About the Feldenkrais Method

“I’m not after Flexible Bodies…I’m after Flexible Minds.“ — Moshe Feldenkrais

Most simply, Feldenkrais is a sophisticated method of communicating with our motor nervous system through movement. Focusing mindful attention on keeping muscular effort low and movement quality awareness high helps us clarify how well we convert our intentions into action. Because movement conflicts and restrictions are inextricably intertwined with personality, self-image, beliefs, and attitudes, the freedom to act effectively and the ability to choose rationally are directly related to the ability to move one’s body without the intrusion of habitual, “parasitic” tensions.

“When you know what you’re doing, you can do what you want.”— Moshe Feldenkrais

Feldenkrais lessons provide a safe, meditative space where you can relax, relieve stress, and improve unconscious movement patterns beyond familiar limitations. Through these gentle movements you can learn to think, move, and act more creatively and comfortably. Release of habitual tensions provides a healing space where we can learn to handle stress with new  balance and poise.

Functional Integration (FI) is “hands-on” Feldenkrais. The practitioner uses skillful, supportive, gentle hands to create a sense of safety, maintain supportive contact, and gain the trust of the Unconscious while introducing new movement possibilities in small, easily available increments. Practitioners are trained to detect and honor minute resistances in your movement patterns which might represent emotional, psychological, or physical limitations. Using highly sensitive touch and and gentle, exploratory movements, the practitioner helps you find freedom from restrictive movement patterns, leaving a delicious, rare, and deeply satisfying kind of relaxation.

Awareness Through Movement (ATM) is essentially a guided movement meditation in which a group of students are verbally guided through carefully designed sequences of movements which they explore slowly and mindfully. The teacher uses a soft, neutral voice to help the group maintain a mindful awareness, and separates movement elements with short rest periods which help the student integrate larger movement patterns of increasing refinement and complexity. ATM lessons can be given “live” in a class setting, or recorded for convenient use at home or online.