The first choice is an unrealistic one. It's impossible to stay the same. We can't control the passing of time or effects of the joys and trials of life, be they ordinary or extraordinary. It is also not an active choice, just a feeling of being content with (or resigned to) life as it is.

The second choice requires an openness to new ideas, new people, new possibilities, and especially to learning. The third choice is not one that anyone would actively make. It is, however, one that many of us, without realising it do make, whether by opting to stay the same or by making no active choice to move forward.

So how do you see yourself 20 years from now? Would you like to discover that you can learn to not be the inevitable victim of the passing of time?

There is an underlying and much repeated belief that it's harder to learn when we're older. Could that be a strategy for not trying? It is also a blanket statement and may be applicable to some things, but not to others. There are many things to learn, each needing a different strategy, and there are many levels of learning. If you've never learnt a foreign language before, and you make your first attempt at 60, it's likely to be not so easy. But if you know 3 languages, then most likely your fourth, even at 60, will not be too hard. One language that you already know is movement. But if you look carefully at your spouse, a friend or people passing on the street, you will notice that we all have our own version of this language. Learning an easier and more effective way of moving is a choice you can make. You can learn to improve your posture, to sit without slumping, to not struggle to get up from the floor after kneeling, or to enjoy walking, and to not feel the only thing you want to do in the evening is collapse. And you can learn effortlessly, too.

What distinguishes us from other living creatures is that we can choose what and how we learn. The catch is that we want to believe that we are already choosing, that we are already awake. Very often we are not. Just as we don't notice our own children growing, but are amazed at the height of a child we havent seen for six months, so we dont notice how limitations creep on us limitations in movement and in what we expect from ourselves and our lives.

Whether you suffer from pain or not, don't want to be a shuffling 70 year-old, or already feel like one, whether you would like to feel more freedom in your movement and in your life, or would like to improve your self-image or learn to do away with stress and unproductive habits and if you'd like all of these things, good for you - there is a wealth of things for you to learn from Feldenkrais work.

Less is More