The Feldenkrais Method
The Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education can offer many benefits to anyone interested in learning how to improve their quality of life. Here are just some of the possible benefits you may experience;
Relief from pain, restriction, stress and tension.
Easier, fuller breathing and increased vitality
Improved posture, balance, co-ordination and flexibility.
Improved skills in sports, dance, martial arts, yoga, music, voice.
Increased clarity, well-being and calm.
Reduced anxiety and better nervous system regulation
Enhanced health and mobility while aging
Injury prevention, rehabilitation after surgery or accident
Help for those with neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and stroke
What is the Feldenkrais Method?
“Feldenkrais is not just pushing muscles around, but changing things in the brain itself.”
The Feldenkrais Method offers a unique and practical way to realise our potential more fully. It is an educational approach focusing on learning and movement, in order to bring about improved functioning on many levels. Though it is still relatively unknown in the U.K., for many years and across the world it’s been used as one of the finest methods available to improve human movement and help people overcome pain or limitations.
Moshe Feldenkrais recognised that our sense of ourselves is shaped by our experience of our movements, or lack of them. The method he developed shows us practically and easily how the quality of our experience can be changed very quickly by learning to change the way we pay attention. In somatic education the emphasis is on sensation, on learning from inside rather than through imitation or trying to make ourselves conform to some idea of an ideal posture or way of moving.
How do I learn it?
“I do not intend to “teach” you, but to enable you to learn at your own rate of understanding and doing.”
The Feldenkrais Method is taught both in group classes and in individual sessions.
In each situation you learn how to pay attention to sensation in a way which results in you discovering your ability to move free from old restricting habits, with more ease, greater pleasure and less pain. Awareness Through Movement classes and individual Functional Integration lessons are suitable for a wide range of people, of all ages and abilities.
Awareness through Movement classes
'Awareness through Movement'® (A.T.M.) is considered by many to be the ultimate in somatic learning. In these group classes your nervous system is engaged in an active learning process as you are guided verbally through sequences of slow, focused, enjoyable movements. As you use minimal effort during these explorations your brain is easily able to register differences between various movement options and to pick the one that is the most efficient. With focused awareness you learn to re-arrange your habits quickly and efficiently, and changes can then happen surprisingly easily. Doing the lessons brings a feeling of well-being, calm and clarity. Each person works to their own level of ability, and the best results occur by attending regular classes. There are some 4,000 movement lessons developed by Feldenkrais and his master trainers.
Functional Integration
In individual lessons the practitioner uses a particularly sensitive quality of touch, acquired through years of training coupled with their own direct experience gained through doing hundreds of A.T.M. lessons. The aim is not to stretch muscles or adjust joints but to communicate with your nervous system, initially working with pathways that are easy and familiar, then gradually introducing subtle variations which the nervous system will accept readily. You will gently discover previously unknown or long-forgotten ways of moving and being. The old, less efficient pathways are inhibited, and through novelty the nervous system's curiosity and capacity for learning is awakened. Each lesson is custom-designed in response to your own unique needs. You will be given suggestions for how to take the benefits of the lesson further on your own.
“The Feldenkrais classes with Philippa are just amazing - we seem to ‘do’ so little and yet, by the end of the class, my range of movement has always increased considerably; quite magical!”
“ There can be really illuminating ‘aha’ moments in class when a habitual, unconscious connection suddenly becomes very clear. It allows me to observe, address and change habitual patterns in the way I use myself and thereby reduce long-held tensions and chronic pain. It takes me out of ‘auto-pilot’. It encourages me to take greater responsibility for myself and nourishes in me the hope that well-being is possible even after years of reduced functionality.”
“After my one to one session with you I stood up and it seemed as if all the stresses and strains accumulated over the years had been melted away from my joints, my ligaments, my tendons and my bones. As if the clock had been turned back, my body was lighter and more fluid. I felt 10 years younger. ”
Here’s a baby doing what babies do during their first year of life. Many Feldenkrais lessons are based on these early developmental movements.
This video, made by the International Feldenkrais Federation, conveys an impression of the experience of Awareness through Movement classes.
Learn about how the Feldenkrais Method has enriched and changed these people’s lives.
About Moshe Feldenkrais
The Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education was developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984). After seriously damaging one of his knees in his 20s and declining surgery, he gradually developed his unique method which evolved out of his need to find a way out of pain and his many areas of study, which included Judo, Alexander technique, physics, engineering, human development, physiology, philosophy and psychology. He is considered one of the earliest pioneers of neuroplasticity.