The Feldenkrais Method® is uniquely poised to offer you greater freedom and mobility while keeping your brain active. As you improve your attention, balance, flexibility, and movement efficiency, you also expand your capacity for resilience and resourcefulness when life offers you challenges.
So, how does the Feldenkrais Method make a difference? The key is a unique system of movement education developed by Moshe Feldenkrais D.Sc., which he began teaching in 1954. Dr. Feldenkrais said, “The aim is a body that is organized to move with minimum effort and maximum efficiency, not through muscular strength, but increased consciousness of how it works.”
Feldenkrais Practitioners use two modes of practice:
- Individual hands-on sessions addressing specific issues (called Functional Integration® or FI)
- Group classes consisting of verbally guided movement lessons (called Awareness Through Movement® or ATM) In both forms, the aim is to assist clients to understand their particular habits of thinking, feeling, sensing and acting.
You will feel better through increased consciousness of how the neuromuscular systems work together with the brain’s amazing capacity for neuroplasticity. You’ll discover better movement options, more comfort and experience improved coordination, balance and breathing.
Furthermore, your ability to see new possibilities for moving forward and developing more agency over your everyday life will be enhanced. By improving your movement, you improve the quality of your life.
Many people with long-term pain benefit from individual Functional Integration lessons and may progress to Awareness Through Movement classes. A Feldenkrais Practitioner helps their client to find comfort and ease in everyday functional activities. Rather than focusing on what the person cannot do, the focus is on what the person can do well, and expanding this ability to other areas and movements. For people with persistent pain, this approach can be a refreshing change.
The Feldenkrais Method helps people to discover new options for easier, more pleasurable movement. It helps athletes, musicians, and dancers to “fine tune” themselves for competition or performance. It helps people with stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, or other neurological conditions to find more effective ways to get along in daily life. And it can help anyone, no matter what their age or physical condition, to feel better, relax and enjoy life more.
How do I find a teacher?
There are teachers of the Feldenkrais Method in most larger cities and many smaller ones in North America. The Feldenkrais Guild® of North America maintains a directory of Guild Certified Feldenkrais PractitionersCM at their website.