The aim (of the Feldenkrais Method) is a person that is organised to move with minimum effort and maximum efficiency, not through muscular strain, but through increased consciousness of how movement works
- Dr Moshe Feldenkrais
The Feldenkrais Method® facilitates self-empowerment, ease and vitality. It helps:
✓Healthy, active ageing
✓People with neurological issues
✓ People of all ages and levels of fitness
✓ Performance enhancement in music, dance and sport
✓ Movement restrictions/pain/injury
✓ Anxiety/stress management
Make the impossible possible, the possible easy and the easy elegant. - Dr Moshe Feldenkrais
Why the name?
The Feldenkrais Method® (rhymes with ‘rice’) is named after founder and creator Dr Moshe Feldenkrais. He was an engineer, physicist and martial arts expert. A personal knee injury provided the impetus which led Dr Feldenkrais (1904-1984) to a lifelong study of the structure and function of humankind and the relationships between human development, education and movement. He developed his unique method of body/mind interaction over a period of 40 years.
What is the Feldenkrais Method®?
The Feldenkrais Method is a practice for self-improvement. Learn how to improve the way you move and feel, to function better in life.
It is a unique movement-based education system: a body/mind exploratory learning approach. It is not an exercise program or therapy, however it has considerable therapeutic outcomes and long term benefits, regardless of age or fitness status. Principles of neuroplasticity and learning are central to the Method, together with studies of movement, human development and biomechanics.
Feldenkrais offers two complementary types of movement lessons: Individual appointments (Functional Integration lessons) and group classes (Awareness Through Movement lessons). Feldenkrais Practitioners guide attention and movement by verbal instruction and/or gentle, direct touch.
The Feldenkrais Method offers a creative path for learning more about yourself: a transformative journey of self discovery and growth.
We can help you use self-awareness to reconnect with your body and mind, and find ways to experience ease, flow and grace in your movement and everyday life. You will find ways of being more of WHO and HOW you want to BE in the world, thereby enhancing your health, wellbeing and vitality!
Why do Feldenkrais
®
?
Is there any activity you wish you could do MORE of or BETTER in life? Do you know what’s limiting you? You can’t change what you don’t know! Dr Feldenkrais said “Habits are when we decide how to act before we are aware we have a choice”. Feldenkrais will help you to become clearer about how change is possible.
Unlock possibilities!
Are YOU ready for more? Feldenkrais is a transformative practice where you evolve and grow. At Move To Vitality you will:
Experience mindfulness through movement. Reconnect with yourself.
Move better, feel better, function better!
Free your mind and body. Shed stress and tension.
Manage your internal state. Boost self-confidence.
Become your own authority on YOU: habits, limitations, possibilities.
Learn self-management skills for your wellbeing - empowering!
Rediscover vitality. Leap into life!
Applications of the Feldenkrais Method®
As well as being useful and transformative for anyone, there are a number of applications of the Method in which we love to specialise.
Performance Enhancement
Movement is life. Life is a process. improve the quality of the process and your improve the quality of life itself. -Dr Moshe Feldenkrais
Musicians, athletes, dancers, yoga enthusiasts and movement specialists of all types all use their bodies in prescribed ways, whether its to play a musical instrument, strike a yoga pose, perform set dance moves, swing a golf club or other specialised activities. Many activities are prone to a range of repetitive strain injuries. Individuals can adopt unhelpful movement patterns or habits in an effort to move ‘correctly’, restricting performance. A Feldenkrais Practitioner is trained to look at movement from a whole-body perspective, and how it can best serve individuals to find optimal ways of moving, find greater confidence and ultimately enhance performance and success.
Mindfulness
What I’m after isn’t flexible bodies, but flexible minds. -Dr Moshe Feldenkrais
Feldenkrais is founded on principles of neuroplasticity and is often described as moving meditation; a body-mind exploration, a mindful practice.
Awareness Through Movement (ATM) classes direct you to sense your body in constructive, non-judgemental ways. Movement is used as a vehicle for developing your attention and awareness (hence the name ATM). When you know yourself and your habits of moving, thinking, feeling and sensing then you can better reconnect with yourself. You learn and choose options for breathing and moving more easily, and self-care strategies to find greater calm and clarity of thinking. You can also move through life and therefore interact with the world with greater ease, confidence and vitality.
Integrate learning in Feldenkrais into everyday life, including to enhance other mindful practices.
Healthy Active Ageing
You can, at any time in your life, rewire yourself…..Nothing is permanent about our behaviour patterns except our belief that they are so. -Dr Moshe Feldenkrais
People want to be more physically and mentally active and mobile for much longer, investing in their health and wellbeing. They are looking to find ways to maintain and extend their activity and engagement in life.
Feldenkrais uses neuroplasticity to both affirm and facilitate new connections in the brain through learning. Feldenkrais is a gentle, safe, informative and enjoyable way for people of all ages to learn to reconnect with their body and mind, re-find flexibility and embrace confidence and vitality, making healthy ageing a sustainable reality.