I owe the initial impetus and
motivation for exploring the use of inflatable balls to Becky,
a lovely twenty-year-old whom I met in 1994 at the local
Hospice where I did voluntary work. This sometimes bubbling,
sometimes deeply depressed language student and cancer patient
became one of my most inspiring 'teachers' during the nine
months we could play, work, and speak German together before
she finally succumbed to the illness at the age of twenty-one.
Dancing on Air
When I was asked to befriend Becky, give her plenty of opportunity
to practise German, and also see if I could help her cope
with severe pain, especially in her neck, I found that she
was utterly terrified of being touched (by insensitive hands)
and yet longing for human contact. What upset Becky most
of all was the fact that she could no longer rely on her
left leg. She wanted to dance once again ...
We soon found a way of dancing together to the music she
loved most - without her ever being touched (at least initially).
Becky put on a cassette with her favourite tunes and settled
comfortably on two inflatable oval balls wrapped in a blanket.
The softly yielding balloons securely supported her back
and head while the soles of her feet remained in touch with
the floor. When the familiar sounds began to pervade her
slender body, Becky's face relaxed. A happy smile appeared
as soon as she felt gentle waves travelling through her as
I applied pressure to the air cushions in rhythm with the
music. The fear of being touched vanished after a few such
dance sessions. Then Becky's leg "miraculously" recovered
strength and stability which astonished even her doctors.
Thus "re-musicked" (an expression coined by neurologist
Oliver Sachs for the impact music can have in functionally
re-organizing and coordinating a person) the young woman
regained much of her zest for life. She truly began to appreciate
and enjoy every precious moment that was not too marred by
the effects of chemotherapy.
One day she surprised herself(and me just as much). While we
were having tea and listening to her pop-music, Becky spontaneously
got up from the couch and started dancing ... with ever greater
confidence and abandon, laughingly inviting those present to
join in. At that moment - and on a number of other occasions,
for instance when she roared through winding country lanes
and sleepy villages on the back of a Harley Davidson, or visited
Germany, her chosen second home, for the last time - Becky
vindicated Moshe Feldenkrais famous assertion: "A healthy
person is one who realises her deepest dreams.
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