The Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education is a practice, a process, and a system for self-improvement. It uses movement and real-time awareness of your own body sensations to guide you toward the positive changes you seek. The Feldenkrais Method® is not a treatment, adjustment, or exercise program. Instead, it is based on decades of research in physics, neuroscience, biomechanics, learning theory, and human development to give you the means to learn about yourself.

Your own body awareness and attention stimulates the brain to form new neural pathways that allow one to choose more optimal movement patterns and function. This brain activity is called “neuroplasticity.” Neuroplasticity is what allows all learning to take place. As you learn better ways to move, you experience improvements in balance, breathing, coordination, flexibility, cognition, and outlook.

The Feldenkrais Method® offers benefits like reducing pain and improving function through learning how to take better care of yourself and improving comfort through discovering new options in movement and in life choices. Whether you are seeking pain relief, dealing with conditions of the central nervous system (multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, stroke), or extending your abilities, improving skill, and enhancing creativity, the benefits are as diverse as the individuals exploring the method.

You will feel some differences immediately during or after the first lesson. It is a process to help someone familiarize themself with other movement options and feel improvements.

No, the movements are slow and gentle and you don’t start with complicated instructions. As you experience it more, your awareness will get better and so will your learning.

There is always room for improvement. You can learn to do what you already do well, more easily, with less effort, so there is energy left over to go even further. Many of Feldenkrais’ biggest enthusiasts are talented individuals who strive to increase performance including Yo-Yo Ma, Martina Navratilova, and Dame Judi Dench. Weight lifters find the weights seem lighter, tennis players and golfers find their swing more effortless, runners go farther, and performing artists feel they can dance or play the night away.

Yes! One remarkable thing about the Feldenkrais Method® is that it is about exploring learning strategies. If you have difficulty with one side, you can work with the other side. If you can’t lie down, you can sit. Even if nothing moves, you can use your imagination, creating new neural links that can improve your quality of life.

The Feldenkrais Method® works directly with your nervous system to improve your ability to move and live more comfortably. Feldenkrais® optimizes human movement through learning. This functional approach allows you to improve despite any structural issues you may have. The care is done with the intention and capacity to teach the body to move more freely and easily. The Feldenkrais PractitionerCM guides the student slowly and painlessly through functional movements like reaching, bending, and turning.

The Feldenkrais Method® can complement and be an effective follow-up to physical therapy (PT). Feldenkrais® does not push people to strain or achieve—instead it engages them to learn how to more easily and efficiently function. Feldenkrais® can increase PT's effectiveness. A qualiity that make Feldenkrais an effective adjunct for PT is its ability to produce a fundamentally gentler version of PT by relying on the mechanism of learning rather than undifferentiated effort. Feldenkrais® directly involves the person's central nervous system, bringing neuroplasticity into their PT treatment plan. Feldenkrais® makes PT more comprehensive, customized, and accessible to integrate.

Unlike yoga, the Feldenkrais Method® does not require you to be flexible, nor does it involve stretching or holding any positions. It also does not involve any practice to perfect positions. Instead of repeating and holding set poses as in yoga, in a Feldenkrais® class you explore gentle and different movements as you learn to become aware of habits that may be causing you movement difficulties, inefficiencies, or pain. Many yoga aficionados explore the Feldenkrais Method® as a way to achieve postures that previously eluded them or that caused discomfort.

Massage therapists work with muscles and soft tissue. The Feldenkrais Method® is an approach that seeks to affect change by working with your nervous system. Your brain directs the nervous system and is in charge of your movement patterns, so if you want to change your movements you must literally change your mind. As new neural pathways are formed in your brain, you can safely regulate and coordinate your movements, organizing yourself for effective action in the world.

Unlike tai chi and most martial art disciplines, the Feldenkrais Method® does not require any practice or intensive training to receive its benefits. No physical conditioning is required and movements are not repetitive.

The capacity of the brain and nervous system to renew themselves and grow new connections is called Neuroplasticity. Although this ability is greatest in children, scientists in recent years have shown that neuroplasticity continues to function in adults as well. Neuroplasticity is stimulated through precise, directed attention to a wide variety of gentle and unusual movement possibilities. The Feldenkrais Method® helps people explore their neuroplastic potential.

After successfully completing 160 days of training spread over at least 36 months, graduates are eligible to become certified by the Feldenkrais Guild® of North America. They maintain their certification by fulfilling continuing education and professional practice requirements each year.

Feldenkrais® is typically not covered by insurance but I am happy to provide an invoice upon receipt of payment if you wish to seek reimbursement on your own. Please contact me for my current fee.