Feldenkrais Method

Benefits for fitness activities

• Improve your energy level and comfort as you exercise

• Increase your flexibility, strength and coordination

• Reduce incidence of injury

• Avoid unnecessary stress and fatigue

Discover your natural movement intelligence.  The Feldenkrais Method is different than any other movement program because it helps you to let go of habits that prevent ease and progress as you exercise.  Based on principles of movement science, neuroscience and human development, Feldenkrais classes work on a deep level to support your activities and leave you feeling more satisfied! Athletes, performing artists and busy professionals all use the method to improve more easily.

The Feldenkrais Method is a somatic movement practice that views the human body as an experience rather than an object. 

The method is a synthesis of motor development, bio-mechanics, psychology and martial arts and uses the nervous system's natural ability to change and improve the way we move.  

In daily life, we need to carry out many activities more or less automatically without paying much attention. However, to learn a new task effectively, or to relearn an old task, we need to slow down and make much less muscular effort to be able to notice what we are doing in more detail. Otherwise we are building on old habits.  

Humans learn best by experimentation, because it's engaging. We try something, notice how it feels, find out which way works best, try it again and so on. Babies learn this way, and it's what we do in a Feldenkrais lesson.  

We don't practice movement mechanically; rather we experiment with functional movement in many different ways so we can make choices based on our evaluation of the experience. If the activity is pleasurable, we are likely to want to revisit it, and quite soon we find ourselves moving with more ease. We have far more vitality for our work and leisure activities because we have found more effortless and comfortable yet effective ways to manage. This process takes advantage of the nervous system's amazing capacity to select the most intelligent and easiest way to carry out movement tasks.  

Many people use the Feldenkrais Method because it helps them relieve stress and pain. Artists and athletes use the method to improve elite skills and also to recover more quickly from injury or surgery. Individuals with postural difficulties find improvement and ease go hand in hand. Those with neuromuscular disorders such as cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis achieve functional improvement.  

Students work with the method in two ways. An Awareness Through Movement® lesson is a sequence of gentle, guided movements on a particular theme given in a group setting. People often feel more relaxed after a lesson. They may breathe more freely and find their thoughts have more clarity. The learning process is full of pleasant surprises and personal breakthroughs.  

A lesson in Functional Integration® addresses similar issues, but is private and individualized, with the practitioner guiding the student through a hands-on discovery process using gentle touch, movement and words. Functional Integration® lessons are useful for those who might benefit from individualized attention.

  · Posture · Athletic Skills · Performing Arts · Stress · Recovery From Injury · 

· Recovery From Surgery · Neurological Conditions ·