I have always been very heart warmed at the feeling of community among students attending our Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® classes. Students talk to each other, share stories of how they have incorporated movements into their daily lives, share resources and connections and help each other enter and leave classes.
Several years ago, a tradition started at the Wednesday evening class, I think it was a student who brought in an unusual chocolate bar but I don’t remember why, and we began to “break bread” together after class each week. But the bread in this case was chocolate, not just any chocolate but always good quality dark chocolate supplied by me and by the students. We all know that chocolate is a good thing, especially if we eat the good kind (from my perspective only very dark chocolate qualifies), and if we only have a little at a time (when you eat good dark chocolate you only need one piece at a time).
Community cohesiveness was strengthened during the pandemic when we are all at home and continued to learn about movement and ourselves through our computer screens thanks to Zoom technology. However, we were not able to share our chocolate together after class while chatting for a few minutes. I did encourage folks to eat their own chocolate after class but I am not sure how many took me up on the suggestion.
Now that we have resumed studio classes our chocolate ritual has resumed. Being back in the studio with participants on the floor feels great for me and gives me renewed energy, and those attending have also responded positively. While Zoom technology is great and allows people from anywhere to attend a class, a meeting or other event, there is nothing like being in the same room with another person to connect with them and to learn from each other.
The Feldenkrais Method® is about learning; about our movements and how we move, but more importantly about ourselves and the choices we make. Being with others lets us reflect and discuss what we are discovering and to benefit from others’ experiences. We all learn from each other and from being with other people to share ideas and thoughts and to engage in meaningful and respectful discussion and debate.
I invite you, and your friends, to join us at a Feldenkrais class to learn something new about yourself, about your movement patterns, about your fellow students and of course to enjoy some good chocolate!
