centered@sonic.net
                                                     707.433.7674

How Charlotte Became a
Feldenkrais Practitioner

Charlotte Chavez ended up trying Feldenkrais (pronounced FELL-Den-KRice) because she wasn't sure what else to do. "Often people try this because nothing else has worked for them," she explained.

Charlotte decided to look into Feldenkrais after a series of health setbacks - back pain, breast cancer, and an injury to her upper back that prevented her from working at her pottery wheel. "For ten years I was unable to throw pots," she bemoaned. Feldenkrais worked so well for her that she again teaches pottery classes and says even her own pottery is improving. In fact, the buttons and logo on this page are based on one of her large pottery plates. She's found that similar to pottery making, Feldenkrais requires sensitivity and creativity, so she decided to learn how to teach it. "In 1999, I finished a four-year training program, with hundreds of hours of instruction each year," she said. Charlotte is a Feldenkrais Practioner.

Some History of Feldenkrais

The Feldenkrais Method(r) is named after its founder, Moshe Feldenkrais, who developed a revolutionary "Awareness Through Movement" therapy to help himself deal with a severe knee injury. Feldenkrais was a mid-century Renaissance Man, born in Russia in 1904, educated at The Sorbonne, and living in Israel in the late 1940s. He was an athlete, a scholar and a scientist. Aficionados have spread the work throughout the world. There are two excellent web sites. There is the Feldenkrais Education Foundation of North America and the Feldenkrais Guild in San Francisco.

According to Charlotte, Feldenkrais theories include the idea that your body has an inherent intelligence - you don't come to this process to be fixed, you come to re-learn what has been lost. She describes a system of "teaching and describing" movement that allows the body to rediscover easier, freer way's to move, and to "access the nervous system through movement." By focusing on the retraining of the central nervous system, the number of people who can benefit from the Feldenkrais method is vast. This approach to learning reveals and altars habitual behaviors, postures and ways of moving that cause chronic tension and pain. It helps you to improve posture and breathing. You learn to reduce stress, tension, and fatigue. You learn to ease pain and stiffness. And you learn to develop efficient and flexible movement.

"This is not about how to never have pain," says Charlotte, " but it is about learning that you don't have to get "stuck" in pain or any other circumstance in life. This will help you to accomplish more in your life by helping you to stay balanced, by helping you handle your setbacks, manage your pain, and recover." It may even help you, in Moshe Feldenkrais' words, "to realize your unavowed dreams".


Back to Top

The Two Feldenkrais Modalities

An Awareness Through Movement® class is a quiet affair, with Charlotte walking around the room and speaking softly to the students, leading them in deceptively simple floor exercises, using common movements like bending, turning, working with the feet, rolling the head and breathing to help each person discover the ways he or she moves most easily. These series of guided movements are not like exercise, not like yoga, not really like anything else. The idea is to allow the body to "remember" a more natural, more effective way to move. She has been teaching this Awareness Through Movement component since 1997.

Functional Integration® is a focused, individual experience. It involves gentle hands-on in performing movements that are tailored to the individual's particular condition. Charlotte has been working with disabled people, athletes, fellow potters and other individuals in private one-on-one sessions. Athletes and performers use it to enhance their performance. Many people, like Charlotte, find it effective for rehabilitation and pain reduction. The practice is also recommended for depression, anxiety, and stress management.

Functional Integration® is a focused, individual experience. It involves gentle hands-on in performing movements that are tailored to the individual's particular condition. Charlotte has been working with disabled people, athletes, fellow potters and other individuals in such private one-on-one sessions. Athletes and performers use it to enhance their performance. Many people, like Charlotte, find it effective for rehabilitation and pain reduction for problems such as rotator cuff difficulties, lower back, neck and shoulder pain, as well as knee and foot problems. The practice is also recommended for depression, anxiety, and stress management.
The following pictures give a window on the way Charlotte works with her clients in her studio:

Both Functional Integration and Awareness Through Movement lessons (Many students do only one; others combine the two) are based on the idea that each of us inevitably develops unhealthy movement habits through years of going about life on automatic pilot, overusing the body in repetitive ways and nursing old injuries. Feldenkrais teaches you how to notice these stressful patterns and replace them with more comfortable, efficient ones, so that, as one practitioner put it, you're not using the force required for chewing a steak to eat a cream puff.

Basically, the Feldenkrais Method is an educational approach that teaches students to become aware of their bodies and move as seamlessly as possible. For an actor, that can mean getting into character more convincingly; for an athlete, shaving the winning second off a sprint; for a stroke patient, learning to walk again. It is a way to explore yourself and build the kind of inner fitness and self-image that allows you to jump into any situation - whether it's participating in a hobby, playing a sport, or going for a job interview. The method can be so generalized because it is a means of learning how to use and how to know oneself effectively. It is based on the principles of biomechanics, physics, judo and an empirical knowledge of learning and human development.

Back to Top

Feldenkrais Testimonials

"Feldenkrais helps you act connected and there's something so inherently satisfying about that. When you move with grace and ease, you can't help but feel joy. There's a sense of calm, a sense of being more grounded." - Choreographer, Kim Blank.

"Feldenkrais represents a revolution in human health. Through this method we can learn to improve our living circumstances not only physically, but also emotionally, intellectually and spiritually." -Smithsonian Magazine

"This is the most sophisticated and effective method I have seen for the prevention and reversal of deterioration of function." -Margaret Mead, Anthropologist

"The Feldenkrais Method is not just pushing muscles around, but changing things in the brain itself." -Karl Pribram, MD., Stanford University

"...To make the impossible, possible; the possible, easy; and the easy, elegant" - Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais

Here is what a student of the Feldenkrais-based Bones for Life Method has to say about this method:

"I have joyous news to share with you. For those of you who know me, you may know that I was diagnosed with breast cancer almost 4 years ago. It was an estrogen positive cancer so after my mastectomy and chemo, I was given Arimidex, an anti-estrogen pill I must take daily for 5 years. Of course Arimidex made my poor bones go from osteopenia to severe osteoporosis. So, you wonder, where is the joyous news? Hold on! Just a small bit of further background information. My endocrinologist and I were at war with each other. He insisted that I had to start taking Actinol. I refused saying all it did was prevent osteoclasts from working. It made the bones appear dense but they were not strong. They were just filled with garbage. Even my normally supportive husband begged me to comply so I finally agreed to a 6 month trial. I never made it that far. The Actinol scarred my vocal cords and inflamed my esophagus so badly I could hardly talk or eat. Every year, my bone density got worse. ! In 2007, right before the Actinol trial my Right Femoral Neck was T-score -1.7, Right total hip was -1.6 and my lumbar spine was-2.5 (severe osteoporosis). Then (trumpets please !!! for sound
effects) two things happened in my life. I started taking Bones for Life Classes in the Midwest and then with Ruthy in NYC. I did at least one or two processes every day for the last two years and bounced on my heels anytime I could, even waiting in line at the bank. The second thing that happened was I learned about parathyroid hormone (Forteo) and its ability to stimulate osteoblasts. I totally studied the research and risks and decided that this drug was a better choice than Actinol, Phosomax or any of that class drug. So I started on Forteo 1 1/2 years ago to accompany my Bones for Life work.

"Today I got back the results of my lastest Bone Density tests. This is not a controlled study since I was changing two variables (Bones for Life and parathyroid hormone) but I am sure you will forgive me for wanting the best possible results. New findings: Right Femoral Neck down to T-score of -1.4 (osteopenia) Right Total hip T-score -1.2 (osteopenia) and the best yet: my Spine down from a T-score of -2.5 (severe osteoporosis) to -1.8 (osteopenia)

"The doctors are surprised. I am not but, I am bouncing on my heels among other things. Ruthy thank you for this work which has reduced my back pain and for all the help you give the people we teach BFL. Ladies and gentlemen on this list, keep reading, learning and doing BFL!"

Sheree Farber , Ph.D, OTR, FAOTA <---just stuff after my name BUT with pride I say also Bone For Life Teacher

What is the Feldenkrais Method®?

Charlotte's Background

Charlotte has lived in the Healdsburg, California area since 1974. She was a Clinical Laboratory Scientist for 30 years and worked at Healdsburg General Hospital the last 7 of those years. "I was a lab tech," she laughed. "That's the easiest way to describe it." She sees Feldenkrais as being "an adjunct to medicine, not as a replacement."

Her workshops and private sessions are conducted at her home amongst the vineyards in beautiful Dry Creek Valley, part of the Sonoma County wine growing region. Her classes are held at the Healdsburg Senior Center just off the historic plaza in downtown Healdsburg.

She has had experience working with a variety of clients in private sessions....stroke patients, people with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis or post polio syndrome, musicians, artists, people with chronic neck and shoulder and/or back pain, as well people suffering from fibromyalgia. Charlotte frequently receives client referrals from local area medical doctors.

Back to Top

Research on Feldenkrais

An interesting German study even found the Feldenkrais Method to be a useful treatment for eating disorders: Compared to a control group, the patients who attended a series of Feldenkrais classes showed increased acceptance of their bodies, decreased feelings of helplessness, and more self-confident behavior.

Case studies of patients suffering from acute and chronic back pain show that the Feldenkrais Method helped even when a variety of other conventional and alternative methods had failed to produce results.

Researchers believe it may have wide applications in the management of pain, stiffness, and restriction syndromes.

In almost half a century, the Feldenkrais Method has been used successfully with tens of thousands of people worldwide. It helps you learn to move with minimum effort and maximum efficiency not through muscular strength, but through becoming aware of how your body works.

Back to Top