Our Little Dips explore a theme of Feldenkrais learning, then illustrate it with one or more lessons. They always include at least one free lesson. Most Little Dips are first published in our newsletter.

---

People often wonder why Feldenkrais lessons have such a profound calming effect on an anxious mind, why they can even lighten painful emotional states. It’s tempting to think that working directly with our own thoughts or emotions – not the body – would be a faster way to change them. But most people experience something very different: if you’re like me, when you think about how you’d like to change your thoughts or feelings, you usually just get stuck in anxious loops.

Feldenkrais lessons can break through this. As we inquire deeply into our somatic experience, thinking instead about body sensations, movements, and images, we watch physical tensions melt and habitual movement patterns yield to novelty. For many people this process reduces anxiety and calms the mental landscape faster and more reliably than “working on” our thoughts and feelings directly.

So why does Feldenkrais help our mental state?

We’re one whole being, body and emotions and thoughts all experienced and regulated by one nervous system. The different aspects of self are integrated, not isolated, even though we label them with separate words. When one changes, they all change.

Feldenkrais Trainer and meditation teacher Russell Delman goes deeper with his answer. In a workshop I attended many years ago he explained, with a metaphor, why the body is such an ideal entry point for improving the mind. It went something like this:

Thoughts are like air: always moving, impossible to grasp. Emotions are a little more substantial, like water, but they too slip through our fingers and swirl with a life of their own.

But our sensations are like earth: they are tangible. We can work with sensations most directly and easily, and when we do we change our thoughts and emotions.

While all Feldenkrais lessons guide us in exploring our moment-to-moment sensory experience, some types of lessons typically settle the mind more than others.

Below you’ll find six specific lessons I recommend to reduce anxiety, lift your mood, or simply feel more whole. Below that, in the user comments, you’ll find more lessons our listeners recommend for calming your nervous system.

When I originally studied lessons like these six I found them very useful, and I hope my renditions offer you the same calm.

– Nick

PS – Have you found other Feldenkrais Project lessons that you particularly value when you’re anxious? Post a public comment below (first name or initials only are welcome) and let others know!

---

Six Lessons for Anxiety

Lightening the mind by easing the hands, eyes, jaw, and breath

---

 

Two FREE for all users

Please share!

Relaxing Your Neck and Jaw

(39 minutes)

I appreciated how calmly soothing this exercise was.

– Julie Hall

Freeing Your Breath and Spine

(16 or 37 minutes)

As a long time meditator, it’s fascinating to feel grounded and full in a new and different way.

– Rashmi Ripley

Note: I’ve encountered a few folks for whom studying breathing increases their anxiety. If you know that’s you, or you find yourself not enjoying the “seesaw” breath, skip this lesson for now and save it for a calm, curious moment in the future.

 

---

 

Two for Members & Patrons

These lessons are hidden gems from a series of donor events recorded early in the pandemic, now published as part of our bonus video content for all donors.

Softening the Hands and Eyes

(55 minute lesson + Q&A)

Changes in the hands and eyes have a particularly direct soothing effect on the mind.

Smoothing the Movements of the Jaw and Eyes

(46 minute lesson + Q&A)

Helpful for improving TMJ troubles and easing the neck, chest, and shoulders, improving visual acuity, calming the nervous system and reducing anxiety, and more.

---

 

Two for Patrons Only

Calming Your Nervous System, Integrating Hands and Eyes

(37 minutes)

Specifically designed for self-regulation and shifting us away from “fight or flight,” toward “rest and digest”. From the lesson comments:

Thank you Nick. Wonderful. So soothing and rich.

– Alex

I did the bell hands at the dentist last week while getting a tooth drilled and a filling put in. It was the most relaxing dental appt I’ve ever had!

– Lauren Robertson

Rotating, Interlacing, and Integrating the Hands, into Palms Lengthening Overhead

(60 minutes)

Reduce anxiety and organize your nervous system by refining simple, pleasurable actions of your hands, arms, and shoulders. Integrate them better with your head and eyes. Eventually expands into lengthening your whole self, with surprising effects on stability.

---