movement as

you w ork, imposing m echan ical strains th at lead to RSI.Tapes 617 (Softening the Ribcage & Breathingthroug hout the Chest) an d 619 (Spinal Flexion & SpinalExtension) pu t you more in touch with how you u se yourtorso, and in the p rocess help you redu ce that rigidity.

When you feel groun ded and supp orted by the surface

beneath you, your up per bod y can relax and center itselfover the base that your low er body p rovides. When youd on't feel sup ported from below , you tense your u pp erbody in an attemp t to make up for that lack of sup port.Tape 614 (Supine Pelvic Clock & Freeing the Hips andPelvis) can increase your aw areness of you r pelvis, and ofthe skeletal path of sup por t from you r pelvis u p you r

spine to your head.


24/25


Excessive tension in the m outh and jaw both resu ltsfrom and prod uces tension through out the spine andupper torso. If you experience your jaw as tense and rigid ,you m ay find Tape 613 (Softening the Mouth &Movements of the Jaw) useful.

The lessons on Tape 610 (Sensing the Head in Space &Varying the Alignment of the Torso) both d eal pr imarily

w ith increased self-awareness. Sensing the Head in Spacegives you a h eightened aw areness of the balance, position,and movem ent of your head in space, w hile Varying th eAlignm ent of the Torso allows you to experience the oftensignificant changes in subjective experience brou ght abou tby small chan ges in th e organization of you r torso.

The lessons on Tape 611 (Feeling your Cerebral SpinalPulse & Making Waves) are intend ed to take you withinyourself and provid e a deeply centering and integrativeexperience.

Selected Article Re rints

Conn ecting w ith the Earth (2pp , $.50)*Tigers an d Tunnel Vision: Is ou r b iological reaction to

stress maladap tive in u rban society? (2pp , $.50)*Emotional stress and body organization and The

Process of Functiona l Integra tion (2pp , $.50)*

T'ai Chi and the Feldenkrais Method: Different w ind owson a comm on vision (4pp , $1)*

Training th e Whole Person (3pp , $1)An Overview of the Feldenkra is Method (4pp , $1)*Somatic Dimensions of Emotiona l Healing (12pp , $2)

* May be d own load ed from ou r w ebsite at no charge.


25/25

Order Form for books and tapes

Send check p ayable to Ralph Strauch ,to

P.O. Box 194, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272Please send the following:

___ copies ofThe Reality Illusion @ $15.95

___ copies ofLow -Stress Comput ing,Part 1 @ $11.95

The follow ing Tapes @ $10 each (list t ap e #s)

________________________________________________________Articles, as ind icated :

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

Bookrat e surface shipp ing is free with in the US, Cana da, and Mexico.

For Priority and Global Priority Mail add :In the US $4

Canada and Mexico $8

ou tside North America $10

Subtotal books __________

Subtotal tapes __________

Subtotal reprints __________Sales tax 8.25% in CA __________

Shipping __________

Total enclosed __________

________________________________________________________Name

_________________________________________________________________________________Address

_________________________________________________________________________________City Sta te Zip

_________________________________________________________________________________Phone & email address

We accept cred it card s at the Somatic Options w ebsite, at

http:/ / ww w.somatic.com/
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Low Stress Intro

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