The Feldenkrais Method was founded by Moshe Feldenkrais. Dr. Feldenkrais, a physicist, engineer and judo master, pioneered a learning system that utilizes movement and awareness of self to bring about remarkable changes in the human mind and body. Based on his understanding of the central nervous system, his model incorporates more than 1,000 movement-lessons and personalized hands-on teachings designed around specific functions. These movements are gentle and pleasurable, making it possible for the brain to organize action more effectively.

The Feldenkrais Method consists of two aspects: Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration.

Awareness Through Movement lessons consist of a series of gentle, ingenious movements that are verbally directed, exploratory in nature and clarify the full range of possibility for human movement and action. By utilizing inherent intelligence of the nervous system, each person discovers new ways of using him or herself with more ease, grace and power. These lessons typically occur in a classroom setting with 5 to 20 participants wearing loose, comfortable clothing.

Functional Integration is a one-to-one, hands-on approach in which change and improvement are achieved through the use of clear direction and manipulation. It is gentle, very effective, and widely recognized for its ability to address minor and serious musculoskeletal and neurological problems, chronic tension and pain, and the motor development problems of children.

Many changes occur with the Feldenkrais Method, most of which involve awareness. One enters a process of understanding of what one can or cannot do and feel. Focusing on the skeleton and skeletal movement creates this understanding. Through sensory awareness, one learns how each movement is made up of many smaller movements, each transmitting force throughout the entire skeletal system. As one senses and feels each skeletal component and its ability to move, larger movements such as turning, twisting, bending and reaching become available. Many relationships within the skeletal body develop from this understanding.

My job, as a Feldenkrais practitioner and teacher, is to assist the individual in discovering what he or she can and cannot do, and then begin to help them access new possibilities. Sometimes the route we take can be very abstract at time, yet the outcome is always improved function.

Let’s examine, for example, my work with Elyssa. Elyssa is 8 years old and was born with a brachial plexus injury. When Elyssa first came to me, she had difficulty lifting, straightening, turning, reaching and grasping with her left arm. Hanging from the monkey bars at school was unthinkable. Elyssa, most importantly, didn’t feel as if her left arm was part of her. This has all changed since our first meeting.

We began to work with her pelvis, a part of herself of which she had a lot of control and confidence. From that point we worked on the relationships to the legs, spine, ribs, shoulder girdle area, head, and lastly arms. As Elyssa grew more and more confident about what she knew how to do and how to access it, her ability to move with greater ease and strength became available.

Now Elyssa can hang from the monkey bars, dance on stage doing tap, and attempt a headstand. Most of all, Elyssa is enjoying all of the learning she has gained about herself and feels as if her left arm is now part of her. For more information about the Feldenkrais Method, or to find a practitioner in your area contact: info@feldenkraisguild.com or www.feldenkraisguild.com or www.feldenkrais.com.

I was a 20 year old college student, a competitive triathlete, and a marathon runner in 1984. One hot June day in Tempe, Arizona I was training on my bicycle when a semi-truck hit me. The collision broke my left shoulder, pelvis, femur and ankle, and destroyed muscle groups in my left leg and shoulder. I underwent nine surgeries over the next year, including multiple skin grafts, to repair the enormous damage caused by the accident. My doctors told me I would never be able to compete or run again.

All that changed about a year after my accident when I learned about the Feldenkrais Method and began having daily Functional Integration® and Awareness Through Movement® lessons. The results were remarkable! In only three months, I was not just running, but I was training again. Most of all, I was pain-free.

I returned to international competitions in European triathlons, and knocked an astounding 20 minutes off my pre-accident time in the marathon.

I returned to the states after a year abroad to join a four-year Professional Feldenkrais® Training Program. Since graduating in 1991, I have given more than 15,000 lessons and personalized hands-on teaching designed around specific functions. In addition to my practice, I am married and have a 42 year old daughter. I still run five to ten miles a day in the hills of La Jolla, California.

It’s fun, it’s tiring and it’s relaxing. When I first met Sharon, I showed her what arm I had an injury on, and what the differences were between both of my arms. One of the things that we have been working on is "Dancing with the Wall," and I think that’s very fun. "Super Girl" is when you go on your knees and your hands and then you put one foot out and then you put one arm out and then you do that over and over and over.

What I think is helping me with Sharon is when she rubs my arm and I tell her ouch, or I just sit there and go to sleep. She doesn’t want me to hurt, so we try to avoid that. She sometimes wants me to go to sleep, so I go to sleep. While she’s working on my arm, we talk. We talk about lots of things.

She tries to unravel my twisted muscles by massaging them, and then we keep on checking after we do that, to see how much more movement I can do. And, I find out that I get a little more movement each time. It makes me feel excited that– I might not have surgery. Anyway I really like Sharon. If you have the same problem, or almost the same problem, Sharon is the one you can go to. She’s really good with people and now everyday when I go to her she asks if my arm feels more secured to my body and I say "yes".