“The aim is a person who is organized to move with minimum effort and maximum efficiency, not through muscular effort, but through increased consciousness of how movement works.”
– Moshe Feldenkrais, D. Sci., 1904-1984
The Feldenkrais Method®
The Feldenkrais Method® is a revolutionary system of learning based on principles of neuro-plasticity, body mechanics, physics and martial arts. Scientist Moshe Feldenkrais discovered that by play and awareness we can make dramatic improvements in our habitual patterns of movement and change our brain.
By exploring the variations and novelty embedded in Feldenkrais lessons, your brain learns to release its dependence on habit and make choices that best support your intentions at any given moment.
Anyone at any age can improve their co-ordination, posture, flexibility, breathing, and athletic and creative performance. Management of chronic pain and rehabilitation from muscular-skeletal injury is faster and more complete. Experience profound relaxation in your nervous system which is an antidote to our modern stressful lives.
Feldenkrais can:
- Improve your back, neck and shoulders
- Improve posture, breathing and sleep
- Reduce pain and stress
- Enhance skeletal support and joint mobility
- Improve the movement and learning of children with additional needs
- Enhance performance skills and reduce injury
- Improve strength and flexibility, balance and coordination
- Generate ease in sitting, standing and walking
Who can benefit from The Feldenkrais Method®
- Children with neurological, learning or developmental difficulties
- Athletes, musicians or performing artists
- Anyone who sits in front of a computer
- People recovering from injury
- Adults with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s and stroke
- People with pain
- People who want to retain their mobility and vitality
- Animals, such as dogs, cats, horses… and even humans
Learn more about the benefits of The Feldenkrais Method® here and for further reading, try The Feldenkrais Research Journal.
Functional Integration® (individual lessons)
Feldenkrais® private sessions are known as Functional Integration® (FI®) lessons.
An individual session is designed around your specific needs and evokes a sensation of the support your skeleton provides. You will sit or lie, comfortably clothed, on a low padded table. Your practitioner will engage your nervous system through enquiring touch and safe, effortless movement, to bring about lasting changes in your posture, co-ordination and self image.
Each Functional Integration lesson relates to a desire, intention, or need of the student. The learning process is carried out without the use of any invasive or forceful procedure. Through rapport and respect for the student’s abilities, qualities, and integrity, the teacher creates an environment in which the student can learn in safety and comfort. The lesson is developed, specifically for the student, custom-tailored to the unique circumstances of that particular person, at that particular moment. The student learns how to reorganize their actions in new and more effective ways through the experience of comfort, enjoyment, and ease of movement.
Awareness Through Movement® (group lessons)
Feldenkrais® group classes are known as Awareness Through Movement® (ATM®) lessons. You are verbally guided through a process of movement exploration that supports a relaxed yet attentive learning state. The lessons take place on the floor, in a variety of orientations, including lying, sitting, kneeling, standing or walking. By engaging your curiosity, gently and at your own rate, you learn to explore the world of your internal sensation. This new awareness about the quality of your movement allows your brain to shift old habits of tension and improve balance, coordination, and sense of wellbeing. Unique to the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education is that these lessons tie directly into functional movements of daily life, such as walking efficiently, safely lifting objects, and improving one’s posture in sitting or standing. Students are often amazed at the quick and clear changes that occur through the neuromuscular repatterning that happens in an Awareness Through Movement lesson!
