Deep Dive:

Supple Feet, Powerful Legs

Our Deep Dives gather standalone Feldenkrais Project lessons into themed courses of study. Newcomers, we recommend exploring our primary collections first for a more generalized intro to Feldenkrais.


These lessons are both simple and deep. I found your immediate engagement through the feet, especially after the Arches lesson, and your image of unweighting a foot/feet, to be very powerful and clarifying.

– comment on lessons 1C & 3A

This is such an essential lesson. Wherever it lands, I hope it gets special flagging as foundational.

– comment on lesson 4C

A few years after I fell in love with Feldenkrais I learned to love my feet. Before that I felt stuck: I was a young, active person with painful feet and knees, and no idea why they hurt or how to improve. And it was getting worse. I started noticing that most shoes and floors and activities increased the pain. I feared that future so I dove into Feldenkrais lessons for healthier feet and legs.

They were a revelation! It was wonderful when my pain disappeared, but here's what's even better: my feet became a daily source of pleasure, learning, and self improvement. My fascination with feet continues to this day, and I've created many Feldenkrais Project lessons in hopes you too will learn to love your feet!

- Nick Strauss-Klein

The four sequences below can be explored in order as an extended course, but feel free to dip in with just the yellow box or the last box. The red and blue boxes are best for experienced Felden-fans.

We've included many freely offered lessons, but to access some lessons you’ll need to join the Feldenkrais Project (or sign in) as a Patron-level donor. Click to learn more about donation or our donor benefits.

Supple Feet Essentials

Edges, arches, ankles, and knees


1A) Length without Effort (36 min)
Connect your whole self with the edges of your feet

I have a more “fluid” movement. My neck has started to move more and I’m more aware of my feet!

1B) Breath, Belly, Back, and Hips
Sensitivity training and preparation for Activating the Arches

At the end of this lesson, I felt more buoyant as I walked and that’s a word I’ve never used to describe my walking.

1C) Activating the Arches
Relate the “tripod" of the foot to the healthy use of your knees

Thank you for your wonderful fresh way of leading the lesson into us and connecting it to everyday life.

1D) Supple Ankles, Shifting Pelvis (32m, Patrons)
Improve the ankles and their relationship to the pelvis

This one is spectacular, packed with mega-awareness, and translates directly to everyday functional movement.

Connecting to Your Power Source

Your buttocks and axis actually propel you (not your feet)


2A) The Buttocks
Get to know them, and explore direct connections to the feet through edges, arches, ankles, and knees

This lesson turbocharged my derriere, inspiring me to hike the following day!

2B) Buttocks Organizing the Spine (Patrons)
Powerful legs require clear use of the buttocks and a well-organized spine

Thank you for this and your other class on the buttocks which has made me feel stronger in walking.

Integrating Your Legs and Torso

Organize yourself for balance, posture, and power


3A) Your Navigational Pelvis
Where "the rubber meets the road" – the feet maneuver the pelvis, head, eyes, and more

3B) Folding, Foundation, and Feet
Relate flexing the ankles and hips to shifts in the pelvis, and folding and unfolding the whole body

3C) Integrating the Feet, Torso, Head, and Breath (44m, Patrons)
Connect to the earth, and powerful primitive biological organizations

3D) Agile Hips, Knees, and Feet
Relate the joints and agility of the legs to the abdomen, breath, and beyond

4A) Bending Sideways
Improve balance by connecting agile feet to the chest and beyond

4B) Gathering the Spine, Stepping Down
Where does a footstep really come from?

4C) The Power of One Foot (22m or 36m, Patrons)
And what actually happens when we push a foot into the world?

Want to dive deeper? Walking from Your Spine features different lessons which develop ideas in sequences 3 & 4 toward improving your gait.

Refining and Connecting

Unordered lessons to enjoy any time!


One Bell Hand, Two Bell Hands...and Feet (Patrons)
Relate the skillfulness of hands to your feet, and improve both

 The Ultimate Self-Hug
More integration of supple feet with the torso, arms...and eyes!

3 Comments

  1. Nick Strauss-Klein on November 23, 2021 at 5:44 pm

    How was this Deep Dive for you? What’s the effect of studying multiple lessons on a theme?

  2. Nigel Atkinson on November 9, 2022 at 2:13 am

    I have just completed this series and found it very useful for the relationships between the lessons.
    I loved the way in evolved. I also like these colour coded groupings.
    As a student teacher initially the huge body of original Feldenkrais lessons and the seeming lack of structure can often seem exciting but also daunting, but these are so intelligently curated.
    Thank you!

    • Nick Strauss-Klein on November 9, 2022 at 5:17 pm

      It’s a pleasure. Just beginning to organize the vast ATM repertoire meaningfully in my own mind has taken a lot of time. There are so many lessons that it is a lifelong process! I do hope to help others find coherence more quickly, so I’m glad this was useful.

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