Working with your Attention in Sitting to Improve Hips and Spine

This is a wonderful short Feldenkrais lesson sequence that you can do at home to improve many conditions that cause discomfort -- scoliosis, hip pain, kyphosis and tension in the shoulders -- or if you are a recipient of hip replacement surgery.  You will be amazed at the results, the improvement you may discover with these small, slow movements.

It is presented by Dr. Lori Malkoff, one of the few medical doctors who is also a Feldenkrais practitioner.  She uses the Feldenkrais Method extensively in her practice to provide non-drug, non-surgical effective, holistic treatment for her patients.  If you are in the southern California area, you would do well to look into her specialties.  Among these are pain relief, restoration of physical function and improved healing.

The mindful, slow and attentive movement that Lori demonstrates is a wonderful example of  Awareness Through Movement work.  If you do the sequence, try to do it with the same care and slow speed for best results.  The slower you move, the more you will feel.  All you need to do is try doing any movement both quickly and slowly to see the depth of this truth for yourself.

How to Breathe Comfortably and Fully

Working with the DIAPHRAGM figured prominently in Dr. Feldenkrais' work. As you watch this lovely offering by Feldy Donna Bervinchak, try to sense your own anatomy; this study is for anyone who needs breathing work and softening of the chest, expansion of the lower abdominal cavity, increased connection between shoulders and hips, pelvic floor. Diaphragm work does so much to enhance these areas, and thus connect you to yourself more wholly. All Feldenkrais work has a direct de-stressing effect on the nervous system. Please contact me if you want to find out more about Feldenkrais healing and work. Classes, workshops and private lessons can make a huge difference.

PAIN RELIEF and SELF-SENSING

Relieving strain in your movement - It is a way of moving through life that has immeasurable benefit, and is a primary principle taught by Dr. Feldenkrais. Here is a wonderful recording of this principle from Dr. Feldenkrais's last training in Amherst NY in the early 1980s, as he works with students in Awareness Through Movement training.

Apply it to all your activities and it WILL IMPROVE YOUR LIFE, immeasurably.

These are Dr. F's spoken words:  

"Go slowly, slowly.
Make the movement easier and simpler,
until you feel that you are doing the right thing.
In other words, that you have eliminated
all unnecessary strains and pressures
and tensions and intentions to do things...
Do it slowly and gently, and you will all get there."

This is the essence of the Feldenkrais work.




Eliminate All Unnecessary Strains - Dr. Feldenkrais from Rob Black on Vimeo.

WHY and HOW:
Unconscious tension and muscle contractions contribute hugely to the lack of comfort we feel in our bodies.  This is so much true that our brains must tell our bodies this is our 'normal' state, and we begin to accept pain and discomfort as part of our everyday experience. Nothing could be further from the truth. The first step in a path toward feeling better in our bodies is self awareness.  My friend Michelle Turner says, "Take time to see how you feel, how you move." You must begin here.  And then the miracles follow!

TAKE CONTROL of YOUR STRESS LEVEL - just in time for the holidays (holiDAZE?)

The Feldenkrais Method works directly with your nervous system. Because of this, you will notice an almost immediate improvement in breathing and relaxing of chronic tensions and muscular contractions. These releases create more capacity to feel the movements of your body, follow and track the transmission of force through your whole system, and gravitate toward more stable, efficient and comfortable movement. You will also notice an improved sense of self and feeling of well-being.

JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!  I teach four classes each week as well as individual Functional Integration lessons.  Please see the information below and contact me if you have questions or would like to learn more.

Reno Feldenkrais and EQuus Insight (Equine Therapy, Equine Guided Learning)

Post by Reno Feldenkrais Integrative Movement and Health.

Feldenkrais and Equine therapies are a powerful combination. On Weds, at EQuus Insight, we work with incarcerated teen boys, a program Melinda has been offering for 10 yrs. I joined and brought in Feldenkrais work 6 months ago. Today a wonderful boy (actually they are all wonderful in their own ways) graduated from the 3 yr program and we were so moved by his progress, his new sense of himself, his prospects, hope. But most of all, we felt our caring and concern for him upon his departure, worried for his future. It was a very touching day; the animals felt it too, as they participated in his Hero's Journey. He rode a horse through the last sequence, and there were many metaphors to study. We also had 2 visitors yesterday, caring, kind and involved horse and body awareness folk, who added to the high energy of the day.

Creating Stability in an Unstable World with Feldenkrais

Life deals us a hand and we need to respond to it as well as we can.  Dr. Feldenkrais clearly based his work on the premise that no matter what our physical, emotional or mental status, we can always optimize our function. This optimization begins with self-sensing. Self-sensing leads to profound self-knowledge that comes from a more whole and neutral part of us, not our critical, fault finding selves.

So how to begin? Feeling your feet on the ground, locating your skeleton internally, realizing that your head is more or less parallel to the sky, will bring a new internal experience to you.  And from here, we begin to stabilize, improve and recover our natural selves, our natural movement and humanity.

(The sign above was created by Buffy Owens, Feldenkrais Practitioner and teacher in New York, who is a wonderfully expressive creator.)

Life Changing Feldenkrais - But WHAT is it?

Re-Presenting the Miracle of Empowerment that Feldenkrais®
Awareness Through Movement® and Functional Integration® Actually Give You

By using focused attention and internal sensing, the Feldenkrais Method works directly upon the neuromuscular system in a way that no other modalities do. Whether young or old, athlete or couch potato, if you have physical limitations, injuries or just don't feel as good as you want to, you can optimize your movement and improve how you feel.

A profound reconnection happens between brain and body; you tap into the innate physical intelligence each of us has internally. You will develop appropriate, easy, comfortable movement; improved flexibility, stability and coordination occur. You begin to move with grace and ease as you learn to distribute movement throughout your whole body again, as you did intuitively as a child.

In these wonderful, short videos by the renowned Feldenkrais practitioner and teacher, Crish Kresge, you will hear and see what this might mean for you. Chrish will leave you with a clear sense of what regaining a deeper connection with your body might look and feel like. I hope you enjoy them both. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you want more information.

Learning a SEATED TROT

I know what a SEATED TROT is now!

I have listened to my Feldenkrais colleague Heather Beachum talk about the seated trot for sometime now.  I didn't realize until today that seated isn't a simple descriptive device.  Suddenly many things came together in my understand. And why?  Well I had never really experienced being seated before.  This is what I wrote about the experience, before I got what 'seated' meant.  

The real riding part of my riding lesson yesterday with Rebekka Rhodes was thrilling (again). I AM finding my seat in a bareback trot! Finding how to use my upper and legs and pelvis in a more controlled way - not just balance. It did come back and it got better. Rebekka didn't know, but i went and rode the little wooden rocking horse for a few minutes before starting, to find my back in riding back, and the movement of the hips. 

Then Rebekka helped me find the control of this seat, learning clearly today which part of my legs to use on the horse where, in what way so that I communicate gently and clearly with my horse, and how to follow and feel both of us in movement.
And just like Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement (ATM), as i discover this, working intuitively and with my attention and body, I really am able to learn new things, at a new level. I wish i could figure out how to fit a second weekly lesson in. Yesterday was terribly, fabulously wonderful!  Stay tuned for more revelatory Feldenkrais and horse related experiences.  At some point before too long, I plan to do some specifically equestrian Awareness Through Movement classes or workshops in Reno.  My ongoing schedule is still the same as it has been for over a year, and you will find it to the right, in the side bar.

Feldenkrais Pelvic Floor class OFF-TRACK Till April

Just to let you know that the Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement® PELVIC FLOOR class held at the Reno Buddhist Center will be off-track until April, 2013.

If you want information about signing up for this 6 week series or other ongoing Feldenkrais classes, the Feldenkrais Method® or Functional Integration®, please contact me.

A Very Special Workshop Fundraiser for the NV Crisis Call Center, Mar. 2.

This will be the first Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement® Workshop to benefit Nevada's own Crisis Call Center.  You must reserve your spot by February 27, and the sooner the better!  The 20 spaces are going fast.  Don't miss your chance to attend this special 2 hour class and learn for yourself why people are so enthusiastic about the Feldenkrais method -- people who dance, play music, ski, golf, and also people who have physical issues and limitations, or have simply lost their joie de vivre, their 'get up and go' -- this will help you find it again!  

I hope you can join us!  Don't hesitate to contact me at renofeldenkrais@aol.com for information, questions, etc.  Thank you!  A great, low cost opportunity to make a big difference in your life and to help the Crisis Call Center -- don't miss it!