The Bermuda Health CO-OP

What is the FELDENKRAIS METHOD?

The Feldenkrais Method was developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, (1904-1984), physicist, engineer, martial artist, educator, and researcher. The Method is based in a sophisticated understanding of the way people organize potentials for movement and skill, for consciousness and thought, and for making effective relationships with the world in which we live. In innovative and precise ways, the Method taps the innate intelligence of the human nervous system to produce higher levels of function. While employing what is common to all human beings, it also uses the opportunities afforded by individual learning styles. The Method takes its place among the most advanced schools of thought and practice that address the development and enhancement of ability and the capacity for change. Grounded in awareness and learning, it incorporates an unparalleled understanding of the development and the mechanics of human movement. The Method offers a uniquely intriguing and powerful way of working with people.
The Feldenkrais Method has equally to do with ease and creativity in self-expression as is does with improvement in motor function and the development of skills.

•The Method is effective in the education and reorganization of neurological patterns for those requiring rehabilitation from injury or other difficulty.
It is equally useful and effective in addressing issues of efficiency in the habit patterns of ordinary daily life - walking, standing, and breathing.
It is a proven means of improving skill, the safe application of power and general efficiency in the physical components of movement - even for those who rely on these components at the highest levels in athletics, dance and music.
As an "education of the self" in awareness, creativity, and spontaneity in self-expression, it benefits those who seek improvement in their ability to be genuine and self-possessed in their art and in their lives.

The FELDENKRAIS METHOD has two modes: AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT® and FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION®...

Awareness Through Movement®

These sessions are verbally directed movement sequences that are designed to revive our sensory acuity and to improve ease and grace in movement. The sessions have a profound positive effect on our ability to act with precision, power, and spontaneity. They improve our very ability to learn. Engaging the whole person, the nervous system, the musculature, and the skeleton in harmonious and focused movement, the sessions become easy, pleasurable and fun to do.

Awareness Through Movement® is done by participants as means for attaining personal benefit - be it to deal with injury or pain, to improve physical skill, or to come to a deeper understanding of themselves in relationship to their past and present life.

FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION®, the one-to-one form of our work, is the art and craft of combining specific and precise instructive touch with verbal cues to effectively organize another person's learning. FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION engages the sensitivity and power of the human brain to organize sensory stimuli in new ways, thus bringing about improvements in self-awareness, patterns of movement, and possibilities for self-expression.

Source: Institute for the Study of Somatic Education

Who Should Do Feldenkrais®?
People In Pain. Pain is the result of an imbalance arising from habit or trauma. It's a warning and shouldn't be tolerated. Most pain is due to lack of education in how to move into the activities we need to do every day. Everyone can learn. Everyone can improve.

Sports Enthusiasts. Feldenkrais® helps beginning and experienced athletes alike come closer to what they would like to be able to do by gaining a better understanding and experience of how the body works. Balance, coordination, and economy of motion are the foundations for all movement and are firmly embedded in every lesson.

Performance Artists. Feldenkrais® helps you understand the ways in which your performance is undermined by habitual holding patterns. It helps you release old patterns gradually and form new, more useful ones simultaneously.

The Elderly. Dr. Feldenkrais® was convinced that we were designed to learn and to improve until the day we die. Feldenkrais® lessons are gentle and energizing for anyone who doesn't want to lose their ability to function well into old age. Anyone can learn at any age.

People In Therapy. In therapy, the client corrects painful habits of thought and expands the self image. But the self- image isn't separate from the body image. In Feldenkrais® we promote a better relationship with our bodies by correcting habitual movement patterns and creating a body image that allows us more presence within ourselves and so in our interactions with the world.

People With Developmental Problems Or Interrupted From Accident Or Trauma. Cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, injuries from accidents, scoliosis, all people can be taught to improve functioning. Feldenkrais® is based solidly on an developmental foundation, and much lost function can be stimulated and relearned through the movement sequences, restoring joy, hope and dignity to each individual.

People Who Sit, Stand, Drive, Walk, or Use Repetitive Motion in Their Daily Lives. Chronic pain results over time if we have to eliminate a range of motion from our daily lives in order to achieve our goals. Feldenkrais® teaches how to revitalize underused muscles and spread repetitive work over the whole system instead of overusing parts of ourselves.

Professionals of All Kinds. Sitting at a computer, drafting table, desk; overusing the eyes, underutilizing our muscle system in general. Our hard-driving, goal-oriented lives encourage us to push aside the need of the body for integrated movement and proper breathing. Feldenkrais® restores our ability to sense when we are doing too much and gives us something to help balance ourselves even with lots to do.

Those Seeking Less Stress and More Pleasure. For so many, the body is a fundamental problem. We are all stressed and do battle with ourselves daily around food, drugs, alcohol, relationships, exercise, politics, sleep and work, always demanding too much, or too little. Feldenkrais® is a very gentle and safe way to make peace with yourself and to begin to experience the pleasure [absence of stress] that we were born to feel regularly in the life of the body.

Description: the Feldenkrais Method uses learning, movement and sensing to free us from habitual patterns and allow for new patterns of thinking, moving, and feeling to emerge. The benefits of the Feldenkrais Method include:

· improved posture, flexibility, coordination, movement, relaxation, physical performance, and emotional well-being

· improved vitality and ease of movement, regardless of your age or physical ability

To register for ATM Class or book individual appointments for Functional Integration please call us @ 236-0336 or send an email to info@healthcoop.bm.

ATM Awareness Through Movement® 2 Day Workshop Weekend
$120 per day (3 Classes)