03/09/2023
This coming Wednesday 6th September I am finally starting regular weekly Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons in Sheffield! I've been saying for years that I will, and now I AM 😁💜
11am-12 noon every Wednesday, and if I am not available, someone else will teach anyway.
Upstairs at Soul Fire Studios, 7 Edgedale Road, S7 2BQ. No disabled access, sorry!
What is Feldenkrais?
The Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education was developed by Dr Moshe Feldenkrais through most of the 20th century. He lived 1904 to 1984, and was an extraordinary man.
It is easier to experience the method than explain it, so if you are curious, come to a class. Otherwise, here is a rambling explanation.
My singing teacher at uni told me to go and try this weird sounding thing, because it would help me sing better, learn faster, move better and sound better. I tried it, and she was right, so when the opportunity came up to train a few years later, I became a practitioner (after completing the four years of study, at the same time as doing my Master of Music Performance (Voice) and my Diploma of Remedial Massage). A few years later I returned to teach Feldenkrais to the dance and drama students, and to the Foundation Music students at the Victorian College of the Arts and Music.
I feel very privileged to have come to this method through performing rather than chronic pain or injury, which is where many people discover its many uses. It has definitely influenced my singing, learning and performing.
Feldenkrais is a learning method based in movement. It works on the neuroplasticity of the nervous system, even before that term existed. It looks at patterns, generally in movement but everything can be applied elsewhere as well, breaks down those patterns into component parts, explores them out of context and out of order, then when they are put back together again, we have more choice in how we move (or think, learn, behave etc).
Anything we are good at, we can get better at. So this method has been used by elite level athletes, dancers, actors, singers, musicians and acrobats. Because it retrains the brain, it is also fabulous for people recovering from strokes, surgery and injury. In short, anyone can benefit, if they so choose.
Do you want more ease sitting at a desk? Are you a weekend athlete who wants to step up a notch? Are you a climber who wants to have a greater sense of the connections across the body? Are you hyper mobile and want to feel a greater connection to your skeleton?
There are two forms of teaching Feldenkrais Method. And it is teaching your nervous system to change itself, not a therapy.
The 1:1 sessions, often hands on, are called Functional Integration lessons, or FIs. I currently offer these as home visits, or online.
The voice-led classes, often taught in groups, are called Awareness Through Movement lessons, or ATMs. These are what I will be teaching on Wednesday mornings.
To book, please use the form in the link, which is in the comments :)
