What is the Feldenkraus Method

Research on FeldenkraisAn 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.

Some History of FeldenkraisThe 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 is an excellent web site for more information about Feldenkrais at http://www.feldenkrais.com.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".

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.

Charlotte's BackgroundCharlotte 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.