Free Your Jaw, Neck and Shoulders
A lot of us have recurring neck and shoulder pain, often from how we sit or how we are hunched over our mobile devices. I often remark that we don’t want to wear our shoulders as earrings, meaning that sometimes we raise them so high they are almost glued to our ears. If our shoulders […]
The Art of Sitting: How vs how much
Finally, support for my constant refrain that HOW is more important than how much. Especially when it comes to sitting. One of the ways I explain the Feldenkrais Method is that “we learn how to use our bodies more effectively.” We focus on the process rather than the goal. It was great to hear and read […]
Balance out the turmoil
The world is in turmoil. This week we learned of the suicides of two celebrities: Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. Suicide is a difficult subject to talk about, the silver lining of these tragic deaths is that there has been more talk this week. While approximately 10 people take their lives each day in Canada, it is only […]
Using your imagination in Feldenkrais classes
Now there is more evidence to support what we teach regularly in Feldenkrais classes: using your imagination to do parts of, or entire movements. I know when I first heard of imagining a movement I thought it was crazy. But there is support for the benefits of thinking, feeling and visualizing movements before doing them […]
Motion is lotion – A basic Feldenkrais tenet
I often repeat a mantra to my students that “motion is lotion” (credit and apologies to the wise student who first suggested it but I forget now who it was). Motion helps to lubricate the joints, muscles and skeletal system. Now, some expert support from those suggesting that the traditional recommendation for early treatment of […]
Learning to sit with comfort
The current mantra is that sitting is the new tobacco and that too much sitting is deadly. Prolonged sitting, and inactivity in general, is not good for us, affecting our cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems as well as cognitive functioning. But many of us need to sit for periods during the day while we travel from […]
Walking Workshop and other exciting events
I spent five days over the Labour Day weekend in Seattle at a Feldenkrais workshop for practitioners which was taught by my teacher, Jeff Haller. The specific focus was on walking. We explored several elements of walking, some of which were how to find the highest point of our hip joints so we don’t fall […]
Why I don’t fix people
I recently read an article from the New York Times, The Secret Life of Pain by Yoni Goodman. He describes his life with chronic back and joint pain for many years and then his experiences at the Mayo Clinic pain program. The program, he states, “teaches patients not to dwell on the pain and not […]
Summer Feldenkrais learning and fun
I am loving this summer! Since I returned from Iceland over 2 weeks ago the weather in Vancouver has been spectacular! Unfortunately there hasn’t been any rain and the wildfires in the interior of the province are raging and wreaking havoc on peoples’ lives. After I wrote that sentence I took a break and gave a donation to […]
Learning from Adventures in Iceland
I just returned from a series of adventures. A return visit to Montreal to see family and our daughter perform, onto Hanover, NH for our niece’s college graduation and then to Iceland for a long planned trip with friends. Iceland is like no place I’ve ever been to before. The landscape is different and vast; […]