What do you do when you’re angry? Physically I mean. Have you noticed? I realise over the last month I’ve spent more time cross or irritated than usual. From the petty end of the scale, being on public transport with people who don’t use headphones. I know, it’s petty. And it’s one thing that I find … More Working with your Emotions: The body pattern of anger
We tend to think of self-compassion and kindness as soft skills. But that belies their power in our learning process. We should be kind where possible, but sometimes we need to draw clear lines in the sand. Create clear boundaries. Protect ourselves, and look after ourselves. Many people put others before themselves, thinking martyrdom is … More Self-compassion improves learning
The nervous system is the unconscious conductor of thought around the body. Sending and receiving signals from the ends of the toes and fingers through the whole physical landscape back to your brain. What’s different about Feldenkrais than other methods is that we use this connection to our advantage. Rewiring, rethinking, redrawing the physical map … More Easier getting up from Sitting
In the modern age, many of us spend long periods in sitting. Sitting still isn’t very healthy for you. And as you age, getting up from sitting can become more challenging. But many of you don’t use the natural biomechanics that you do have available, in an ergonomic way to do this well. Toddlers do … More Sitting
One of my new students was asking me this week who invented the Feldenkrais Method. It was created by Moshe Feldenkrais. He was a Jewish Russian (now Ukraine). Aged 14, he was sent on his own to Palestine to escape the pogroms running across Russia, in the lapse of law after the death of the Romanovs. … More Who Invented the Feldenkrais Method?
One terrible detail after another has emerged from Israel in the aftermath of the invasion and atrocities of Hamas last weekend. Many of us in the Feldenkrais family have ties to Israel and the Jewish world. Moshe Feldenkrais was a Jewish Russian Israeli himself. I send my condolences along with my sorrow, love and hope … More
Where’s the most powerful part of your body? Where do you think of when I ask that question?The brain is the Command Centre. It’s what does all the decision making, both conscious and unconscious.But the motor centre, the area attached to the biggest muscles (of your back, belly, bottom and legs) is your Pelvis. There’s … More Finding Power from the Pelvis
Conventionally, the way we think in our society is that when something hurts, let’s say your neck, you address the problem directly. Perhaps strengthening, massage, stretching, to improve the symptoms that you’re experience. Often the issue goes away, only to come back another time. Often, because we have patterns or habits of self-use, that are … More Getting your back back (so you can move more comfortably)
How clearly can you feel your hands? If you close your eyes can you sense where your hands are in space? Where the skeleton of your fingers, palms and wrist are? Can you feel some of the bones of your hands inside your skin? (Sensing our skeleton, thinking of the skeleton, allows us to move it … More Finding Clarity in the back (so you can move more comfortably)
How much of yourself can you feel? Our brains model ourselves- in 3D. So if there are parts that aren’t present in our thinking about ourselves, we can’t organise them well. How do we know if our self image is good? We need to have something to measure. And to start this process, scans are … More What’s your self image like?
Transform how you move, feel and live 