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- MOVE from pain to pleasure
- CREATE bodily intelligence
- ENHANCE quality of life, and athletic or artistic performance
What are group Feldenkrais Method Awareness Through Movement classes?
It’s like a user’s guide to the human body.
- student
A revolution in human health.
- Smithsonian Magazine
Deepen the sense of how you move, and discover the profound effect Feldenkrais has on your ability to act with precision, power, and spontaneity. This class uses exploratory movement and guided attention to evoke new neuro-muscular patterns, reducing pain and tension, and improving your coordination, flexibility, balance, strength, and focus.
We strive to be stronger and more fit, often without concern for the quality of our movement. Sometimes we even assume we should be in pain. The costs of exercise and even day-to-day movements without awareness range from simply not enjoying ourselves, to being held short of reaching our full potential, to mild or serious injury.
This potent, subtle class focuses on the "how" of movement, so you can learn to coordinate your whole self more efficiently and pleasurably in all you do at the gym, at work, and at play. It is the missing link in fitness and wellness, perfect for improving and refining all types of exercise, including Pilates and yoga techniques, for learning to enjoy your body in motion, and for injury prevention and recovery.
How to do a Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement class
Wear loose, comfortable clothing, and take the time you need as you move and rest to be as comfortable as possible. Whereas in many other fitness classes (and in many aspects of our lives) we use “no pain, no gain” to pursue self-improvement, Feldenkrais works by activating your brain’s natural, most efficient means of learning new movement patterns. This learning process can only be maximized if you are at ease as you move and sense yourself. Any movements that increase pain or discomfort will become a distraction, mobilizing your nervous system for self-protection instead of learning, and drawing your attention away from sensing the new information that will benefit you the most.
All movements, large and small, are done in a pleasant, exploratory way, so you find how to unlock your own best self-use in class and in life. This differs from “performing” a movement the “right” way, regardless of how it feels, in many other types of fitness classes. The teacher will direct your attention to particular things you will feel as you move, and this is the key to positive change: your sensations are actually more important for enhancing how you move – both during and after class – than the movements themselves.
There are thousands of different Awareness Through Movement lessons, varying in difficulty, complexity, positions, and focus, exploring all aspects of human function, for all levels of movement ability. The highly structured, individually designed lessons will vary greatly from week to week, rather than following a repetitive “form.”