Lying on the back and later on the front with the limbs in a large letter X shape, learning to lengthen and lift the limbs, organizing from the torso, discovering a pressing foundation, and inhibiting unnecessary shortening and tightening responses to anticipated difficulty.
These audio lessons are sourced directly from Moshe Feldenkrais’s classic 1972 book, Awareness Through Movement. For a variety of reasons many of these lessons are more challenging than most of our free content, so this collection is recommended for more experienced Feldenkrais students, as well as Feldenkrais Practitioners and trainees.
2021 update: I’ve resumed my efforts to record more of these classics. To help fund the effort our newest recording, #8 “Perfecting the Self Image,” is available only to our Patron-level donors. If you’re a Patron click here for access.
For a limited time the lessons below are available for all to stream, and are currently downloadable for our Members and Patrons.
Each lesson can be studied on its own, or you can work your way through all of them, perhaps in tandem with reading Moshe’s classic book (here it is on Amazon). I wrote a blog post years ago about studying this text, which you can read here. Many students find it very rich to have a text and my recorded teaching to study. I use the same steps, and Moshe’s own names for these lessons, but they’re taught in my own words.
Over the years, the Feldenkrais Practitioner community has begun to teach many of these lessons in other ways, which perhaps adds something more to them. Still, I believe there’s great value in examining Moshe’s originals. While staying very close to the source material, I do sometimes add little steps to make them more accessible or to fill out students’ awareness further.
The unusual numbering follows Moshe’s in his book. He presents about half of his 12 lessons in ways that are difficult to turn into a public class, so at least for now they’re not included below. These missing lessons are fascinating but harder to parse into an accessible structure for our format. Some are mostly lectures with imagination ingredients. All are worth reading and studying from Feldenkrais’s original text, if you find yourself interested.
10 Comments. Leave new
Hi Nick,
I’m in training in Santa Fe with Diana Razumny. I would be very interested in your teaching of Moshe’s number 8, perfecting the self image. Are you going to post it soon?
I have shared your website with many people and have enjoyed it and your teaching for several years. I live in a rural area and don’t have access to weekly classes so your site has been extremely helpful!
Thanks so much
Thanks for your request – you can see in the comments below that you started a trend! It’s a longtime in coming, but I have now added the lesson you requested. It’s for Feldenkrais Project Patrons only due to the time demands of resuming my old project of studying and recording these more challenging ATM book lessons.
You can read the description of this lesson in our Straight from Class collection, and access it there if ever the time is right to become a Patron!
I’m grateful for your motivating request, and your referrals to The FP!
I’d like to see Number 8 too
Thank you! That’s two votes do get to #8 first whenever I can return to this project. It’s on my list for this year, but…it’s become a very strange year (writing in April, 2020).
I third the motion for #8.
Thank you! It’s definitely on my list. Not sure when, but I think it’ll be the first one I add when I get a chance to continue working on this collection!
Hi Nick, I am going to add my vote for lesson #8 and urge you to make it a priority for 2021. People really need it. Really!
On it! As you can see the groundswell is here, and I’ve been searching for ways to record within the constraints I give myself for the Feldenkrais Project. That is: a live, public teaching. I’ve actually found some new ideas recently for making this one accessible to the public. That said, what do you think about the idea of advertising a special recording session for experienced students/practitioners only?
It is not a lesson I have ever thought of a way to teach to a newcomer, whereas I believe everything so far on our website has had that possibility in mind while teaching, aside from a few marked as “Part 2,” or “optional advanced.”
Nick your teaching style lends itself well to students. I have not studied to become a teacher, but have studied for 20 years. I have worked with two teachers who were taught by Russell Delmam, a Moishe student. They were both excellent. You bring a freshness to your word choices that I find inspires me to continue.
Glad to hear it. Delman has had a big influence on me, but only through one weekend workshop and his recordings, which I think are excellent.