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Awareness Through Movement® Classes Private Functional Integration® Lessons Workshops and Retreats
About the Feldenkrais Method® About Josh
Sounder Sleep™ Embodied Jewish spirituality
"Not only did I get feet, but my jaw feels like a different jaw.... Now I don't have to do everything with determination, and I can talk from my whole body!"
-a student after the "Happy Feet" workshop in March '06
A sampling of previous workshop titles:
Spiral Power
The Answer is Always the Pelvis
Hip Joint power
The eyes and movement
The Fullness of Breath
Take a Hike!
a look at walking
Reaching for Comfort -
a look at the use of the arms
What is Good Posture?
Less is More: the Feldenkrais approach to success
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1 - 5 day intensive workshops:
No Pain MORE Gain: dealing with RSI
(1 day)
The Work of the Hands: Spirals out the fingertips
(3 days)
Strength & Grace from the Core
(4 days)
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Embodied Judaism:
Feldenkrais and the 4 Worlds of Kabbalah
Ve'ahavta: To Love with All your Being
Shiviti HaShem Lenegdi: Growth Through Opposition
Elul - the Window of Experience
Selichot: Self - acceptance and the possibility of Change
Workshops and Retreats Winter, Spring & Summer 2008
Monthly workshops at the Arlington Center
In choosing themes for my workshops I try to balance what I think people need, what interests me, and what the Feldenkrais Method is uniquly able to offer. I also try to create a continuity between the workhshops, so that each can build on the ones that came before, while at the same time designing each workshop to be self contained, so that anyone can benefit from a single workshop.
It's an interesting puzzle, and I am particularly pleased with the way the themes came out this year. There's something in here for everyone:
$28 each workshop
Pre-registration recommended (through the Arlington Center): 781-316-0282
January 20, 1:45 - 4:15 pm
THE EYES HAVE IT! the intersection of movement and vision.
As human beings, the eyes are our dominant sensory organ and are an integrated part of our every action and function. The coordination of eye and body movement is one of the earliest and most deeply engrained habitual patterns, and as such inevitably becomes compulsive (try turning your head one way while turning your eyes the other!). Unlocking the habitual compulsion of eye movements can be an essential step in the discovery of freedom from a host of habits of moving and being!
In this workshop you will discover how to improve the movement of your eyes, differentiating and re-integrating them with the movement of the rest of your body.
February 24, 10:30 - 1 pm
BENT & TWISTED: Freeing the capacity of the spine
The human spine is a marvel of engineering, at the same time stable and capable of twisting or bending in any direction. In our need for stability, many of us sacrifice much of the mobility of the spine, in the process compromising all our movements and functions, from walking to breathing to our capacity for spontaneity and pleasure. In this workshop we explore the movements of the spine in all directions, and discover how mobility with awareness leads to freedom, comfort, and (paradoxically) dynamic stability.
March 23, 4:30-7:00 pm (NOTE NEW DATE & TIME)
LIVING IN THREE DIMENTIONS: Orientation, Awareness, and Freedom of Movement.
Moshe Feldenkrais used to say that "if you know what you are doing, then you can do what you want." Yet how many of us really know what we're doing when we move? When you turn your head to the right, to you know how your shoulders and arms move? How about your pelvis? What about the back of your head?
Knowing where we are in space is much more than a trick of arcane self-mastery. In this workshop you will discover how knowing where your limbs are as they move can lead to reduced tension and increased coordination and fluidity, and you will begin to see how, ultimately, self-awareness means freedom of action.
April 13, 10:30 - 1 pm (rescheduled from December)
THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS THE PELVIS: learning to use your center
We like to joke in the Feldenkrais community that there are no quizzes in our studies, because the answer is always 'the pelvis.' (Well, either that or 'it depends....'). In this workshop you will discover what we mean.
The Pelvis is the largest and heaviest bone in the body, it is centrally located, supports our most vulnerable organs and is traversed by our largest muscles; our nervous system identifies the pelvis as the center of our selves. Developing awareness of the pelvis leads to centered, graceful movement and is an essential element in the alleviation of any musculoskeletal discomfort.
As with so much Feldenkrais work, you are likely to find this centeredness extending beyond the quality of your movement to your mood and state of mind.
May 11, 1:45 - 4:15
FLEXIBLE FOUNDATIONS: freeing the feet & ankles for healthy movement
The overall health of a person's movement can be influenced from anywhere in the body, but it turns out that some places are 'more equal' than others. Our ankles stabilize our upright posture -- often with more tension than necessary. Our feet grip or yield to the floor depending on our emotional state. Both have the potential to move in a graceful, integrated and powerful way as we walk and run.
In this workshop you will experience the effect tat softer, more comfortable and adaptable feet have on standing, walking, and being.
June 8, 10:30 - 1
TAKE A HIKE! an exploration of walking
Upright, bipedal walking is a fundamentally human ability. Years of evolution have perfected in us a design capable of maintaining a dynamic upright posture capable of sustained and graceful locomotion. Yet many of us have forgotten how to stand with our heads high, our hips and shoulders free, and to stride with the grace and power that is our heritage.
Because of its biologically fundamental nature, walking can also be a key to unlock scores of movement difficulties, from sore hips to stiff necks and shoulders to restricted breathing. Meet the summer with your head held high, and a spring in your step!