The Hamlet Project

Anna made me laugh from a place I forgot I could laugh.
She showed me my spine and my shoulder blades.
She helped my ribs make room for breath.
She brought my hip toward her and all of me eventually came along for the ride.
She pressed on my shoulders, found a way to rock me like a baby stretched out flat.
There was one spot in my back that, I could swear, has never moved before.
She suggested I stop carrying my burdens on my back – that I might want to try
Juggling them – like big rubber balls bouncing from one part of me to the next.
When I sat up, I was a self I had forgotten.
I was the lighthearted me
The one who will laugh easily and robustly
The one who delights in the world.
An hour before I was heavy. I was buried in trouble.
The world felt like layers of earth laid on top of me
Something I had to fight my way through.
With each fistful of dirt that I pushed out of the way
A new bit would fall into the newly cleared space.
I wondered if I could keep it up.
I wondered if I could keep struggling toward the surface. I could see no way ahead.
One hour on Anna’s Feldenkrais table and I can go on.
I can see the stars.