Lessons take place lying on the floor, or sometimes sitting. The teacher talks you through a sequence
of movements that involves sensing, moving, thinking and imagining.
Each new movement is repeated and explored so that you become familiar with it, and can then
begin to play with unaccustomed movement relationships.
Many of the lessons are based on developmental movements and ordinary functional activities like
walking, turning or reaching.
By engaging your curiosity, gently and at your own pace, you learn to explore the world of your
internal sensations. You learn to use this awareness to release chronic patterns of tension and create
new movement possibilities. Come and try a class with us: Tuesdays 10.00 to 11.00 am
Individual Lessons – Functional Integration
Functional Integration is a hands-on form of communication through touch. The Feldenkrais
Practitioner explores how you organise your body, and hints through gentle touch and movements,
how to include more of your self when you move in your daily activities.
The lesson is usually performed with the student lying on a table, fully clothed, as the teacher’s
hands gently support you, encouraging and guiding you towards new ways of moving and organising
yourself.
Each lesson is designed to address your particular habits of moving and holding yourself. Your
increasing self-awareness enables you to let go of these habits, to find and choose new patterns of
movement; you may find similar development in the flexibility of your thinking and feeling.
The lesson will often lead to suggestions by the teacher for ways of working on your own, in order to
help the new choices become a lasting part of your life. Lessons are particularly useful for specific or
long-standing problems, to deepen your experience of Awareness Through Movement classes, or to
provide ongoing support for your everyday life.
Who is Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais
Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais (1904 – 1984) was a great thinker and innovator, who synthesized his insights
from physics, motor development, bio-mechanics, psychology and martial arts to develop a
powerful, practical application.
Moshe was an Israeli scientist, engineer and educator, whose career included work at the Curie
Institute in Paris in the 1930s. He was also a respected Judo instructor, and was a founder of the Ju
Jitsu Club in Paris.
An injury to his knee in his youth threatened him with severe disability in middle age. Despite being
given little hope of ever walking normally, Feldenkrais refused surgery and instead applied his
extensive knowledge to healing his knee.
During the process he realised the vital importance of working with the whole body and indeed the
whole self in order to achieve lasting, radical change. His insights contributed to the development of
the new field of somatic education.
“Make the impossible possible, the possible easy, the easy elegant”
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