How to get the most out of your experience.

1. Breathe
Pay attention to your breathing throughout the lessons. Notice if you can do the movements without interrupting the breathing. If you find yourself holding your breath, that may be an indication that you are using more effort than necessary.
2. Rest
Be sure to take frequent rests throughout the lessons. It is during the rest periods that the nervous system processes the new neurological information. Do not hesitate to rest when you feel like it, even if it is prior to the instructions asking you to rest.
3. Differentiate
You will find that it is not unusual for the instructions to ask you to do a movement where you differentiate one part of yourself from another. For example, you may be asked to move the eyes and the head in opposite directions.
4. Don't strain
Avoid using too much effort. Where as in some exercise programs you may hear the phrase "No pain, No gain," in Feldenkrais we simply say "No pain", “Do it easy”.  As you do the movements, stay within the range of what is easy, comfortable and pleasurable to do. Otherwise the nervous system will be running in the protecting mode being not so open to learning.
5. Observe
Pay close attention to yourself as you do the lessons. Feel the way the body makes contact with the floor, the quality of your movements, the sense of ease and your feeling of comfort. The more you pay attention to what you feel, the more you will develop the powerful tool of awareness.
6. Feel
Use your ability to feel yourself from the inside out to help you gage how you do the movements. Look to do the movements in a way that feels comfortable and pleasurable for you. Feldenkrais can be thought of as a low tech Biofeedback system.
7. Make Small Movements
As you do these Awareness Through Movement lessons make small movements, staying within the range of what is truly comfortable and easy to do. Err on the side of doing less. Once the new patterns are established larger movements will become very easy to do.
8. Take it Easy
As you do these movements just stay within the range of what is easy and comfortable to do. Don't force. Don't strain. Don't use effort. Just look to see how can you move using a minimum of effort. As you insist on staying within this easy range of effort, the easy range will grow and grow.
9. Visualize
Use your thinking, your imagination, your ability to visualize the movement to help create the new neurological patterns of movement. It's always useful to think the movement through first. Especially if you have any kind of pain or discomfort, simply imagine the movement, visualize it first.
10. Reverse the movement
Look to do the movements in a reversible manner, so that you can move as easily in one direction as in the opposite direction.
And most of all... ENJOY! 

Try a sample lesson from the privacy of your own home by clicking on the Desk Trainer link.