Advanced Folding (Patrons)

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A prerequisite lesson may be helpful; see the Comfort & Configuration tab below.

Back-lying, knees bent, drawing the head, elbows, and knees toward each other in different combinations, followed by more advanced variations. Improve the folding and unfolding of the body through refining coordination of the flexor muscles with the simultaneously lengthening extensors. Includes detailed work with the hips and eventually lengthening the hamstrings while flexing elsewhere.

More Challenging  back-lying 

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Before you begin read this for practical tips and your responsibilities, and check out Comfort & Configuration below.

Recorded live in a Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement (ATM) class, this lesson is copyright Nick Strauss-Klein, for personal use only.

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We offer over 50 free lessons, but this one's just for Patrons. You can learn about it in the free lesson notes and comments below. To access the audio, join The FP at the Patron level. Learn more

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  • Comfort & Configuration
  • Curiosities
  • Context
  • Related Lessons
  • Source
  • This lesson includes many advanced variations, so if you aren’t yet familiar with back-lying flexion lessons, study the lesson called Folding, Foundation, and Feet first, before this more challenging lesson. The Comfort & Configuration notes for that lesson are also applicable to this one, and more thorough.
  • Experiment with how you hold your head with your interlaced hands to find the most comfortable way. You may want to hold a lot of your neck along with the base of your skull.
  • Late in the lesson, as you sometimes hold your bent knees over you and close together, you might want to experiment with crossing your ankles, which may make it easier for your hips.
  • As you let go of the more challenging configurations and back to lengthened resting on your back, come out of them slowly and gently.

Go gently, and do less, and you will improve! It’s tremendously easy to fall into cultural pitfalls of stretch, strain, and effort as we attempt to figure out difficult variations in lessons like this one. I can’t overstate how important for your learning and improvement it is to sidestep that inclination whenever you have it. Instead, if you are experiencing any discomfort, please simply and gracefully fail to “do” what you think I’m asking in physicalized movement. Instead reduce the effort and size of the movement, even to the point of only imagining it.

Completely surrender to your current limits. Just playing with what you can experience comfortably right now (even only moving in your imagination) will expand your abilities faster than you think!

This lesson is found in Patron Treasures, our exclusive collection of lessons for Feldenkrais Project Patron-level donors.

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9 Comments

  1. Paula Picard on August 23, 2019 at 2:40 pm

    I so enjoyed this lesson
    Thank you so much.

    Reply
  2. Ellen A. on August 24, 2019 at 12:27 pm

    I’ve done the Folding, Foundation, and Feet lesson twice, so was quite curious to do this new lesson. I have had multiple injuries over the years (knee ligament reconstruction surgery after a fall, and rib and rotator cuff injuries most recently) and have found my Feldenkrais lessons with you to be most helpful, now that I have done the various therapies as far as they can take me. Today, I had “twitches” in my back that made back lying less than comfortable. I always find that doing less is my challenge so I tried to pay attention to that. As with previous lessons, I was much more comfortable by the end, and, most importantly, my back feels much freer as I move around in my normal morning life; no twitches/spasms in my back muscles now, yay. Thanks for these lessons, Nick. You are a gifted teacher and very clear (even with lefts and rights get confusing!).

    Reply
  3. Rudy Torres on August 26, 2019 at 7:39 am

    Was really enjoying this one yesterday until my wife interrupted me at around the 42 min mark. Was really getting into some areas of my thoracic spine that badly need some attention. Just based off the partial lesson my reaction is WOW! Getting back to it this morning and will report back. Thanks Nick for graciously sharing these invaluable resources!

    Reply
  4. Chris on August 26, 2019 at 6:15 pm

    Doing this gently was actually very relaxing and enjoyable. Felt great

    Reply
  5. Rudy Torres on August 27, 2019 at 11:14 am

    Was able to complete the lesson yesterday morning and it was amazing for me. Some of the later variations were a bit challenging but the rewards were great for me. Got some awareness and relaxation of the extensors in my upper back which have been giving me trouble sin a whiplash injury last year. Feel about 5 years younger today. Thanks Nick for these incredible lessons!

    Reply
  6. Vanessa on August 28, 2019 at 12:16 pm

    This lesson is so much fun, I like the balance of relaxation and flexibility. After doing it, later in the day, I asked myself why I felt so good and remembered it was definitely this lesson. Thank you Nick

    Reply
  7. Gail Fishman on August 28, 2019 at 7:43 pm

    Very challenging but my chest and hips are so free at the end!

    Reply
  8. Luisa on January 12, 2023 at 10:23 pm

    Thank you Nick!

    Reply
  9. Zephyr Mattinson on May 8, 2025 at 10:32 pm

    How delightful! I’ve been doing Kinesophics/Lynette Reid’s “Flexors aka folding” lesson regularly for a few years now and this was such a natural extension of that lesson. I have an injury from a fall that I’m still working out months later that’s causing a lot of constriction on one side of my posterior hips that recently flared up into the whole right back side of my body clenching. My local Feldenkrais practitioner who I see for FI suggested I try out some flexion lessons (as that naturally extends the back) and that has been just the ticket to freeing things up.
    This lesson had so many fun variations contained within it, I’m sure I’ll be learning from it every time I repeat the lesson. Thank you!

    Reply

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