How do you respond when you reach your limits? I was teaching some of my small (6 year old) violin pupils this week how to synchronise the finger notes together with the bowing. It’s one of the trickiest transitions, as you put two things together that a beginner might still find tricky. The difference in … More What are your limits?
This week I gave a workshop on stage presence for a lovely group of A-level students in Saffron Walden. I didn’t make it over in person, I did it online, but it was great to see the changes in how they sat and moved, even by the end of their short session! We talked about … More Plant the seed of your somatic change
These last few weeks I’ve been thinking about emotions as I grieve, how we hold onto them, or allow them to pass through us. I’ve noticed when I’ve been holding myself “up” or “together”, and finding that it isn’t very useful. What’s been more useful has been to let go of those holding patterns, along … More Holding Grief
Some people think that we can’t learn as we age – you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. But we humans are different, we can continue learning our whole life. Last week I played the viola d’amore for a St John Passion. For the uninitiated its a violin/viola with 6 or 7 strings, with as many … More Can you teach an old dog new tricks?
Love. We all know the feelings. Different stages, different types of love. What kind of feeling of love do you prefer? I had one friend when I was younger, let’s call him James, who wanted to feel that first flush of love all the time. When the sensation changed, as James got to know the … More What’s love got to do with it?
In the Feldenkrais Method if awareness is King, the skeleton is the Queen. In every lesson, we keep part of our focus on the skeletal system. It does so much for us. Just some of them: I was excited to come across a recent article, that tells us of newer research on bones. It seems … More What’s your skeleton ever done for you?
As musicians, our physical self is the primary instrument. And I write”physical self”, rather than “body” because the brain and body work together. All of the time. They never act separately. It’s simply not possible. And whether you’re a musician or not, every movement we make is together with a thought, an emotion, and a … More The brain and body work together.
Collective Celebration New Year’s is a collective celebration of resilience—a reminder that we’ve made it through another orbit around the Sun. While 2024 brought its challenges, I hope it also brought moments of joy and connection. In tough times, I’ve found that keeping a gratitude list can be a grounding practice. Not as blind optimism, … More A New Year
Over the weekend, I’ll be teaching at Limmud, in Birmingham. It’s a Jewish learning festival, usually held over the Christmas period, where I started introducing Feldenkrais 7 years ago. It’s a festival that has it’s own flavour. There is a massive range of topics, and sessions run alongside each other. One of ideas is that … More Learning
How do you think of posture? For many people, it’s a thing. Good posture or bad. People with good posture have their shoulders back, and head up. Bad posture is associated with slouching. Good is a perfect ratio between the head, neck and shoulders. Something to get, to have, to keep. Shoulders and head not … More On Posture
the Feldenkrais Method with Emma Alter 