I am passionate about the benefits of the Feldenkrais Method and am very excited to share the work with you. I honour each student for who they are and help each person to learn, through easy movements how to rediscover flexibility in mind and body.
VITA KOLODNY
Vita was educated as a nurse. She was introduced to the Feldenkrais® Method in the late 1980s and was attracted to the method’s focus on learning. Vita loves to teach people how they can become more aware of their movements to better use their bodies in ways that help prevent injury and contribute to well-being. She is continually intrigued with the positive impact of her daily practice of the Feldenkrais Method on all areas of her life. She graduated from a professional Feldenkrais teaching training program in 2003. In addition to running the Feldenkrais Centre Vancouver, she was working as a community health nurse in Vancouver until she retired in March 2024.
ABOUT THE METHOD
ABOUT THE STUDIO
A lifetime of habits and injuries can begin to limit our freedom of movement. The Feldenkrais Method is particularly effective in helping restore our natural abilities to move easily and with minimal effort. The Feldenkrais Method emphasizes mindfulness in movement that leads to significant improvements in posture, balance, coordination and well-being.
Through a unique series of gentle exercises, students learn how to develop their awareness and use all their senses to discover and expand movement options. People from all walks of life benefit daily from Feldenkrais classes and sessions.
MOSHE FELDENKRAIS
Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984) was born in the Ukrainian town of Slavuta. In 1918, he left his family, then living in Baranovichi, Belarus, to emigrate to Palestine where he worked as a laborer before obtaining his high-school diploma in 1925. During his time in Palestine he began his studies of self-defense, including jiu jitsu. A soccer injury in 1929 would later figure into the development of his method.
The Feldenkrais Method of Movement Education was developed by Dr. Feldenkraisas a result of him seeking ways to restore function in his knees which he injured playing soccer and practicing judo. He taught himself how to walk again by studying movements in children and incorporating his vast knowledge of physical and psychological sciences.
Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and into the 1980s he presented the Feldenkrais Method® throughout Europe and in North America (including an Awareness Through Movement ® program for human potential trainers at Esalen Institute in 1972).
He also began to train teachers in the method so they could, in turn, present the work to others. He trained the first group of 13 teachers in the method from 1969-1971 in Tel Aviv.
Over the course of four summers from 1975-1978, he trained 65 teachers in San Francisco. . In 1980, 235 students began his teacher-training course at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Unfortunately he was not able to continue with them through the end due to illness. He rehabilitated himself from consecutive strokes over three years until he died in his home in Tel Aviv.
There are well over 10,000 practitioners of his method teaching throughout the world today.
LOCATION
Our studio is located in the Arbutus and King Edward area of Vancouver at 2515 McBain Avenue at the back of the property (Arbutus is one major intersection west of Granville).
NOTE
Do not wander into the townhouse/condominium complex. We are located west of that complex, between Valley Rd and Brakenridge St, on the north side of McBain, the second property east of the corner of McBain and Brakenridge.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS
From the East: Drive west along King Edward. Pass Granville and then Arbutus. Continue past Arbutus, down a small hill. The first traffic light is Valley Road. The next intersection is Brakenridge Ave. Turn left onto Brakenridge (there is a crosswalk). Then make the first left onto McBain and park immediately. We are on the north side, 2515 McBain Ave. Park on the street. The studio is at the back of the property. Walk along the path on the east side and follow the signs to the studio entrance.
From the West: Drive east on King Edward, past Macdonald and Trafalgar. The next intersection after Trafalgar is Brakenridge (there is a crosswalk). Turn right onto Brakenridge and the first left onto McBain and park immediately. We are on the north side, 2515 McBain Ave. Park on the street. The studio is at the back of the property. Walk along the path on the east side and follow the signs to the studio entrance.
STUDIO ENTRANCE
The studio is at the back of the property. Walk along the path on the east side of the property and follow the signs to the studio entrance.
TRANSIT DIRECTIONS
We are conveniently located on or near bus routes 16, 22 and 25. McBain is one street south of King Edward. You can access it by going south from King Edward on Valley Drive or Brakenridge Ave. We are the second property from the corner of McBain and Brakenridge.
Organic learning
is a biological
necessity.
It is slow, and unconcerned
with any judgment
as to the achievement of
good or bad results.
Organic learning
has no purpose
or goal.
Organic learning is lively
and takes place
when one is in a good mood,
and works at short intervals.
Each one of us speaks, moves, thinks, and feels
in a different way, each according to the image
of himself that he has built
up over the years.
What is involved here, of course,
is a change in the dynamics
of our reactions,
and not the mere replacing
of one action by another.
