Scanning the self
When attending an ATM (Awareness Through Movement) class, the teacher will typically invite us to scan our self at the start of the class and again at the end. In some classes the scan may be repeated several times during the session. What exactly do we do when we scan our self, and why is it so important?
Such a scan is not prescriptive; it is an invitation to pay attention to our self in a particular way. For example, it may focus on sensing how different parts of the body relate to each other in space, or on which parts of us feel more support from the floor (if we are lying down). Often, we are invited to consider differences between our left and right sides; or to consider the shape we make with our backbone.
The scan itself asks for no movement, only attention; the attention may be narrowly focused or generalised and may even extend outside our self. In an ATM class, a scan may be used in place of a complete rest (where our attention is given a rest as well). Spending time scanning our self is an essential part of the learning process. We become more aware by noticing differences between parts of our self (for example, differences between left and right parts) and by noticing changes in our self over time, from one scan to the next.
Everyone has their own way of experiencing themself in a scan. For me, scanning almost always has a visual element: I ’see’ my self in my mind’s eye; or I see some detail of the picture. It helps to call up images – for example, imagining a print of my self on the floor, with some parts darker and others lighter, indicating where I feel the floor’s support. (I see the parts that press heavily on the floor as darker, but I know from others that some people see those parts lighter. I’ve started experimenting with varying which way I see it). Or I see my self as a set of hinged rods, and my mind’s eye measures the distance between different points. For me, colour is rarely important in scanning my self, while for others it can play a big part. The same goes for sound: I know at least one person who perceives themselves through sound. I have not yet come across someone who perceives them self through smell (but why not?).
After I had been practicing the Feldenkrais method for some time, I noticed I always ‘saw’ my self from the same side during a scan. Not that my ‘view’ was a photographic representation: sometimes my viewpoint was inside my self, sometimes outside. But always from the same side. Having become aware of this I explored how to see my self from the other side during a scan. This was difficult at first, but with practice, I am now able to see my self from both sides and switch between them.
In addition to practising body awareness, the scan is an opportunity to ‘come into our self’, letting go of the flow of thought which often dominates existence. In this it resembles a guided meditation.
How do you perceive your self in a scan? What development have you experienced in how you scan your self? Please leave a comment.