The Feldenkrais Method®

is revolutionary, new approach, designed to immediately open up new possibilities for movement and well being.

• Movement improvement
• Greater comfort
• Enhanced awareness
• Increased flexibility, vitality and vigor
• A new level of freedom, creativity and spontaneity in life.

Using the learning process of infants and children as a model, the method creates an environment where efficient healthy patterns of movement can be learned and integrated into one’s habitual way of acting. Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais created a large body of movement lessons. The lessons benefit a complete range of people from the old to the young, from the athlete to the injured - in each case replacing the previous limitations with new and unexpected possibilities. They are designed to reorganize neuro-muscular pathways, and to help you to become more aware of how you move, what other choices you have and help discover new patterns of moving, thinking and feeling. This is a way of feeling better by moving better.

The genius of the Feldenkrais Method is that it not only produces remarkable transformations, but that it does so in an extraordinarily subtle and gentle way. Many experience change and improvement in a short period of time that often years of trying did not provide. The lessons are safe, gentle, subtle, and above all, fun.

Developed by Moshe Feldenkrais PhD (1904-1984), physicist, engineer, martial artist and educator, who developed the Feldenkrais Method by studying the direct relationship between bodily movement and the ways we think, feel, learn and act in the world.

Unlike traditional exercise systems or Physical Therapy that focus on isolated muscle actions, Feldenkrais works to improve how all the parts work together to increase your efficiency and power.

This is how Feldenkrais accomplishes it:

• By fine-tuning your ability to recognize movement patterns that may be causing injury or limiting your potential.
• By learning how to reduce unnecessary effort and use only what is required for efficient action.
• By expanding your movement vocabulary and exploring options for easier and more effective ways of using your body.

Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais giving an Functional Intergration lesson. Courtesy of Feldenkrais Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel

Through increased awareness you move with a minimum of effort and maximum of efficiency.

How is it done?

There are two ways to explore the Feldenkrais process:

-Private Sessions

-Group Lessons

Functional Integration is individual hands-on learning shaped to your specific needs. Sessions are usually done while you are lying down or sitting comfortably clothed on a low padded table. Through gentle touch and movement, you are guided into experiences that can transform how you feel and think about your body. With support from a practitioner it is possible to explore options you may not be able to access by yourself. Clients often discover ways to improve that they had never considered before. This way of learning is especially helpful for people who would benefit from a more individualized approach or are in pain.

In Awareness Through Movement group lessons you are verbally guided through a series of slow and subtle movement sequences that improve your flexibility, coordination, strength and balance. We all have developed habits which streamline our actions and allow us to function. But habits can be in our way of moving efficiently. To learn and change we need awareness about what we are doing. The lessons are designed to awaken your nervous system to new ways of organizing physical actions. You will learn to eliminate excess effort and tension that interfere with performance. After a few lessons you will have a different feeling for how you sit, stand, walk, bend or twist.

Learning strategies in Awareness Through Movement include:

• using slow, gentle movement and directing students to move within the limits of safety by avoiding pain and strain
• orienting to the process of learning and doing rather than working towards a goal
• directing awareness toward sensing differences and perceiving whole interconnected patterns in movement
• allowing the student to find his/her own way with a lesson.