Get Back Into Life!
Fast life-changing results can make anyone’s body fit. By Terri Rossi
Have you stopped doing the healthy activities you used to enjoy because pain gets in your way?
The solution is a series of gentle movement sessions that are taught individually or in group format called the Feldenkrais Method®. Feldenkrais is for anyone of — any fitness level — who wants to live a vibrant satisfying life.
Whether you want to be more comfortable walking along the waterfront, swinging a club at Canterwood, or hiking Panorama Point, Feldenkrais sessions help you recapture the way you moved and felt decades ago—and probably even do it better now than you did then. People report many unexpected benefits, from a better tennis backhand to a better marathon placement. And they typically experience more energy at the end of the day to do fun things.
Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais developed this form of mind-body retraining in Europe in the early 1980’s. It uses gentle movement and directed attention to increase your ease and range of motion and improve your flexibility and ability for graceful, efficient movement.
It’s quite different from other styles of bodywork. Whereas chiropractic manipulates bones, yoga stretches muscles, and Pilates strengthens muscles, Feldenkrais helps the brain communicate better with the body so that everything works better together.
These movement sessions are meant to be done with a spirit of exploration —so no two repetitions should feel the same—and with great gentleness towards your body. You won’t be jumping around and sweating.
It starts with comfortable easy movements that gradually evolve into greater range and complexity done on the floor, chair or therapy table. The Feldenkrais practitioner gives verbal directions and uses gentle hand pressure to move the client’s body in sequences that may mimic common things, for example, walking, reaching or getting up from a chair.
The most typical sensation after a Feldenkrais session is one of profound calm. You may realize that you have lived in a background of muscular tension that you had never noticed until it went away. One client remarked that she had been trudging along, stuck in the ‘grime and goo’ of life and now felt alive and free!
Others marvel at the lightness and length they feel in their legs, arms and spine. This can be a powerful, even emotional experience. It may be recommended to reduce your usual exercise routine for a day or two. And each successive session reinforces and trains the body to extend this calm to bring it more fully into everyday life.
The Feldenkrais Method is reported to be helpful in dealing with central nervous system conditions such as fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and stroke. However, anyone—young or old, physically challenged or physically fit—can get benefit.
It is often a life-changing experience for those with chronic or acute pain, as well as for healthy individuals who want to be on top of their best game. Get back into YOUR life. Find your way there by taking your first steps in Feldenkrais.
