What is it?

The Feldenkrais Method® is a unique approach that utilizes gentle movement and awareness to tap into the nervous system’s innate ability to learn. While it is sought out primarily by people wanting to move out of pain or improve their movement, the Feldenkrais Method® offers a comprehensive practice to develop a more flexible mind and more functional BEHAVIOR.

The Feldenkrais Method® provides the foundation for learning how to tap into the innate and integrative capacity of the nervous system. This allows us to choose how to respond to environmental influences and to discard the responses and habits that no longer serve us. More than that, it teaches us how to nurture the mindset, movements, and lifestyle habits that we want.

Feldenkrais Practitioners® are trained to create learning scenarios instead of acquiring a fixed, repetitive technique or one size fits all protocol. The work is taught in two complementary formats that help you develop a clearer self-image so that your inner intentions and outer actions are in alignment.

THE TWO FORMATS:

#1 FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION®

Working 1-on-1 with a teacher is the best way to address specific or long-term problems, and for enhancing your learning in group classes. The neuromuscular reorganization possible through these hands-on, personalized lessons helps you learn to move and act in easier and more efficient ways.

In my sessions with students, I often use my hands, my voice, my presence, and specific questions and constraints that help you clarify and improve your self-organization. The intention is not to “fix” or “treat” you. The focus is on creating a context for learning. Learning to shift from a “fix me” approach to a deep and meaningful learning approach is the key to healing yourself and achieving sustainable change.

Because the Feldenkrais Method makes changes where it counts — in your brain — you might be surprised by how much you learn as you release old habits and heal your pain.

#2 AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT®

Our physical experiences, lifestyle, personality, and reactions to stress contribute to learned muscular patterns that are unique to each of us. Unfortunately, sometimes our habitual ways of moving, thinking, sensing and feeling can limit our self-expression or cause discomfort and even damage. And by exploring Awareness Through Movement® classes you’ll re-discover easier movement and develop the capacity to tap into the mind-body continuum.

Awareness Through Movement® offers a context for self-directed learning and can be done in a class led by a teacher or on your own from an audio recording. They derive from a body of over 1,000 lessons developed by Dr. Feldenkrais, plus hundreds of subsequent lessons by other Feldenkrais Practitioners®. Classes generally last between 30 and 60 minutes. They are sometimes done while walking, standing, or sitting in a chair, though the majority are done while lying on one’s back, front, and/or sides. Each lesson utilizes gentle movements to retrain your brain. In time, this type of learning can help you to accurately sense yourself in motion and eliminate compulsive and dysfunctional strain.

The Feldenkrais Method is not a quick fix. One lesson can change the way that you engage with yourself and the way that you see the world. However, it takes time to unwind old patterns and adopt new ones. The time that it takes to create sustainable change is different for each person. Just as each person’s nervous system, personal history, and learning style is different.

In short, it takes practice. Just like developing a skill, cultivating lasting change takes time and the time and attention you bring to it is linked to your results. But have no fear. We’ll work together to find easy and accessible ways for you to weave this work into your daily life. That way you can create a lifestyle of movement and curiosity.

I guarantee that if you decide to explore the Feldenkrais Method — whether in a class, at home, or with a practitioner — you will start to see many changes in your life.