How Feldenkrais works and why it will work for you:

Our bodies are truly remarkable instruments, sensitive and responsive, and surprisingly easy to influence with our minds. Our systems actually desire and move toward balance and healing from within, and are capable of continuous learning and changing. This is true at every age, and in just about any condition, when we support this action in natural and simple ways.

So it is odd, really, how effective we are at using our minds negatively, to undermine our potential, instead of using this power in a positive way. We become expert at disrupting our natural abilities to find balance and potency,  and choose instead, to use our natural gifts to dis-empower ourselves! Think how we use our imagination to scare ourselves, causing us to 'choke' under pressure, dread the future, worry endlessly, creating stress, or even worse, making ourselves sick.

Doing Feldenkrais counteracts this negative tendency by bringing our attention deep inside  our body to the skeletal level.  We begin to find and sense the deepest and most supportive structures of ourselves.  And as we slowly engage in doing simple, though highly structured non-habitual movements, and follow them with our minds (to whatever extent we can), the effort itself, reestablishes a deep connection of support at the level of our nervous systems.  We begin to find something new: a wonderful feeling of empowerment, flexibility and support that comes from reconnecting and relearning about ourselves at this deep subconscious level.  How we move and feel improves almost immediately.

Thus rather than trying to change how we think about ourselves, we 'feel' ourselves into change, as we study and explore movement in our bodies in a slow and deliberate, focused way.  This study produces a change in our inner connection with ourselves, and opens the door to a new understanding internally. We begin to feel and see how our movement patterns and habits get in our way and where we can look in ourselves to find real improvement.

We become intuitively able to use our bodies differently, more potently and much more supportively. We begin to know where we are in space, with our feet on the ground, and our spines more naturally erect.  We are able to sense and let go of tensions and 'mindless muscular movement' that wear out our joints and cause injury and accident.

Dr. Feldenkrais developed this method to restore his own movement and function following crippling injuries to knee and arm. And it is just this same ability to refine and improve the connections between our bodies and brains that bring elite athletes and performers to the Feldenkrais method -- people who desire to obtain a higher level of performance or gain a critical, competitive edge.

The transformation that this 'sensing' knowledge and 'movement' learning can unlock in us, consciously and subconsciously, is life changing.  It naturally relieves physical and mental tensions, and reconnects us with our healing and balancing capacities.  We genuinely feel better as we move more comfortably and efficiently; we are more stable and graceful, and can engage in all our activities more effectively. And we already have everything we need to begin -- our bodies and our minds.

If you are interested in attending a class, please contact me at renofeldenkrais@aol.com, on facebook at facebook.com/RenoFeldenkrais, or via meetup.com/Reno-Feldenkrais-Awareness-Through-Movement-classes.

The picture shows a Saturday class at ACHIEVE Fitness, in Reno.

Feldenkrais Teaches Us Sustainability In Our Bodies

One of the hardest parts of beginning to work with the Feldenkrais Method® is realizing and accepting that we don't inhabit our bodies very much. This is true even for those of us who work on consciousness in various ways, or engage in physical activities like riding, skiing, running and golf, where agility and balance are part of our skill set.


But in fact, we really aren't very aware of how we use ourselves; whether we expend more energy than needed in our movement, and tax our steadily aging systems unnecessarily--especially our joints. We overuse our necks and lumbar spines, wreck our shoulders, damage our hips and knees.


As we begin, in classes and at home, to practice sensing ourselves more deeply, we quickly regain our ability to be connected.  We begin to see how often we engage in mindless muscular movement throughout the day, don't know where we are in space, or feel our feet on the floor. 


This experience opens the door to positive change of our movement patterns on a subconscious level--intuitively making better movement choices, sensing and finding better balance, breathing, and simply being inside ourselves, OCCUPYING US.


As we learn internally, at the level of the nervous system, we apply this information to all our activities, naturally improving our sensitivity, stability, capacity and comfort.  And it is from here that our sustainable body begins to emerge, ready to take us into the future!  Contact me to join me for a class or to learn more about the Feldenkrais Method®.

Great scoliosis, hip, shoulder, and back Class this week.

Because of its powerful effects on scoliosis, hips/pelvis, back and shoulders, I am giving this lesson again this week.  You can take it at the ACHIEVE Fitness 10 am class TUES, or 3 pm SATURDAY; or at the Reno Buddhist Center on THURS at 5:30 pm.

If it is your first ATM class, pls come 15-20 mins early.

This week's Awareness Through Movement lesson is a BEAUTIFUL LENGTHENING, VERTICALIZING study -- #5 from Chava Shelav, Ph.D. Feldy. Side lying, it is especially good for balancing the pelvis and moving ribs and spine, thus helps scoliosis, breathing and helps reduce tension and pain in all parts of the back and hips. It also opens the shoulder joints and chest as the arms move outward away from the torso, and circle. It is comforting, strengthening and healing, has very positive and immediate benefits. Please join me.