Feldenkrais
For more information, go to www.feldenkrais.com.
Awareness Through Movement (ATM) classes
These lessons facilitate learning through movement. In ATM classes we become more aware of our formed habits that can prevent us from moving through life easily and pleasurably and then how we can create change. Establishing new patterns of movement changes the image you have of yourself and the environment around you.
The movements are slow and repetitive so that you can explore how you move, explore other possibilities and potentials and also make choices. When movements are performed quickly you invoke an automatic previously organised pattern of movement. When done slowly, the motor cortex part of the brain can integrate the information which is then absorbed into the whole nervous system.
‘The body reflects the attitude of the mind. Improve the function of the body and you must improve the state of the mind. What I‚’m after isn’t flexible bodies but flexible brains’.
Moshe Feldenkrais
Functional Integration Lessons
Functional Integration is another form of expressing the Feldenkrais Method.
Just as Feldenkrais practitioners can guide people through movement sequences verbally in Awareness Through Movement, they also guide people through movement with gentle, non-invasive touching in Functional Integration.
Functional Integration is a hands-on form of tactile, kinesthetic communication. The Feldenkrais practitioner communicates to the student how he/she organizes his/her body and hints, through gentle touching and movement, how to move in more expanded functional motor patterns.
The Functional Integration lesson should relate to a desire, intention, or need of the student. The learning process is carried out without the use of any invasive or forceful procedure. Through rapport and respect for the student’s abilities, qualities, and integrity, the practitioner/teacher creates an environment in which the student can learn comfortably.
In Functional Integration, the practitioner/teacher develops a lesson for the student, custom-tailored to the unique configuration of that particular person, at that particular moment. The practitioner conveys the experience of comfort, pleasure, and ease of movement while the student learns how to reorganize his/her body and behavior in new and more effective manners.
In Functional Integration, the practitioner/teacher’s intention is instructive and communicative.
Functional Integration is usually performed with the student lying on a table designed specifically for the work. It can also be done with the student in sitting or standing positions. At times, various props are used in an effort to support the person’s body con-figuration or to facilitate certain movements.
Tips
Feel for the quality of the movement.
Stay in your comfort zone.
Don’t extend yourself.
Limit movement to the point where you feel slight tension.
Feel free to make mistakes.
Free yourself from the constraints of being good or the best at it.
Enjoy yourself.
These are just a few tips on how to approach the movement lessons without being judgemental.
Regular ATM Classes
Creswick 53 Albert St. 2 classes 9.30 – 10.30am and 6.30 – 7.30pm
Hepburn Springs Continental House Lone pine Ave
9.30am –10.30am Every Thursday
Consultations
Email besharas@netconnect.com.au
Phone 0429 666 102