When we learn about the body, if we do in school, it’s not always that we learn about the nervous system. We can think of our nervous system as our communication system between the brain and the body. Like an old fashioned telephone exchange. The nerves communicate with electrical signal, which can travel up to … More Our nervous system
Unwrapping yourself One of the things we talked about this weekend was this idea central to Feldenkrais, of stripping back. We used to play this version ofpass the parcel in my family when we were little. The parcel would be wrapped in many layers of wrapping paper, sometimes with chocolates between the layers. When the … More Unwrapping yourself
Looking at Anxiety Part 2 The Neurophysiology of Anxiety Anxiety is created in the brain. Like everything else. As a fear based emotion/response it’s part of the sympathetic-parasympathetic system. The fear response is holistic. (Brain-and-body). Adrenalin gets pumped around the body, and its brain equivalent epinephrine, in the brain. The nervous system includes the brain, … More Improve Anxiety
On Friday I had a shocking email. My Paypal account was being closed. No reason given. I couldn’t pay out, or receive income. And the sum of money that built up over the last few months had been frozen up for up to 180 days. Four whole months.The email came in the early evening, just … More Staying calm under pressure
Some excellent questions came up in one of my last classes, one of which hinged around fear: How do we work with or move past fear, when moving, if we’re concerned about restrictions of movement, or pain? To start with, I would ask where is the realm of comfort for you? Where you can move … More Working with, or moving past fear of pain
It’s interesting to me that touch is often equated with being emotionally moved: “I was touched by his musicmaking.” As a musician I aim to move our audience simply with soundwaves reaching their ears. Touch, being touched, and connection is a basic building block of being human. I think one of the things so many … More Self care: Feldenkrais for Performers
You are your primary Instrument… Whether that’s a Strad or a factory violin is up to how you use what you have! All of our technique, whatever we play or sing, boils down on movement: we move ourselves to create music. The less effort and tension we use, the better, and more efficiently, we can bring across to … More Feldenkrais Method for Musicians – Why do it?
Today is Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of Atonement. It’s a day on which we fast and and repent, and symbolically hope we behaved well enough to be inscribed in the Book of Life this year. Actually, the first service of Yom Kippur starts the evening before, and ends just before sunset, called Kol Nidrei. It’s … More Habits of Gratitude
So often people come to me with sore shoulders, or tension in their shoulders. And they’re looking at where the problem is in order to find a solution. Which in my experience is usually the wrong place! Our shoulders are amazing, both flexible and and strong. And their flexibility comes from that they are only … More Shoulder support…
February is my least favourite month in the UK. It’s cold, and the winter always feels to me like it’s dragging its heels at this point. My January Blues are usually in February! But this month, lockdown has kept me busy working with some lovely people that I’ve been pleased to be working with. In the … More Touching Base
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