Feldenkrais Waiheke

About

if you are curious, want to find out more about what Feldenkrais work is, and see if it is for you, feel free to contact me for a free consultation!

Story

Hello, welcome!
here more info about the Feldenkrais-method, well known and popular in Germany, especially in the performing arts, sports and health sector.
So far its not so much known yet in this part of the world, but we are getting there... ;-)
I offer functional Integration= one on one sessions, as well as ATM= awareness through movement classes starting very soon, on Waiheke Island.

excerpts from the official Feldenkrais- guild NZ website
http://www.feldenkrais.org.nz/

About the Feldenkrais® Method

The Feldenkrais Method, named after its founder Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, uses slow and precise movement sequences to engage your brain through your body and nervous system. Through your neuromuscular system it activates more parts of your brain by helping your muscles move outside of their habitual pattern.
Feldenkrais movement sequences are all about learning to make movement easier, all the time. They have a practical focus and result in better functioning in everyday activities.

Dr Feldenkrais believed that the unity of mind and body was an objective reality.

"They are not just parts somehow related to each other, but an inseparable whole while functioning. A brain without a body could not think; at least, the continuing of mental functions is assured by corresponding motor functions. ...

There is little doubt in my mind that the motor function, and perhaps the muscles themselves, are part and parcel of our higher functions. This is not true only of those higher functions like singing, painting and loving, which are impossible without muscular activity, but also of thinking, recalling, remembering and feeling."

And that the best way to change the whole was via the body.
"The advantage of approaching the unity of mental and muscular life through the body lies in the fact that the muscle expression is simpler because it is concrete and easier to locate. It is also incomparably easier to make a person aware of what is happening in the body, therefore the body approach yields faster and more direct results. On acting on the significant parts of the body, such as the eyes, the neck, the breath, or the pelvis, it is easy to effect striking changes of mood on the spot."

In summary, by improving our awareness of our body through movement, the Feldenkrais Method® brings us closer to realising our full human potential. Bringing this into our lives, we learn to move more freely, with greater ease, flexibility and grace.

Individual lessons
Functional Integration®

Your teacher will design each lesson around your particular movement habits and needs at the time. You will sit or lie on a low padded table, comfortably clothed, while the practitioner guides your movements through gentle touch.

Each lesson is unique and designed to address your particular habits of moving and holding yourself. Your increasing self-awareness enables you to let go of these habits, to find and choose new patterns of movement; you may find similar development in the flexibility of your thinking and feeling.

The lesson will often lead to suggestions by the teacher for ways of working on your own, in order to help the new choices become a lasting part of your life. Lessons are particularly useful for specific or long-standing problems, to deepen your experience of Awareness Through Movement classes, or to provide ongoing support for your everyday life.


Group Classes
Awareness through Movement®

In a group lesson you are guided through a series of movements that promote a relaxed yet focused state. The movements enable you to understand and modify your habitual movement patterns, which may have developed in response to injury or restricted posture. A non-judgmental atmosphere allows people of all ages and abilities to learn at their own pace.

Lessons take place lying on the floor, or sometimes sitting. Some movements in the sequence are familiar, while others are unfamiliar. Each new movement is repeated and explored, enabling you to make it easier, and to begin to play with unaccustomed movement relationships. By engaging your curiosity, gently and at your own rate, you learn to explore the world of your internal sensation. This awareness creates a wider range of movement possibilities, which we start to incorporate into our lives, leading to improved posture and easier movement.

In the words of Dr. Feldenkrais ...
"... self-knowledge through awareness is the goal of reeducation. As we become aware of what we are doing in fact, and not what we say or think we are doing, the way to improvement is wide open to us."



Both Awareness Through Movement classes and Functional Integration lessons are appropriate for a wide range of people, for all ages and for all abilities.

Who was Moshe Feldenkrais?

Dr Moshe Feldenkrais was a physicist and engineer whose interest in improving human development through movement led him to create the Feldenkrais Method over a period of forty years.

He was a keen athlete and a pioneer of martial arts in the West. As a young sportsman Moshe sustained a serious knee injury which led him to investigate a formidable range of scientific fields in the hope of finding his own alternative to permanent disability.

He studied anatomy, physiology, neurology, biomechanics, cybernetics, child development and psychology, as well as attaining a high degree of expertise in Judo.

It was, however, in the relationship between bodily movement and our ways of thinking, feeling and learning that Feldenkrais achieved his greatest success. During the process of healing his own knee, he realised the vital importance of working with the whole body and indeed the whole self in order to achieve lasting change. His insights contributed to the development of the new field of somatic education, and continue to influence disciplines such as physical medicine, gerontology, the arts, education and psychology.

Moshe was truly a man of the world. He was born in in 1904 in a Jewish settlement in what is now the Ukraine, moved to Palestine when he was 12, read for his doctorate in Paris, worked for the allied war effort in the UK during World War II, lived in Israel after the war and taught throughout Europe and the United States. He died in 1984.