Feldenkrais Walking Series: MethodS for Mindful Movement

Starting in the 1930’s, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais began to develop a somatic form of neuromuscular re-education. Feldenkrais developed two practical approaches for exploring early developmental movements, as well as more advanced complex actions.

1) Functional Integration - manually directed, hands on, private lessons. Learn more about 1:1 the Feldenkrais approach here.

2) Awareness Through Movement - verbally guided mindful movement classes done in a group setting.

Both approaches are described as “lessons”, as they involve beneficial learning processes for the brain and body. In guided Awareness Through Movement classes you study your potential to act, and how you refine your self organization to make any movement. Feldenkrais is not stretching or straining, it is learning. The method uses gentle mindful movement and directed attention to help people learn new and more effective ways to move and be in the world.

Walking on two feet is a defining characteristic of being human. It’s something that we often take for granted, until it’s not easy to do! When we are walking, we are generally more concerned about where we are trying to get to, not about the skill or grace in how we are getting there. Humans evolved to find a pleasurable experience of whole-body movement in their walking. Our supple chests and torsos, integrated with our legs, allowed for graceful and efficient locomotion over long distances, but our current cultural environment makes this harder for us to experience.

Feldenkrais lessons can help. In Feldenkrais, through guided awareness, we take the time and space to learn about how the whole body functions during any action. The lessons in this series will explore many whole body functions that underlie a walking stride and the coordination of the torso. In Feldenkrais we are not stretching and straining, we are learning walking awareness. We notice and listen closely enough to learn about our restrictive habits. Awareness of what we are doing is the first step in order to free ourselves from unnecessary efforts, to create a more skillful, confident, easy stride and improve walking. By freeing ourselves from restrictive habits in our hips and torso, we can learn to have a more spacious and free walk, a key ingredient to a healthy and independent life.

Feldenkrais helps improve balance and prevent falls by retraining your body's response to potential imbalances.

Fear can be a major culprit behind falls. Fear can make us tense up and hold our breath, limiting movement and increasing fall risk. The lessons are gentle movement explorations that promote a healthy breathing and a calm nervous system.

Balance also relies on feeling your body's position in space. Feldenkrais explorations refine your body awareness and proprioception, helping you detect, respond, and adapt to potential imbalances more wisely. Focusing on coordinated movement patterns, the lessons train your body and mind to respond more effectively to unsteady situations.

Yes! It’s not uncommon for students to feel taller and to stand more upright (with less effort) after a Feldenkrais session. Most all humans “hold” the body with a specific tone in the muscles. Over time this muscular tone habituates and becomes our “posture”, for better or worse. Using guided awareness and small movements in Feldenkrais lessons, the body can shed its unnecessary muscular tone, so that the skeleton can then find its more optimal place to be.

“Although we each have a fantastic skeleton and musculature designed to give us flexible support and hold us upright against the pull of gravity, we frequently develop postural habits that challenge our skeletal structure's effectiveness and cause muscular tension inflammation, and a gradual deterioration of our joints.” - Feldenkrais Trainer David Zemach- Bersin

With awareness, specificity, and practice, Feldenkrais lessons can give you the ability to free the muscles of the neck, shoulders, spine, and pelvis. As one moves towards more freedom of the muscles, one also moves towards a more easy, elegant, and upright posture supported by the strength of the skeleton.

Our aim in Feldenkrais is not a perfect posture, but a place of less tension and conflict in the body where our posture is fluid, not rigid. Everyone’s posture, or how they “use” themselves, isn’t always optimal. With the help of the Feldenkrais method, your postural habits can improve to make everyday movements more enjoyable and easy.

Both practices emphasize listening to your body, respecting its limits, and unlocking its potential. However, their approaches differ, offering unique pathways to self-discovery. A seasoned yogi might find Feldenkrais deepens their internal awareness, while a Feldenkrais practitioner might discover greater strength and power through yoga.

While most yoga practices tend to focus on alignment and the shape of a pose, the Feldenkrais method differs, in that the emphasis is on the coordination and quality of movement, not in holding a pose for a set amount of time or reaching the limits of a stretch. Feldenkrais emphasized ease and efficiency in movement and to never reach a point of strain or even stretch. The movements are always done within a range of comfort, creating an environment where the nervous system feels safe enough to learn and change. There are no shapes or poses in the Feldenkrais method, but instead we work with developmental movement patterns and mindful movement explorations.