The Feldenkrais Method®
group classes
Awareness Through Movement® is the “group class” aspect of The Feldenkrais Method®. These classes are equally effective when done in person or virtually, on the Zoom screen, where you are guided to make small, gentle, slow movements while paying attention to your physical sensations.
Private Sessions
Functional Integration® is the “private session” aspect of The Feldenkrais Method®. It is a system of educating the brain and nervous system by paying attention to what you feel in your body as you move or are gently and slowly moved. Private sessions are available both over video call and in person.
What are group classes like?
Listen to this recording of a Feldenkrais Method group class with Susan below.
Contrary to popular belief, it is your brain and nervous system — not your muscles — that determine the ease and comfort of your movement and the health of your posture, which is why it’s possible to resolve chronic pain and tension by “teaching YOUR brain” new, less painful, methods of organizing physical movement.
How does The Feldenkrais Method® work?
This work begins with your attention to the quality of your sensations while I move you very gently on the treatment table or you move yourself in group class. Paying attention like this invites your brain to recognize movement patterns that feel smooth and easy compared to those that create pain, tension, and straining.
Once your brain recognizes the easier, more comfortable movements, it makes adjustments in your musculature by allowing unconsciously held muscular tension patterns to release. Your brain will always adopt the most efficient and painless movement patterns. Through Feldenkrais®, we can teach your brain to recognize these easy, efficient movement patterns.
This allows permanent relief for chronic pain and tension so that you can move more freely and with ease, breathe more deeply, and regulate emotionally when stress arises. Feldenkrais gives you back your life so that you can begin to participate in activities that you thought were out of reach, and that make life worth living!
What conditions can Feldenkrais help?
The Feldenkrais Method® can help guide you away from no longer useful physical habits that cause tension and pain and restore your body’s capacity for efficient, flexible, easeful and coordinated movement, without force or muscle training.
Back pain
Neck pain
Shoulder pain
Migraines
Joint pain
Plantar fasciitis
TMJ symptoms and jaw pain
Sciatica
Hip, knee or ankle pain
Foot cramps
Even if you don’t have a diagnosed condition, Feldenkrais can have an enormous impact on your health by:
Improving comfort in sitting or standing
Releasing chronic muscle tightness
Preventing recurring injuries
Preventing joint degeneration
Improving posture
Improving flexibility and range of motion
Improving sleep
Improving breathing
Improving digestitve issues
Relieving anxiety and stress
Regulating nervous system
Enhancing athletic performance
…so that you can live your life with confidence, freedom and ease in your body.
What can I expect from my sessions with Susan?
The work we do on the table together is designed around your individual needs or difficulties. During a session, you will gain insight into your habitual patterns of tension related to a specific movement as well as how you generally carry yourself.
These patterns were developed by your nervous system for very good reasons:
as a way to compensate for injuries,
sitting at a desk for years,
playing one-sided sports,
repetitive motion activities, etc.
But these patterns may no longer be serving you as a whole, and may be causing discomfort and pain, as well as keeping you from spending your life doing the things you love.
We work to identify these patterns in every session. For example, clients may notice they apply excessive force when moving a certain way, or clench their teeth or jaw, hold their breath, lean to one side, favor one leg, hold their head forward or to a particular side, or organize themselves in other ways that feel “normal and familiar” and that they never really noticed before.
We’ll work together to rewire these patterns, moving past stress and discomfort so that you can live pain-free permanently.
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