Shihan Moti Nativ and Warrior´s Awareness Written by Biol. Candia Garibay

México City, 21 may 2010

On a fresh and luminous morning with a view of the huge fig tree that dwells in the garden of the Agora Lucis Studio, the Shihan Moti Nativ started the training1 speaking about the synergy between martial arts and the Feldenkrais Method, and how the roots of Moshe´s brilliant method went deep into the survival knowledge of fighting.

Moti2 shared his experience of the Feldenkais Method, the recent self defense techniques such as Judo and Krav Maga, as well as the ancient Japanese knowledge in martial arts of Budo taijutsu and Ninjutsu, all of which he holds placement in the higher ranks.

Our training began in the most essential way, being aware of how we were in that moment. We lay in the floor feeling the places in the body which the floor as a mirror reflected to us through its contact, feeling the image of ourselves through the relation of our weight with gravity. Slowly we began to make small movements feeling how the contact with the floor shifted and the distribution of the weight changed.

We focused our attention in the trajectory of our movement, from its beginning and transmition through to its consequence; Moti insisted on taking care of the

often forgotten quality of the movement on the way back to the initial state. We started performing differentiated movements such as sliding one scapula over the ribs when I discovered that my clavicle responded to the curvature of the ribcage, and then we did non-differentiated movements in which the movement of the scapula assisted the rotation of the spine3. We explored the resonance of one movement through the self, how sliding a shoulder echoed all the way through the toes, how one movement led to another. Moshe named this kind of embodied experience “ATM” – “Awareness Through Movement” – which constitutes a key concept of the Feldenkrais Method, in which according to Moti the most important aspect is to “learn how to learn”.

The instructions of Moti where very clear and precise, nevertheless they allowed a pleasant space to explore different ways to arrive at the same conclusion. Moti emphasized the importance of going to unknown places, beyond habits and toward new alternatives so the learning process truly leads to freedom of movement.

We took some rest between every movement progression of the ATM, being this rest being encouraged whenever we needed. We went back continually to just lying and feeling the contact and weight of the body in the floor, acknowledging the way we were breathing, scanning and comparing the current sensations against the ones in the beginning of the ATM. It was wonderful to discover that between every rest we took, the feeling of the body was completely different as the wideness of the chest, the easiness of the shoulders resting in the floor, the length of the extremities and the activation of the center. The entireness of our self changes in every moment.

Gradually the movement in the ATM became more complex, changing levels, from lying to sitting and then turning, in a certain way recapitulating the natural way a baby goes to sitting. At this point, the challenge was to keep the fluid transmission of the movement, I discovered that my movement to one side was very natural, almost unavoidable but to the other side the movement was blocked and my breathing disturbed, little by little I removed some inner interferences and channeled the movement, but still the difference between sides was noticeable.

According to Moti as taught by Yochanan Rywerant, many of the asymmetries in the movement are due to different configurations of the Central Nervous System expressed through neuromuscular activation patterns. The most relevant patterns are conscious or deliberated, instinctive or inherited, learned and more or less automatically performed, and patterns conditioned or influenced by acute or chronic illnesses. When we move with awareness, we induce innervations which leads to efficient organization of the self, improving the ability to cope with the environment.

When the ATM came to an end, we calmly stood up and walked through the space. The sense of myself was delicious, I felt the connection of my hands to my back, I felt my port de bras coming from my center, when I practiced some pirouettes I discovered more balance and power through initiating the turn

from the retraction of my scapula; it is formidable how such a small movement can lead to more spins with less effort. According to Moti, action is the inseparable union of mind and body, composed of thinking, feeling, sensing4 and moving, elements that can be fine-tuned by being aware of them.

Afterwards we did the same ATM against a partner and we simulated choking each other. My partner was a tall overweight person, who I never thought I would be able to move not even for one millimiter, and as a matter of fact I failed in my first attempt to take him off balance, but then quite surprisingly my body remembered what we practiced and it was very easy to move the opponent5. In a certain way I learned to feel the weight of the other body in order to direct his movement from my own center. With this experience we confirmed what Moshe said, “if you practice a natural movement built into the technique, learning is much faster”.

According to Moti, all the ATMs of baby movement have to do with movements used in martial arts trainings. In a situation that demands action to save ones life, the person is going to react in a natural way even if he doesn´t know martial arts. Therefore Moshe maintained that the best self defense movement is that one that comes out naturally without thinking6.

Moshe mentions in its first book on self defense7 that an important aspect during critical moments is to avoid being paralyzed, this response happens when the person lacks confidence in her own strength. To overcome the paralyzing fear, Moshe recommended to make sure to breathe, smile or laugh even if the circumstance doesn´t invite this response, to move or assume a kamae which is a martial arts posture that empowers the body. In this work, Moshe also recommends to read Emile Coué book8 on conscious auto-suggestion; according to Moti, this ideas of the mind´s powers are profoundly embedded in the Feldenkrais Method.

Further on, Moti told us about Moshe´s pathway since his youth when he had to improve the fighting effectively of Jiu Jiutsu, to his relevant meeting in Paris with Jigoro Kano the founder of Judo, and the books9 on self defense that Moshe Feldenkrais published; where he stresses several benefits from the practice of Judo such as improved control on the feet, the art of falling, dynamic stability10, space orientation, efficient use of mind and body, and

coordinated action which is the theme of all ATMs. Moti explained how this concepts crystallized in the central thesis of Moshe when he formally introduced his method maintaining that body and mind are an objective reality and not related entities but an inseparable whole that functions in an integrated way.

Finally we put together all the elements we practiced to then defend ourselves from a gun threat, in partners we used the spiral movements reviewed in the ATMs to deviate from the line of fire and immobilize the attacker. The most relevant discovery I had in this practice was to find out that the velocity in movement comes not from brute force but from a deep inner calmness and a wide attention state that allows to lead the movement from an initial impulse through the most direct and efficient way. According to Moti breathing should not be an obstacle for movement, and movement should not be an obstacle for breathing.

In this training I developed a profound admiration for Moshe Feldenkrais work, that the in words of Moti, he was a true warrior in mind, heart and spirit. I lived in my own self, the organic process of acquiring skills for survival and self defense that are not only useful in armed confrontations but also in the daily living that demands to achieve and maintain mental states which lead to efficient and responsible actions during situations of great tension. I discovered sensations in my back and with them certainties of what can be felt but not seen; I found new ways to spin. I understood that what is most important in movement is every moment, and that in Moti´s words, there is no path to happiness because happiness is in the path. To meet Moti Nativ in this training has been an honor and a privilege for which I am deeply grateful.

References

1Taller de Shihan Moti Nativ: La sinergia Feldenkrais y las Artes Marciales, organizado por Inspirah Pilates, www.inspirahpilates.com 2 Moti currently teaches warrior´s awareness, which is the central element of his Bujinkan Shiki Dojo, named by his Sensei Masaaki Hatsumi with the meaning of Dojo Bujinkan of Awareness. It has been through his personal practice of integration and awareness that Moti by recommendation of his doctors has avoided a very serious spinal surgery. To know more about Shihan Moti Nativ´s work, go to www.warriors-awareness.com 3 During the class, Moti spoke with an accesible language for everybody like: move your arms, shoulders, imagine you are holding a ball, etc. It is interesting to acknowledge all that one can discover if the movement process is directed with clarity. 4 “Sense, like when you sense someone is behind you. Is important to feel your oponent with the body so the eyes can see what is going on around”. –Moti Nativ 5 “We are strong, we have a lot of power in our bodies”. –Moti Nativ 6 “If somebody attacks you, you´re not thinking. By the time you think you will be killed”. –Moshe Feldenkrais. In the video we watched during the expositon Moshe mentions that “fights are not something organized as in the dojo, people jumps at you with sticks and knives. And you have to take out not only the technique but the spirit. Therefore the need of something that works for defense and not only for exhibition in a dojo under controlled conditions. When someone attacks you with a knive is not playing so you can not analize the right angle to place your hand according to technique, you have to react and in an efficient way if what you want is to safe you live”.

7 Jiu Jiutsu & Self Defense (1931) 8 Emile Coué (1922) Self Mastery through Conscious Autosuggestion. Moshe translated this book to Hebrew and added two chapters, Moti stated that soon this book will be available in english with Moshe´s chapters included. 9 Moshe became a Judo pioneer in France with the recognition and support of his teachers J. Kano and M. Kawaishi. Moti recommended to study the following publications of Moshe on the subject of self defense: - Jiu Jiutsu & Self Defense (1931) - ABC du Judo (1938) - Higher Judo - Ground Work (1952) - Practical unarmed combat (1942) reedited by Moti Nativ as Hadaka-Jime The Core Technique for Practical Unarmed Combat (2009) 10 Unstable balance gives you the power. Defense is going forward. –Moti Nativ * All the pictures from Moti were taken in Tel Aviv.