Psychophysical Method Exercises (Feldenkrais inspired)

604 Pages·1983·4.718 MB·English

by  Robert Masters

Robert Masters

PSYCHOPHYSICAL
METHOD EXERCISES
Volumes I-VI

A DRAGON BOOK
1983
Robert Masters • Psychophysical Method Exercises
Table of contents
Table of contents .............................................................................................................................. 2
Foreword .......................................................................................................................................... 5
About the Author ............................................................................................................................. 7
Psychophysical Method ................................................................................................................... 8
Comments ...................................................................................................................................... 10
VOLUME I ........................................................................................................................................ 11
1. [#1] Sitting Foot Exercise .......................................................................................................... 12
2. [#2] Improving Movement and Body Image — Toes and Foot ................................................ 17
3. [#3] Ankle Mobility ................................................................................................................... 22
4. [#4] Improving Knee Movements .............................................................................................. 27
5. [#5] Hip Rotations — Legs Extended ........................................................................................ 36
6. [#6] Hand and Fingers (Extended Version) ............................................................................... 44
7. [#7] Improving Movement in One Elbow .................................................................................. 51
8. [#8] Seated Shoulder Exercise: Part I ........................................................................................ 56
9. [#9] Seated Shoulder Exercise: Part II — Experimental Variations .......................................... 60
10. [#10] Seated Neck Exercise ..................................................................................................... 65
11. [#11] Eyes #1 ........................................................................................................................... 70
12. [#12] Eyes #2 ........................................................................................................................... 77
13. [#13] Improving Eye Movement and Vision: #3 ..................................................................... 82
14. [#14] Integrating Body Image .................................................................................................. 85
15. [#15] Coordinated Symmetry: Second Integration .................................................................. 92
16. [#16] Differentiating Muscles and Movements of Back and Shoulder ................................... 96
17. [#17] Arms Above Head ........................................................................................................ 100
18. [#18] Completing Body Image: Sensing the Head ................................................................ 104
VOLUME II ..................................................................................................................................... 108
1. [#19] Psychophysical Profile ................................................................................................... 109
2. [#20] Brain Focusing: Furthering the Mind/Brain Dialogue ................................................... 136
3. [#21] Orchestrating Multisensory Awarenesses ...................................................................... 149
4. [#22] Opening the Spiral .......................................................................................................... 160
5. [#23] Face, Head and Body Image ........................................................................................... 166
6. [#24] Journey Inward ............................................................................................................... 173
7. [#25] Giant Luminous Body .................................................................................................... 177
8. [#26] Entering the Silence ........................................................................................................ 180
9. [#27] Memories and Projections .............................................................................................. 187
10. [#28] Body Meditation ........................................................................................................... 192
11. [#29] Working with One Hand: Differentiation and Symmetry ............................................ 196
12. [#30] Altering Perspectives: Upper Head and Eyes ............................................................... 202
VOLUME III .................................................................................................................................... 206
1. [#31] Head and Neck Movements (Extended Version) ........................................................... 207
2. [#32] The Great Pelvic Liberation Movement ......................................................................... 217
3. [#33] Upper Back: Body Image and Differentiating Movements ............................................ 225
4. [#34] Rib Cage: Movement and Awareness ............................................................................ 237
Continuation (Optional) ........................................................................................................... 239
5. [#35] Shoulder Rotations and Body Image .............................................................................. 242
6. [#36] Lower Spine and Back — Flexibility and Lengthening ................................................. 252
7. [#37] Repositioning the Shoulders ........................................................................................... 258
8. [#38] On Stomach — Repositioning Shoulders ....................................................................... 263
9. [#39] Differentiating Thoracic Vertebrae ................................................................................ 271
10. [#40] Widening the Back ....................................................................................................... 278
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Robert Masters • Psychophysical Method Exercises
11. [#41] Lengthening Spine, Differentiating Vertebrae ............................................................. 283
12. [#42] Heightening .................................................................................................................. 293
13. [#43] Differentiating One Arm .............................................................................................. 298
14. [#44] Lips ............................................................................................................................... 302
VOLUME IV ................................................................................................................................... 306
1. [#45] Learning Transfer and Sensory Discrimination ............................................................. 307
2. [#46] Segments of the Spine .................................................................................................... 316
3. [#47] Thumb and Wrist ............................................................................................................ 326
4. [#48] Improving Walking by Working Mainly with the Big Toe ............................................ 333
5. [#49] Freedom through Awareness: a Practical Demonstration .............................................. 339
6. [#50] Breathing Awareness ...................................................................................................... 345
7. [#51] Neural Reprogramming .................................................................................................. 350
8. [#52] Expanding and Enriching Visual Perception — Circling Mostly .................................. 358
9. [#53] “Sensing” Skeleton and Arms above Head (Extended Version) .................................... 367
10. [#54] Releasing Tongue and Integrating with Body Image ................................................... 375
11. [#55] Brain: Imaging and Movement (Feet) .......................................................................... 385
12. [#56] The Arch ....................................................................................................................... 397
VOLUME V ..................................................................................................................................... 406
1. [#57] Learning Transfer #1 (Feet) ........................................................................................... 407
2. [#58] Learning Transfer #2 (Spine) ......................................................................................... 413
3. [#59] Learning Transfer #3 (Hands) ........................................................................................ 420
4. [#60] Learning Transfer #4 (Hips) ........................................................................................... 428
5. [#61] Learning Transfer #5 (Arm) ........................................................................................... 435
6. [#62] Learning Transfer #6 (Leg) ............................................................................................ 443
7. [#63] Learning Transfer #7 (Shoulders) .................................................................................. 450
8. [#64] Learning Transfer #8 (Knees) ........................................................................................ 456
9. [#65] Learning Transfer #9 (Upper Back) ............................................................................... 461
10. [#66] Learning Transfer #10 (Circling) ................................................................................. 467
11. [#67] Brain Imaging ............................................................................................................... 473
12. [#68] Establishing Selective Brain Control ........................................................................... 478
13. [#69] Creating and Experiencing an Imaginal Body and Its Transformations ...................... 482
14. [#70] Making the Body with Twelve Arms (Shoulders and Spine) ...................................... 491
VOLUME VI ................................................................................................................................... 505
1. [#71] Sensory Changes: One Hand .......................................................................................... 506
2. [#72] Sensory Changes: One Elbow ........................................................................................ 508
3. [#73] Foot and Ankle Movements ........................................................................................... 510
4. [#74] Positions of the Foot ....................................................................................................... 512
5. [#75] Toes: Initiating Movement ............................................................................................. 514
6. [#76] Toes: Movement Explorations ....................................................................................... 516
7. [#77] Toes: Increasing Flexibility ............................................................................................ 519
8. [#78] Observing Breathing ....................................................................................................... 522
9. [#79] Head and Neck: #1 ......................................................................................................... 524
10. [#80] Head and Neck: #2 ....................................................................................................... 526
11. [#81] Body Scanning/Body Image: Part 1 ............................................................................. 528
12. [#82] Body Scanning/Body Image: Part 2 ............................................................................. 530
13. [#83] Body Scanning/Body Image: Part 3 ............................................................................. 532
14. [#84] Body Scanning/Body Image: Part 4 ............................................................................. 534
15. [#85] Body Scanning/Body Image: Part 5 ............................................................................. 537
16. [#86] Brain Focusing: #1 ....................................................................................................... 540
17. [#87] Brain Focusing: #2 ....................................................................................................... 542
18. [#88] Brain Focusing: #3 ....................................................................................................... 545
19. [#89] Brain Focusing: #4 ....................................................................................................... 548
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Robert Masters • Psychophysical Method Exercises
20. [#90] Brain Focusing: #5 ....................................................................................................... 551
21. [#91] Brain Focusing: #6 ....................................................................................................... 553
22. [#92] Talking to the Body ...................................................................................................... 559
23. [#93] Visualizing Body Movement ........................................................................................ 562
24. [#94] Exercising Kinesthetic Imagination ............................................................................. 565
25. [#95] Interrelatedness of Eye, Tongue and Neck Movements ............................................... 568
26. [#96] Shoulders and Cervical Spine — Remedial Exercise .................................................. 571
27. [#97] Face #1 ......................................................................................................................... 579
28. [#98] Flapping Legs (Pelvis) .................................................................................................. 585
29. [#99] Right Hip/Left Shoulder: Integrating Walking ............................................................ 591
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Robert Masters • Psychophysical Method Exercises
Foreword
These volumes of Psychophysical Method exercises are being
published as teaching and training manuals to be used by teachers
and researchers experienced in that area of the author's work. The
exercises are transcripts of sessions taught by him to his students and
their use presupposes some knowledge of the work — timing,
repetitions of movements, quality of awareness, etc. Without such a
background of knowledge the exercises cannot be effectively done,
much less taught.
Nevertheless it is just realistic to acknowledge that these
exercises are going to be used by persons who have not had what
should be the requisite amount of first-hand training. An absolutely
minimal background, however, would need to include careful study of
the book, LISTENING TO THE BODY, co-authored by Robert Masters
and Jean Houston, and further careful study and practice of audio-
taped Psychophysical Method exercises. Thus anyone wishing to
acquire these volumes must acquire also, at the same time, a copy of
LISTENING TO THE BODY and at least half a dozen of the exercise
tapes selected to cover various aspects of the work.
The decision to make the volumes more generally available was
made reluctantly and for two main reasons: first, as mentioned, there
is no adequate way to limit their acquisition to trained teachers
exclusively; second, it is of great importance that the work reach a
wide audience. The risk that the work will sometimes be diluted and
otherwise distorted is fully recognized and has been weighed
carefully.
It should also be said that it is possible for largely self-directed
students to achieve mastery of the work. Much self-discipline,
rigorous and lengthy practice and various personal qualities and
perhaps gifts are required for such achievement, but it has been done
by some and will be done by others. The author will always be most
pleased to certify as a teacher any individual who, by her or his own
efforts, achieves a proficiency equal to that demanded of those who
participate in teacher training programs.
Finally, acknowledgement is made to those who have been of
particular importance in shaping the philosophy, psychology, and
other knowledge and techniques of Psychophysical Method. These
range from disciplines stressing “mindfulness” and “awareness” —
Egyptian, Buddhist, Taoist — on to such modern and contemporary
teachers as G. I. Gurdjieff, F. Matthias Alexander, Milton Erickson and
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Robert Masters • Psychophysical Method Exercises
Moshe Feldenkrais. Those sources should be explored by any serious
student.
There is also a Psychophysical Method one-on-one “table work”
that can only be learned directly from a teacher. That work, however,
must always be preceded by re-educational “work on oneself,”
including mastery of the exercises.
Robert Masters, Ph. D. Pomona, N. Y., 1983
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Robert Masters • Psychophysical Method Exercises
About the Author
Robert Masters has been, since 1965, Director of Research of
The Foundation For Mind Research, first in New York City, then in
Pomona, New York. From 1962—1966 he was Director of The Library
of Sex Research, New York City. From 1965-1968 he was also Director
of The Visual Imagery Research Project, New York City. He is author or
co-author of eighteen books and more than one hundred papers and
articles dealing with aspects of human behavior dealt with in his
research and psychotherapeutic and teaching work.
Dr. Masters' many years of close collaborative work with his wife,
Dr. Jean Houston, in the area of making accessible and extending
latent and productive human capacities, has made its way into many
school programs at all age levels and into programs for the elderly
and for persons with behavioral problems, as well as for the specially
gifted.
He did pioneering research with mescaline, LSD and other
psychoactive substances from 1954-1965. His work with hypnosis —
clinical, experimental and developmental — began in 1952 and
continues up to the present. The main thrust of his research activities
has been human potentials or capacities — the study of genius,
creativity, altered states of consciousness, sensory imageries,
accelerated mental processes (time distortion) and psychosomatic
processes. For the past decade he has been especially involved in
research and applications of psychophysical re-educational methods,
particularly neural and sensory re-education, and has conducted many
workshops and training programs for students and teachers of his
Psychophysical Method in the U. S., Europe and Asia. Psychophysical
Method is synthesized with hypnosis, or trance, in his
psychotherapeutic practice.
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Robert Masters • Psychophysical Method Exercises
Psychophysical Method
Psychophysical Method is a very potent, and also pleasurable,
approach to improving human health and functioning. Grounded in
subtle and sophisticated understandings of the workings of the
human mind-body system, it offers adventures in self-exploration
and self-understanding, while moving the person closer to an optimal
use of the self. The best introduction in writing is the book, by Drs.
Robert Masters and Jean Houston, Listening to the Body. Briefly,
Psychophysical Method:
— Facilitates movement and generally improves the organization of
the musculoskeletal system.
Brings the body image into better correspondence with the actual
physical body. With almost all people living under present-day
conditions, there are many and serious discrepancies between the
body image, or body as sensed, and the body as it actually is,
leading to movement impairments, excess tensions, squandering
of energy, and other misuses of the mind-body system.
—Corrects distortions of the kinesthetic sense, also almost
universally present, and makes conscious many actions which
people do without being conscious that they do them.
—Teaches awareness and use of mind-body interactions which
are also typically unconscious and so beyond self-regulation.
Demonstrates the fundamental importance of awareness as the
ground for autonomy and health, and also its therapeutic
functions. Greatly increases awareness of self and world.
— Because of the interrelationship of movement, sensing, thinking
and feeling functions, all of these functions are benefited by
Psychophysical Method exercises working with movement
primarily.
— Disinhibits blockages in the brain's motor cortex, thus enlarging
the movement repertoire and releasing muscular and some other
inhibitions.
— Re-educates the nervous system and requires qualitatively high-
level use of the brain's right hemispheric processes — processes
notoriously neglected by academic education.
— Gradually establishes permanent capacities for self-correction and
self-regulation of body mechanics, posture, mind-body
interactions, release of muscular tensions and movement
impairments, elimination of excessive use of force, and many
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Robert Masters • Psychophysical Method Exercises
other improvements, leading to a better integrated and more
effective use of the mind-body.
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Robert Masters • Psychophysical Method Exercises
Comments
Comments about the work of Robert Masters and his wife, Jean
Houston, as the work is described in several of their books:

Listening to the Body: “A brilliant work by two pioneers of
modern consciousness research. A book that can revolutionize
psychotherapy, psychosomatic medicine and education."
— Stanislav Grof, M. D., Esalen Institute

"… important and highly original — one would appreciate the
erudition, the width of the approach and the originality of the content.
For many, this… will be a real education at last."
— Moshe Feldenkrais, Sc. D., Tel Aviv

Mind Games: “I think that Masters and Houston actually have
broken through to a new understanding of the sense and uses of the
disciplines of inward-turned contemplation — an understanding that
leaves the Freudian schools of technique and theory far behind. Their
accent is not on the curing of disease but on the enlargement, rather,
of our health."
—Joseph Campbell, New York City

The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience: “It may well be that this
is one of the most important books of the century; it is easily the most
brilliant volume dealing with the psychedelic experience."
—Stanley Krippner, Ph. D., Director of Psychiatric Research
Maimonides Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y.
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