When Feldenkrais practitioners say, “Learn to Learn” they are reminding us that, every instant of our lives we are offered the possibility of choice, choice in action, in intention, in feeling, in thought, even in our values. Are you a machine that is programmed to do the same thing with the same input, or are you a thinking, feeling, living person who can make choices. That doesn’t mean we suggest you always choose to do something different.
When faced by a choice, do you agonize? Or can you feel within yourself a real basis for your life, and it is through that sense of your true self that you are able to spontaneously make the right choice, right for you, right for that instant.
The FELDENKRAIS METHOD® of Somatic Education helps you learn at a deep level your true self so that choice becomes easier, more natural.
Many of the articles in this series will give you movement sequences that inform your choice. They will be brief, more like tastes than the full meals of AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT® lessons, or FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION® lessons. So, enjoy!
Applications with Yoga
Feldenkrais™ lessons can complement and transform a yoga practice. Feldenkrais focuses on letting go of unnecessary tension, refining movement patterns, and cultivating curiosity all while increasing overall ease and health.
One’s yoga practice can become not just easier, but more graceful and integrated – and fun!
There is a great deal of commonality in the underlying principles and practices. Both approaches emphasise awareness of breath, comfort, appreciation of elegance in movement and positions, as well as change and growth. Participants from both leave classes with a sense of increased wellness and ease.
Developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, this somatic education system uses gentle, systematic exploratory movements to enhance awareness, alignment, and functional ease. It engages the nervous system’s capacity for learning (the basis of neuroplasticity), enabling you to discover new, more effective ways to move and sense yourself.
The Feldenkrais Method™ is offered in two ways: classes (called Awareness Through Movement™ or ATM®) and individual sessions (called Functional Integration™ or FI®). This article refers mainly to the ATM classes. What is taught in a class is usually referred to as a “lesson”, which emphasises that the experience is intended to be a learning experience, and that the learning is related to changes in functioning.
Shared Emphasis on Breathing
Both yoga and the Feldenkrais Method place breathing at the heart of their practice. In Feldenkrais, attention to breath often reveals unconscious tension and habits that interfere with ease. Lessons may explore how subtle adjustments in moving the ribs or the rhythm of breathing reduced effort and improves alignment (see: What is Correct Breathing and Your Best Breath).
For instance, a student might discover how expanding awareness of breath during a twist allows the movement to unfold naturally, rather than forcing it, and consequently the person can twist further without strain. These discoveries resonate with yoga practitioners, deepening their connection to breath in asanas and meditation.
Overcoming Plateaus with Less Effort
The result can often be less ease and even injury. Many Yoga practitioners encounter plateaus in their practice, where progress seems elusive despite consistent effort. Often, these roadblocks stem from habitual movement patterns that limit flexibility or strength. Feldenkrais lessons can help let go of these limitations by introducing new movement pathways.
For example, in balancing poses like Tree Pose or Warrior III, doing lessons that apply Feldenkrais principles to reduce unnecessary muscular tension related to standing can improve stability and focus.
Dancing Between Effort & Ease
Can you dance between effort and ease? An oft-quoted aphorism in the Yoga Sutras is the sthira-sukham asanam, sutra 2.46, and is most commonly translated, “posture (asana) [should be] stable (sthira) and comfortable (sukha)[i]”. Similarly, Dr. Feldenkrais wrote, “In any coordinated, well-learned action we can distinguish certain features or recognize the following sensations”, two of which are: 1. Absence of effort; 2. Ease of breathing. In a way, his book, The Potent Self, can be read as reflections of the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali[ii] in daily life.
For example, in balancing poses like Tree Pose or Warrior III, applying Feldenkrais principles to attend to, and reduce unnecessary muscular tension can improve stability and focus.
Real-Life Stories: Healing and Transformation
Rachel Potasznik, a certified Yoga teacher, attended her first ATM class to address a chronic shoulder injury. Initially skeptical of the slow, subtle movements, she had a breakthrough when a tiny, deliberate shoulder movement suddenly released long-held tension. Her shoulder began to heal, inspiring her to train as a Feldenkrais teacher and integrate the method into her Yoga practice[iii].
Faye Berton, another Yoga teacher, had a similar experience. A practitioner of the rigorous Iyengar style, she initially struggled with the Feldenkrais emphasis on reducing effort. “To ask me to reduce effort was a real short-circuit,” she admitted. But over time, she noticed profound changes in her body awareness and capabilities, leading her to pursue certification as a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner™ [iv].
These stories highlight how Feldenkrais lessons help practitioners move past injury, limitation, and ingrained habits—unlocking new potential in their Yoga practice.
The Feldenkrais alternative to striving and efforting
Many people in society have a habit of applying effort and ignoring discomfort in order to achieve a pose. Students in ATM classes are invited to explore movement (and stillness) with curiosity and openness. They are encouraged to notice how they move to sense how this resonates through their whole body as they follow the suggested movement. This approach broadens their internal awareness, allowing them to refine movements and discover new possibilities. The result is not just improved function but a deeper sense of embodiment and presence.
Feldenkrais Lessons Are Often Done Lying Down
Unlike Yoga, which works primarily in upright postures, Feldenkrais lessons often take place lying on the floor. This creates an environment where students can focus entirely on sensing and refining movement without the added challenge of maintaining balance.
Near the end of a class, students are often invited to experience the movements upright.
For Yoga practitioners, this can reveal subtle patterns of tension that affect standing poses or transitions. For example, through experiencing a classic Feldenkrais lesson titled “The Pelvic Clock”, a yoga student can improve stability and alignment in Warrior Pose or Downward Dog. By removing habitual compensations, students gain new insights into how their body works as a whole.
Practical Benefits for Yoga Practitioners
The integration of Feldenkrais and Yoga offers tangible benefits:
- Refining Alignment: ATM lessons clarify errors in alignment thus improving asanas.
- Overcoming Plateaus: By introducing new movement patterns, students can release physical or mental barriers in their practice.
- Reducing Effort: The emphasis on ease transforms poses that once felt difficult or strained into graceful, sustainable movements.
- Deepening Awareness: Both practices cultivate mindfulness, and the Feldenkrais Method offers unique tools for sensing the body’s interconnections in real-time.
Applying Awareness Though Movement (ATM) lessons in Yoga classes
Many yoga teachers who have participated in ATM lessons find that they can bring some of the lesson sequences into their practice. The ubiquitous “Pelvic Clock” lesson developed by Dr. Feldenkrais is now explored in many yoga classes. It is not uncommon to find yoga teachers implementing a sequence they learned in ATM classes to help their students find comfort in approaching a pose.
Closing Invitation
Yoga and the Feldenkrais Method share a common goal: enhancing strength, flexibility, balance, and presence. By blending these practices, practitioners can move beyond effort and strain to discover ease, grace, and integration in both movement and life. Experience this synergy for yourself.
Why not start with a session today and see how it complements your Yoga practice? I invite you to explore further with the free introduction to the Feldenkrais Method available online at: (https://somaticjourneys.thrivecart.com/free-introduction/) This includes a full lesson so that you can experience many of these aspects, as well as three short (5-10-minute) lessons specifically designed to free the neck, free the jaw and reduce stiffness in the hips and spine.
References
[i] See: https://www.ekhartyoga.com/articles/practice/sthira-and-sukha-finding-balance-on-and-off-the-mat
[ii] For example: https://www.swamij.com/yoga-sutras-list.htm
[iii] My Journey from Yoga to Feldenkrais® and Back Again, By Rachel Potasznik https://feldenkrais.com/my-journey-from-yoga-to-feldenkrais-and-back-again-by-rachel-potasznik/
[iv] Improving Yoga Asana With Feldenkrais – Interview With Faye Berton. Video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdwKH7wbwgk
Feldenkrais Method® for Sleep
Do you wake up in the middle of the night with a lot of thoughts or emotions — and cannot get back to sleep? I’ve been there, a captive of anxiety.
When I was a young man, I began waking up in the middle of the night, staying awake for seemingly hours, with many thoughts about things happening in my life. A friend called it her “squirrels running around”. She identified it as a kind of anxiety, and described it as part of my consciousness/brain was concerned that I would miss something important and so I had to wake up. The solution for me was surprisingly simple and had two steps. The first was to have a notebook at the side of the bed upon which to write the concerns. The second was a bit of a surprise: each night, I had to teach myself (verbally and even imagining doing it) that if something important needed done, that I would wake up, write it down, and deal with it in the morning. Thus I learned a new process for effective sleep.
Did you know that your body has cues for sleep? Each of us have a unique combination of sensations that trigger the mind to shift state toward sleep. It’s usually more than one sensation. For example, it could be lying on your left side, your left hand under your left cheek, right knee drawn up a little bit; you might have the sensation of a soft sheet on your right cheek or shoulder. You might feel your tummy gently expanding and easing near the soft lower sheet. In other words, this combination (or constellation) of sensations together “mean” “ready to sleep”.
However, anxiety separates us from our sensations, and our mind does not get that constellation of sensory cues; instead our thoughts spiral to the past or future. Thus we need to use our brilliant conscious mind to bring attention to sensation.
Anxiety also causes our attention to focus, to have “tunnel vision”. So attending to a single sensation brings in this tunnel vision. Instead we need to also open our attention to attend to several sensations in a gentle, organic way. So the brilliant mind also needs to change its pattern to have an “open focus”.
These two conditions are usually sufficient to allow your system to recognize sufficient cues so the “sleep constellation” can be recognized and you can drift off to sleep.
Almost all Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® lessons help you with these.
After five to ten minutes of easy attention to oneself in the present seems to be sufficient for most people to allow the sensations of sleep to be recognized… and you drift off…
A common Awareness Through Movement lesson for easy sleep involves attending to breathing… (here’s a link to one).
More articles:
Clarify the Self Image
Have you a gap in your Self Image?
The Self Image is the core from which we move, act, think and even feel. Dr. Feldenkrais had an idea about the self-image being much broader than the social self-image that is in popular psychology — it is that with which we generate our thoughts and actions.
How would you know? You are probably unaware of your self-image being incomplete. However, you make mistakes, or you feel stiff and achey. These are examples that arise from an incomplete self-image.
To be clear, this Self Image is not just your conscious picture of yourself and the values and feelings related to it (which are, of course, important). This notion of “self-image” extends beyond conscious perceptions to encompass how your entire being orchestrates various actions, from the mundane to the intricate.
Think of a limitation you have — it is plausible that this hints at an aspect of your self-image that is incomplete — there is a gap, and this leads to your overall system compensating for the gap.
A student recently asked about a sharp pain in her shin that appeared irregularly, but was very briefly disabling. Here’s how I replied to her:
You might be contemplating the likelihood of a similar experience occurring again, understandably hoping to avoid it. Have you experimented with applying pressure to that spot again? If so, what have you observed? f you’re concerned about any underlying issues, I’d highly recommend consulting a trusted medical professional who possesses in-depth knowledge of the anatomy in question.
It’s important to clarify that the Feldenkrais Method isn’t geared toward diagnosis; rather, it is a process of inquiry with the focus of increasing wellness and overall functioning. My initial curiosity lies in inquiring if the issue might be linked to challenges in certain movements, such as walking, kneeling, or bending. Perhaps similar sensations arise when lying down, especially with blankets on your feet? Exploring the tonus (the degree of tightness) of muscles from the bottom of your feet to your lower back could provide valuable insights.
If you came to see me for a private session, with a concern about a pain in your shin, here’s how I would approach it. First we would sit, and you could give me any additional information. Then, in sitting, I might ask you to move in certain ways that might inform us some aspects that you might have missed. I probably would ask you to walk a bit, again so I can lean a bit more about how you allow weight transfer. Then I would invite you to lie on the Feldenkrais table, and we would add supports behind the head, the knees, and elsewhere so you are deeply comfortable, without strain. My exploration would be a non-verbal earning process as I would follow with my hands the sensation as I can sense of how that leg is organized — that is, how efficiently weight is transferred through the leg, even up to the head. I would compare the two legs and subtly invite options for improving to refine this process, thereby improving the implicit self-image, thereby educating the system a more effective way for weightbearing. As your system improves, you will feel an ease in breathing, a softening (“letting go”) in the abdomen, the neck and the face. When you sit and then stand, further changes will be apparent to you.
It’s plausible that this experience hints at an aspect of your self-image that is incomplete leading to your overall system compensating for the gap. Further exploration would follow a non-verbal process as this facet of self-image operates beyond conscious awareness. I would follow with my hands the sensation as I can sense of how that leg is organized — that is, how efficiently weight is transferred through the leg, even up to the head. I would compare the two legs and subtly invite options for improving to refine this process, thereby improving the implicit self-image, thereby educating the system a more effective way for weightbearing. As your system improves, you will feel an ease in breathing, a softening (“letting go”) in the abdomen, the neck and the face. When you sit and then stand, further changes will be apparent to you.
And, finally, I encourage you to consider Awareness Though Movement™ classes. These provide very unique ways to approach this hidden aspect of yourself, through movement and your ability to observe yourself. I have many courses online — even free ones — so check out the current classes (https://www.somaticjourneys.com/classes/) or prior recorded courses (https://feldenkrais247.com)
For further reading, come to:
- On Self-Image, by Fariya Doctor
- On the Self-Image, a lecture by Dr. Feldenkrais
And, of course, you can always write to me, rblack@somaticjourneys.com
Your Best Breath
Why Improve your Breath?
A student once inquired, “Why focus on improving breathing?”
I outlined three compelling ways in which refining your breathing can lead to both immediate and lasting improvements in your overall health:
Enhancing Functional Breathing: Often, we only become aware of our breathing when it becomes dysfunctional—limited, noisy, or disrupted in the oxygen-carbon dioxide cycle. Dysfunctional breathing manifests as feelings of breathlessness during physical activities, strained breathing, nasal congestion, and more. By improving the functioning of your breath, you can address these issues, enhancing performance in sports or activities like swimming, diving, or mountain hiking.
Countering Stress Effects: Stress exerts a vice-like grip on the chest, causing many individuals in their 40s and 50s to seek medical attention for chest pains. While medical examinations may reveal a healthy heart, the pains are often attributed to the concealed impact of anxiety and worry. Stress prompts the autonomic nervous system to contract the muscles between the ribs, leading to habitual and painful contractions. These lessons directly influence and mitigate this stress response.
Improving Coordination: Dr. Feldenkrais observed that in optimal functioning, the breath remains unaffected during all movements, following the body’s natural rhythms. Individuals often unknowingly hold their breath during crucial actions, such as swinging a golf club, chopping vegetables, or singing a note. This disrupts the planned trajectory of the action, impacting coordination. The lessons emphasize practice to enhance coordination, reduce stress, and increase overall capacity.
Problem breathing while sleeping. Many people have problem sleeping, including sleep apnea, heavy breath, obstruction and coughing, and of course, snoring. Regular practice of breathing exercises can make a significant difference in your sleep patterns and thus your self of waking and feeling rested.
You can refine your breathing, reduce stress, improve coordination, and enhance your overall well-being with two courses focused on Breathing:
This 4-lesson course is all about finding the ways to experience the breath to be easy, relaxed, responsive to your needs.
In each class you will learn about the amazing apparatus of breathing that we are born with; how you can find your way to breathe easier tantalizing hints on how you can increase your ease and comfort. Click to learn more.
What is Correct Breathing?
In a workshop in London, England, Dr Feldenkrais spoke about breathing.
“What is correct breathing? The answer is as elusive as ‘What is clever or good talking?’
Our breathing apparatus is a thing to enable us to get enough oxygen; and get enough CO2 or carbon dioxide out of the body. There is no rule for breathing except that it must be a supple, versatile instrument. By the way you will see that it’s not enough.
There are other parts of the lung that can breathe independently, and unless your instrument can work as we said:
- that each function, the moving of the chest,
- the moving of the abdomen,
- the widening of the ribs,
- the moving of the diaphragm,
every one can go from the extreme limit of its function, as much to the left as to the right, as much strained as relaxed.
Any of those combinations are within your range, and all functions trained to the limit, then your body is ready, in whatever position, whatever situation you may be in: struggling, wrestling, swimming, diving, the breathing apparatus will adjust itself to provide you with the necessary air and the necessary elimination of CO2.
“Another very important thing: if you want to breathe better, don’t train the breathing in. Breathing in can be done in any wrong way, you won’t have any indication from your body that you are wrong.
Our system of breathing is triggered in the body: by the nervous system. Because, you see, it gets out of order too. … Breathing must be left to organize itself, just exactly as our speech. We learn to speak, we develop our intelligence, but we don’t dictate to anybody what to say on a given occasion.
…. The most important thing [is] breathing out, because this triggers and regulates the breathing in, in the way our body and nervous system are built.”
(Source: London 1974 transcript, Breathing lesson)
Two online course series are available for you:
- Gentle Breath, with 4 lessons, some quite short. (Click to view)
- Deeper Breathing, or “Your best Breath” – 5 hour-long lessons plus excellent additional materials. (Click to view)
Happy Hips and Shoulders
Learn how much your shoulders can relax.
Discover new freedom in your hips.
It’s not uncommon for discomfort to manifest in both shoulders and hips simultaneously. In our Feldenkrais approach to the body and mind, we see intricate connections.
A “shoulder” is more than just a spot on the body; it’s more than a joint. Its position at rest and how we move it reflects complex connections with various parts of ourselves – connections and habitual tensions that often escape our awareness. It’s through cultivating this awareness that change truly begins.
The building of awareness at so many levels produces changes that are felt throughout oneself. Recently, a student marvelled as her newfound shoulder freedom led to the diminishment of her neck issues.
Step by step, starting from very simple movements, each class brings you gently to new realizations on your path to freedom of your shoulders and hips.
The Class
Each class will bring ease to shoulders and hips, although some classes may seem to have a focus more on one area.
There are lessons for those who are just beginning in the Feldenkrais Method™, as well as lessons to satisfy the curiosity of those with significant experience.
About The Course
- New people are welcome!
- All movements are easy on your body.
- The pace will fit your needs.
- There will be time for discussion after each class.
- Audio recordings of the classes will be available.
- Mats will be provided, but please bring a towel.
Try this short lesson
- To begin with, sit comfortably — at the front of a chair, or on the floor.
- Sense the distance between the each shoulder and the ear lobe.
- Which side feels longer? Which side feels shorter?
- Choose the side that feels shorter.
- Raise the arm on that side overhead as close to the ear as is comfortable and let the forearm rest on the top of the head.
Continue with this video:
For more information:
How to Benefit from Feldenkrais Classes
Feed your brain by making distinctions
A Short Lesson for you…
Maybe your feet also give you some trouble. Try this online course!
Happy Toes
