Most of us grew up calling the bony structure that surrounds and protects the heart and lungs a "rib cage" but, is it constructed to be more of a cage or a basket? This is a very fundamental question because if you truly think of your thorax as a "cage," you might move with more rigidity. Terminology can affect our perception and performance.

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Many people have the idea that the pelvis should be "vertical" to have proper posture for sitting. This means that the sacrum, or the back of the pelvis, is at roughly a ninety-degree angle to a flat chair seat, with the "bowl" of the pelvis neither tipping forward nor backward. There are ways to use our pelvis more effectively when sitting, so that we can stay comfortable for longer periods of time, and for moving while sitting, in activities such as computing, driving, visiting with friends, reading, writing, and eating, to name just a few. The short lesson in this article will begin with a vertical pelvis and then explore another alternative. This experiment should take about ten minutes or less. If you start to get tired or sore, of course, stop and rest immediately.

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Ira Feinstein: How did you become interested in exploring how the Feldenkrais Method® can help those living with neuropathy?

Becci Parsons: I’m a Feldenkrais® practitioner living with neuropathy.

Over the course of my active life, I've had a number of disc injuries. My original disc herniation was in 1992, a year after I became a Feldenkrais practitioner. I managed pretty well for a few years, largely because of what I learned during my professional Feldenkrais training. When my disc fragmented and the fragments traveled and compressed my spine nerve root, which innervated my foot, surgery became a necessity.

After my first spine surgery in 1997, I had partial foot drop and a little bit of numbness. My balance on my right side was terrible. If I caught my heel on a rock or uneven surface, I fell. As a former professional dancer, this was pretty devastating to me. I used to be able to, jump, turn on a dime and point my foot, but after that injury and surgery, I had muscle weakness and loss of motor control.

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