What are some of your most salient habits?

That's usually an easier question to answer about someone else. You know exactly how someone close to you walks, fidgets or holds their head just-so when you're talking with them, or gets anxious or irritated when a certain topic or person is mentioned. But how aware are you of your own habits? The way you sit, stand, or walk? The way you breathe, or focus your eyes? When you stand, which leg carries more of your weight? Do the answers to these questions have anything to do with the way you hold your head just-so or get anxious or irritated in your interactions with other people?

Once we become aware of our habits, we often find that we want to change them. How, exactly, do we do that?

Without habits we wouldn't be able to move in any purposeful, intentional way. We'd be reduced to the state of the newborn baby, with its amazed and ineffective interactions with its surroundings. But those very same habitual patterns that allow us to stand, walk, and interact with the world often get in our way, either because we never bothered to develop them beyond basic competence, or because we are trying to use old patterns in ways that are no longer relevant — like the limp we picked up years ago from an injury long healed, or the way we treat those close to us now based on the experiences of our childhood.

Moshe Feldenkrais, in creating a method of somatic education, was interested not merely in helping people move more easily and elegantly, but in freeing them from the compulsions of their habits

In this workshop we will experience Feldenkrais' brilliant method for developing awareness of our habits and discovering new options through movement, and explore the possibilities of applying this approach in our lives outside of the Arlington Center.

Note: this workshop takes place during the Jewish month of Elul, when Jews are encouraged to begin examining their lives and actions in preparation for the High Holidays.  Read more about the connection between the Feldenkrais Method and the High Holidays here.

In today's world of "24/7" and "giving 200 percent" we need, more than ever, to learn Moshe Feldenkrais' lessons about the difference between trying our hardest and doing our best. In this workshop we will learn to engage with the pervasive habit of meeting challenge with effort. Through the process of Awareness Through Movement you will discover both deep relaxation and the ability to meet difficulty with productive curiosity instead of counter-productive strain.

Learn to stop trying and finally start doing!

Highly recommended for anyone struggling with anxiety, insomnia, chronic fatigue, RSI, workaholism, etc.

What is the best way to breathe?  Through the mouth or through the nose? More in the belly, or more in the chest?  It it always better to breath deeply?

Some techniques teach the expansion of the abdomen as you breathe in, others as you breathe out. Which is better? As with everything in the wonderful world of the Feldenkrais Method, if the answer isn't "the pelvis", it must be "it depends on what you're doing."

In this workshop we will explore the options available to us, learn to breath more fully, and discover the effect of these changes on our posture, comfort, actions, and outlook on life.

p.s. are we sure the answer isn't really the pelvis? Come to the workshop and find out! 

p.p.s. we will be doing a more in-depth exploration to breath and its myriad ramifications in the weekly ATM classes all fall!

 

When was the last time you pouted? Puckered your lips? Stuck your tongue out as far as it would go? How well do you feel your face expresses who you are and how you really feel? In our adulthood many of us find our faces becoming a sort of mask, reflecting the stress of our lives and the habits formed by our notions of ourselves and the face we present to the world.

In this workshop we will do a 'natural face lift' with Awareness Through Movement lessons and re-discover the softness, changeability and expressiveness of our faces. See the effect that balancing the muscles of your face, jaw, tongue & mouth has on breathing, your mood, and your life!

Many experts, from physical therapists and personal trainers to yoga or tai-chi teachers, claim to know how to achieve ‘good posture’ or ‘proper alignment.’ Though they might all be correct, it is interesting that they don't always agree. Furthermore, many of us experience what we think to be good posture as tiring and uncomfortable, or else frustratingly elusive.

This workshop will look at the questions of posture and alignment from a Feldenkrais perspective—focusing on action rather than position, and on the process of discovery rather than the goal of proper alignment.

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.

Long ago, humanity discovered the effectiveness of the inclined plane for making a difficult task easier. Some time after that, we developed the screw, which is essentially a spiraling inclined plane. As is so often the case, nature was there first—all around us and in our own bodies. Not a single bone in our body is straight; even those that seem straight (such as the bones of the arms and legs) are actually twisted in an elegant spiral (or, more accurately, a helix).

In this workshop you will learn to tap into the spiralic structure of your body, discovering how to rise effortlessly from the floor to standing, and to move in any direction with increased ease, power, and grace.

TE Would you like to improve the strength and agility of your fingers? Learn to move from your back.
Would you like a more comfortable back and neck? Try getting your arms involved.

Everything is connected to everything in the human body.  What may look like a limitation in one place is in reality a limitation of the whole system. The good news is that, by the same token, an improvement anywhere can be an improvement throughout the whole system -- if we pay attention to the connections.  Nowhere is this clearer than in the relationship between your hands and your back, and the most evident paths of these connection are spiralic. In this workshop you feel these connections clearly -- from the bottoms of your feet to the the tips of your fingers.

A personal note from Josh: This workshop explores the pattern that I have found - and still find - to be the most helpful in the recovery of my own hand function from chronic, debilitating tendonitis, to a hands-on healer and performing musician.

Before our prehistoric ancestors stood on their hind legs, the front limbs were used for walking. And before each of us learned to walk, we learned to crawl. The functioning of human hands developed through engagement with the earth, yet for many of us it is difficult to bear weight on the hands. What's more, for many of us the functioning of the hands is compromised.

In this workshop we will re-visit crawling & walking on all fours using patterns from both evolution and child development to rediscover the ability — and the benefits — of the weight-bearing hand.

Note: this workshop is recommended in preparation for my June workshop on inversions.

[Description coming soon]