What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 9pm Thursday 8am - 9pm Friday 8am - 9pm Sunday 9am - 5pm

Emma Alter Feldenkrais, Hunter Street, London (2026)

23/03/2026

Intelligent Legs | Blog

The legs play a central role in our mobility and freedom of movement. We only have to break or sprain an ankle to recognise the truth in that.

Your joints from the feet up to the spine work synergistically together, like a system of springs. They give you groundedness, stability and mobility at the same time.

When you're not using your legs as efficiently as you might, strain, pain, and increased wear-and-tear can get in the way, exarcerbating instability and stiffness. Your own habits around movement can compromise the situation, so you might feel less well-oiled and more rusty.

A few years ago, I was fortunate to work with Ruthy Alon, a pupil of Moshe Feldenkrais. Despte being in her eighties, watching her move was extraordinary. She moved with the litheness of a sixteen year old. And it wasn't because she didn't have difficulties or a perfect body: she was dealing with a hip problem at the time. But her movement skill was high quality. And we can all improve how we move, no matter what hand we were dealt in the physical domain.

Feldenkrais lessons are a safe and effective way to revitalise the way you use yourself. I would expect the lessons in this series to improve your general comfort, range of movement, and sense of balance or stability.

Join me for a lesson or class if you'd like to learn to move more easily in your life.

17/03/2026

Come up to stand on your own two feet | Musicians' Blog

Standing on our own two feet is something more than just physical. It's our first major step towards maturity, and independence. Revisiting this movement can help you reset your spinal alignment, your grounding and connection with the floor. Being able to work out the jigsaw pieces of the movement-puzzle is important in our spacial awareness, orientation and vestibular system.

Having multiple ways of coming up to stand is important, as it also means we have multiple ways of coming back to the floor. Falling is a necessary part of the learning process of standing and walking. FAlling as an infant helps you gage depth of field, and vertical distance.

As we get older, being comfortable in these transitions is more and more important. You're less likely to fall badly if you're used to be in different orientations, if you're used to these transitions, and can (and do) get down and up from the floor easily. The floor in Feldenkrais is both a barometer of how you are, each time you lie down, and what we have to push ourselves away from, when we want to get up and take action.

We need to be able to sense and feel differences to learn. And that’s exactly what we do in each Feldenkrais lesson. It’s a laboratory of learning about yourself. Each new chunk of self-discovery giving you more agency, more options, along with more effective ways of moving and being. If you’re curious, join me for a class - visit my website (link in my bio) to learn more.

10/03/2026

Feldenkrais Concepts: Isolation and Integration | Blog

This week I had my performing hat on, playing some wonderful Baroque concerti in Devon. We played in the Great Hall in Dartington, a medieval hall I first played in whilst still in Youth Orchestra. It was great to be back, and I got talking about Feldenkrais with one of my colleagues, who was asking about tension, and whether it would be good for that. I offered to show her, and started by sensing through touch and movement how her hand and forearm moved. Or rather how her brain mapped her forearm. Was it part of the whole arm in her thinking, or a separate piece?

How do you think of yours?
You see for yourself. Try this mini lesson.

1a) Bend the elbow of one arm. Rotate your hand and forearm as if you were turning a door k**b. Repeat the movement a few times. Does the upper arm move? Or the shoulder? Or any part of your torso? If it doesn't, this is an isolated movement. Which is useful to be able to do. But, if making a repetitive movement for any length of time, it's more useful to have more of yourself involved.
The upper arm muscles, and torso muscles are stronger. You want a hierarchical muscle usage: the big muscles doing more of the heavy lifting, the small muscles doing the fine-tuning.

b) Turn your arm again, but before you do so, tighten the muscles of your upper arm. Then turn your forearm. If you keep the upper arm tight, you'll be able to feel that the movement stops at the elbow. It will be clearer perhaps that this is an isolated movement. Then let go of the resistance you've created and see if more of you moves.
Most people have excess tension in themselves, and it isolates areas of yourselves that could be better integrated.

c) Next, straighten your arm, and make the same movement. You'll feel the upper arm also rotates. Bend the arm, and hold the upper arm with light fingers of the other hand. Rotate the forearm again, and it should be clearer that the upper arm can move too.

d) Straighten your arm out to the side at shoulder's height. Make your hand into a gentle fist. Roll your whole arm forwards, like a rolling pin, keeping it at shoulder's height. Include your shoulder blade and collar bone in the movement. Rotate your arm (the thumb starts to point towards the floor). Feel how your shoulder blade lifts, and the collarbone flattens against the front of your ribs.

e) Roll your arm in the opposite direction, and feel how the shoulder blade slides down at the back. This is a more global movement of the hand - it includes more of the whole limb in the picture.

a) Finally, come back to your starting position, with the elbow bent. Roll the forearm a few times, and see if more of your whole arm has joined in. If it has, this is now a more integrated movement.

Coming back to these developmental movements will help reorganise your whole system, and it's useful no matter your age. Join me for a class to experience it for yourself - learn more about what I offer at www.themovingbrain.com, or send me a message to learn more.

09/03/2026

Today’s morning rehearsal for our glorious concert of baroque concerti with . Sharing a snippet from the viola chair of the double cello and violin concerto by Vivaldi, slow movement concertino , with director .gibbs on violin, on cello, and on keys.

22/02/2026

Developmental Milestones | Musicians' Blog

Coming from sitting into all fours is an important mini-milestone (mini-stone) in the development of walking of a human.

When we start to walk correlates with brain size or mass. The results of recent studies suggest that "the neuronal mechanisms that underlie the onset of walking are very similar in different mammals, and that they are activated at a very similar relative time point during brain development," (Garwicz, Lund Uni.)

So whilst a cat might walk after a month, and humans closer to a year, both reach this milestone at the same point in their brain development.

Coming back to early developmental patterns later in life can help you reset your habitual movements. As we age we tend to limit our movement repertoire. Exploring developmental patterns can help re-widen them once again.

Join me for classes online, or in person in central London. Benefits of Feldenkrais may include:

-Greater ease throughout your whole self

-Easier standing and sitting, and transitions between lying, sitting and standing

-Fun along the way!

Visit www.themovingbrain.com to learn more.

09/02/2026

Coming up to stand | Blog

This week marks the end of the practical part and extra time for my research study: Feldenkrais in Practice. 188 people filled in the first questionnaire, and I'm just waiting on the last few to fill in the final questionnaire, to analyse the results.

In Feldenkrais we try to meet people where they are. For people who are busy, or are new to Feldenkrais, an hour can feel like a long time to carve out of a day.

In this project, aimed at musicians, I wanted to create short lessons to slide into their practice sessions. Too long, and no-one would take a large chunk out of practice time.
I was aiming for 10-15 minutes. It soon became clear teaching live that 15-20 minutes was more realistic. It takes people time to get down on the floor and up again. Time to set up the questions so that participants can notice a difference by the end. Some of the movements took longer than others to describe so everyone understood. So the rhythm was a 15- 20 minute lesson, and 15 minutes afterwards for any questions and feedback. Those sessions were really interesting too, as short snippets don't allow for the weaving in of theory that we tend to do in a longer session.

I've missed the morning sessions, now we've stopped. Despite not being an early bird, it was a buzz seeing 40 people up to do a lesson at 8 am with me. That numbers stayed steady through the whole month made it feel very worthwhile. And to hear the difference it has made to people's lives has been really wonderful.

I'll just share a few comments from participants after individual lessons:

Feedback from the lessons:

"I have been runnning for the first time in two decades for a few months. Just before you began this I was taking a break because my ankles were hurting. I ran the other day and it was like flying. No pain. "

"in relation to a very long standing problem I notice I can lift my right leg as well and as freely as my left leg, putting on socks, shoes etc. No physio, massage, osteo required. Magic"

"Transformative! Very stiff in turning to start with, despite having done the Breathing lesson from yesterday right before. [I had a] small range of motion, and clunky quality of movement in turning head and spine."

"At the end of the session I felt release in my jaw, sides and back of the neck, back of the skull, shoulders and torso (front and back), fingers and toes. Wow!"

"Thank you for putting together this course, I thought it worked brilliantly! Daily practise really does make a difference as it allows concepts and physical awareness to sink in at a deeper level."

Next steps for this project:

Post sessions, I'm re-recording the videos, to make it into a package for anyone who would like to try out the course for themselves. I'm hoping this will be finished in the next week. I'll let you know when it's available in my shop in case any of you would like to try them out for yourselves! I'll be writing up the results in the next month or so, and will share them with you too.

All our lessons this term are developmental. We'll be starting with rolling up to sit - using more ergonomic ways of getting up and down. Continuing into coming up into standing later in the term. Useful whatever age you are! Coming back to these developmental movements will help reorganise your whole system.

Do join us if you'd like to learn to move more easily in your life.

06/02/2026

Developmental Movements | Musicians' Blog

Developmental movements are holistic. From rolling, to creeping to crawling, with transitions into different positions too, they all use all of you. And once we get up on our feet, and start focussing in on hands and tasks, that holistic nature of ourselves gets forgotten about. But it's one of our greatest resources.

It's not woo-woo, it's science. One of the things I love about Feldenkrais is that it's based in scientific enquiry. Moshe Feldenkrais was a physicist as well as a martial artist and creator of this method. And it's clear, from the structure of every lesson as an experiment: measure, explore, measure again. See what works and what doesn't for yourself.

And whilst Feldenkrais observed, it's now proven without a doubt that we are mind-and-body together. One thing. One doesn't just influence the other. They are two halves of the same coin. Antonio Damasio, a neuroscientist wrote an important book on this: Descartes Error.

There's no mind without a body, and no body without a mind. If they truly were separate, and only an influence it would be possible to do without one or other. And it's not. So we'll be safe in our embodied worlds from AI for a while yet, until like daleks they learn to climb the stairs!!

Greater body awareness can help you feel what you’re moving in more detail. In addition, if you can move better, your body can vibrate better, leading to you making a freer sound, whatever your instrument. Contact me to learn how I can help you move and play better.

03/02/2026

Coming up to Stand | Blog

How do you unpick your habits?

You have to feel them, become aware of them, and then you can do something about those that no longer serve you. Just as we change out clothes when they don't fit, or they're unreparable.

Try it yourself.

Make a thumbs up. Line up one side of the thumb with something vertical - door frame, or window. bookcase in your room. Then close and open one eye. Notice if the thumb "jumps" to the side as you close the eye. If it does, you're opening and closing your dominant eye.

We have as many habits with our eyes as we do with aanything else. Mostly we don't think about it unless something's wrong. But your eyes control the neck and spine. So very often, where we have neck issues, we also have an area of vision that's not smooth either.

Peeling back the layers:

Feldenkrais is a Method that helps you unpick your habits. Like peeling layers of an onion. Until your moving is simpler, more efficient, and easier.

Join me if you'd like to learn to move more easily in your life - learn more about the classes, lessons and courses that I offer on my website, www.themovingbrain.com, where you can also sign up to receive my newsletter.

30/01/2026

Back to Basics | Musicians' Blog

Yesterday I was invited to offer my first Mums and Baby group session, helping Mums with Tummy time. And I got to see many of the movements I've been talking about in action! It was so much fun! Babies rolling from their backs to the belly and returning, Babies who liked to roll to one side, and not the other. Babies rolling up to sit, and coming back down again! Babies grumpy on their fronts or on their own who miraculously cheered up as soon as their Mum picked them up. One beautiful moment when I was teaching proprioceptive touch to the Mums with their babies, when the whole atmosphere stilled for a few minutes. The breathing in the room slowed as the babies were listening to their bodies, as their Mums were listening to their babies through neurological touch. Childs'pace and Feldenkrais touch is both gentle and profound . Platonic touch is how babies sense themselves in space, and in relation to another (and not just babies, but adults too!)

Of course it's not just motor development that happens in these first months, it's also emotional and communication developments. Babies wanting to play with another baby or their mother. Some who were happy to be playwed with by me, and others who had just discovered stranger danger, and had no wish to be in close contact with someone they didn't know (and told me very clearly, even without words!)

And babies develop these three areas at the same time. Coming up to sit allows them to see more, and reach out with both hands to the world, to others. Some of the babies were already social -they wanted to chat with everyone around them, and others less sure about interaction. As adults, we're not necessarily going to change our communication through Feldenkrais, but as our physical self changes, so too does our mental state. Emotions are body states after all.

Are you interested in learning more about the way that your physical and mental states integrate? Feldenkrais can be a powerful tool in your development. Visit my website, www.themovingbrain.com, to learn more about the lessons, classes and courses that I offer, or send me a message to start your Feldenkrais journey today.

Emma Alter Feldenkrais

23/03/2026

17/03/2026

10/03/2026

09/03/2026

22/02/2026

09/02/2026

06/02/2026

03/02/2026

30/01/2026

Address

Opening Hours

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Monday	9am - 9pm
Thursday	8am - 9pm
Friday	8am - 9pm
Sunday	9am - 5pm