awareness?

What my little experiment with the glove (how silly it looked), made me think about was awareness. Feldenkrais stuff is focused on conscious awareness, paying attention, yet my question is, if we can change (negatively) our bodies by bad habits without being aware that we are doing it, then surely, we can alter them in a positive way too, without always this focused "awareness". Is not that a variation on the idea of reversibility?
When I wore the glove(see previous post), without paying attention to it, my subconscious, lower level functions surely did, because changes kept jumping into my awareness, when I was totally focused on other activities and had forgotten all about the glove. Maybe positive changes can be made with differences to the body's sensations/movements, without always the need for "awareness". We all have picked up habits subconsciously (such as a friends favorite word, a way of sitting in the car), so why not pick up beneficial habits subconsciously too? I still think awareness is king, don't get me wrong, but we underestimate the power of the subconscious, or the "just underneath the surface" thought. Why, just ask any psychiatrist or psychologist! Back to practicing movement experiments without the glove for a while, but I am more open to the idea of improvement not having to be such a time consuming hard slog....there is gold to be found in plain old not concentrating variety.

Movement experiments

I find pain and discomfort a great motivator for trying new things. Today, after work I have come up with the probably no t so novel idea of wearing a glove on my right hand, to improve the awareness and dexterity of my left hand. It is a ski glove, so it is bulky, fairly stiff and not conducive to helping me type this blog! Why on earth would you do such a thing, I hear you say...well, blame it on concepts by Feldenkrais and the book "The brain that changes itself", and of course my bent for trying the unconventional, because, God knows, the conventional never worked! I have no pain or mobility issues that impair my hand, but one of my legs has discomfort issues that affect my ability to do lots of things, as well as peace of mind. and ability to get a good night's sleep. Regular Feldekrais has helped enormously with most other joints, but this one side persists in its ability to let the team down. So, some training is required. Exercises, even gentle exercises non weight bearing ones aggravate the situation, so with the idea that the toes and feet are closely related, I am improving the awareness of my left hand, to help my left leg. Whilst this might sound weird to some people, I play with movement "games" I invent regularly, to try and improve the way the body functions (so as to decrease pain). And many times it works to a small degree, but this time I am hoping for something more. With the games I play, and the Feldenkrais lessons, you can only keep your attention focused for so long, then you get all fuzzy minded, and the conscious part gets tired. Here, with the glove on my hand, I am hoping when my attention span wanders, the subconscious part of my mind will still be attending to the differences.....So, I can keep the glove on for hours, and forget about it, but the body will still be noticing. I have to do more with my left hand than normal. Two interesting things I have noticed already, is the the feel of things in my hand comes to my attention, soft or smooth surfaces, cold, rough. This is not something I normally pay attention to. Also when I walk around the house, I am especially conscious of my left torso, without purposefully putting my attention there. Oh so interesting..... I will let you know how it goes ; )