New
This Month!
Elizabeth Beringer's Focus on Breathing - CDs
• Ralph Strauch's Living in Gravity - DVDs
• Erin Ferguson's Foundations of the Feldenkrais
Method®: A Framework for Learning
Also
included in this issue are a couple posts - one from
Andrew Weil, the other from the National
Pain Foundation - both acknowledging the benefits
of the Feldenkrais Method®.
We all know that life depends on our ability to
breathe. What is not as obvious is the extent
to which the quality of our breathing affects
the quality of our life. Many people live unnecessarily
with a restricted ability to breathe. This may
be due to trauma, ongoing pain or simply the adoption
of bad habits. This eight-session program leads
the user step-by-step through important aspects
of healthy breathing. Each lesson artfully combines
imagination, breath and movement to create the
basis for fuller and more comfortable breathing.
The way we breathe is normally something that
happens outside of our conscious control. Using
Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement®
lessons, one finds that it is possible to let
go of habits that interfere with full breathing
and instill new, healthier habits. Breath and
movement are intertwined; people using this program
report not only expanded breathing ability but
also increased flexibility. The lessons proceed
gently, and each person can learn at their own
pace. Focus on Breathing can be a great support
for anyone recovering from surgery, dealing with
pain or looking to increase their overall health
and vitality.
Price: $56.95, 4 CDs in a binder, 8 Feldenkrais®
Lessons, Your Price:
$51.26 w/coupon.
We live in a field of gravity. Much of the effort
we expend in life goes toward dealing with that
gravity - keeping ourselves upright and moving
within it. And much of that effort is unnecessary.
We think of life as hard work, so we work harder
at it than we need to. We’re slightly off balance
most of the time, constantly working to keep from
falling over. We lose touch with the natural balance
and fluidity that are our natural birthright.
This workshop will put you back in touch with
that natural balance - in sitting, standing, and
walking, and in the transitions between them.
You will rediscover how your body was meant to
move, and experience the ease and fluidity that
more natural movement offers.
The
Professional Edition is for Feldenkrais®
Practitioners and Trainees and includes a second
DVD containing Feldenkrais advanced training
material related to working with skeletal support
in Functional Integration®.
The
Feldenkrais Method® offers a particular
type of learning that de-habituates the familiar
sensory-motor pathways in your brain. It provides
new coordination and skill while leaving you relaxed,
refreshed, and focused.
How do these lessons work? Often the lessons are
like puzzles in which you figure out how to move
around fixed constraints. This prompts the nervous
system to activate different muscle patterns than
those you usually use. Your attitude of curiosity
and exploration can bring about a major change
in your habitual movement and experience. Improve
your ability to perform daily tasks, whether you're
lifting up your child, putting away the dishes,
or training for a marathon.
1.
Introduction
- Listen Now
2. Standing the legs
3. Turning through the spine
1
CD in a Jewel Case or Download, 65 Min., list
price: $16.95, Your
Price w/coupon: $15.26.
What is Feldenkrais®?
The Feldenkrais Method® is named after
its originator, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc. (1904-1984),
a Russian-born physicist, judo expert, mechanical
engineer and educator. Upon suffering a serious
knee injury, Feldenkrais was faced with a 50 percent
chance for recovery and possible long-term confinement
to a wheelchair. Unsatisfied with the prognosis
and conventional treatments available, he developed
a program of therapeutic movement and began teaching
it to others. The Feldenkrais Method is
based on the principles of physics and biomechanics,
an empirical understanding of human physiology and
the connection between mind and body.
Practitioners use gentle movement and directed attention
with the aim of increasing ease and range of motion,
improving flexibility and coordination and ultimately
rediscovering an innate capacity for graceful, efficient
movement. Continue
reading . . .
The Feldenkrais Method® is a type
of bodywork that uses gentle motions that help
people enhance the connection between their minds
and their bodies by regulating their movement
in small, precise ways. Russian-born Moshe Feldenkrais,
D.Sc., developed the method in the mid-20th century
after he suffered a devastating knee injury. Dr.
Feldenkrais was one of the first scientists who
believed that retraining the body could retrain
the brain (neuroplasticity). Today's findings
on neuroplasticity support his theory. Certified
Feldenkrais® practitioners are required
to receive nearly 1,000 hours of training over
four years to best understand the body’s
movement. They also learn teach clients how to
access mental awareness to use their bodies less
habitually and with less effort. Continue
reading . . .
Video:
Bringing
an Appropriate Environment to a Child
Sheryl Field talks about the primary foundational
elements from which she practices when working
with a child whose legs are spastic and
poorly differentiated as a result of cerebral
palsy.
“What would be the way in which any
child would have learned that their legs
were theirs? What would be the baseline
of recognizing ones own legs as two separate
parts of oneself meant to be under ones
conscious control?”
Sheryl Field, Assistant Trainer of The Feldenkrais
Method®, has been practicing since
her graduation from the Amherst Training
in 1983, the last professional teacher training
taught by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. She is
the founder of The Field Center For Children’s
Integrated Development.
Equestrians
of all skill levels will find this program innovative,
fun, educational and effective for improving their
skill, recovering from injury or simply riding
more comfortably.
These lessons will help you develop the ability
to self-regulate and adjust your riding posture
from moment to moment. Horses respond to the information
transmitted from your pelvis, feet, legs, back,
arms, and hands. These signals must be precise.
But often riders unintentionally give mixed messages
that confuse the horse. With Riding with the Whole
Self lessons, you will gain the tools to recognize
when and how this happens and how to be more focused
and precise. This precision will lead to less
fatigue and more comfort for both you and your
horse.
The
first 6 lessons are to be done at home either
lying or sitting on the floor or a chair. The
last two lessons are done mounted.
8
Feldenkrais® Lessons, 7 CDs with Booklet,
List Price: $64.95, Your
Price: $58.46 w/coupon.
How
do we present Feldenkrais® lessons
so that our students appreciate and use what we
have to offer?
There is, for many of us, a gap between what we
do and what we say, between what we do and how
we think about it. Bridging the Gap
presents ways of spanning this rift between moving
and speaking, doing and explaining, so that your
students grasp their lessons in practical, concrete
ways. You learn SPIFFER—a clear-cut model for
observing and understanding movement—and apply
it to understanding how people move, decoding
the structure of lessons, and being a more effective
teacher from the moment a lesson starts.
•
Recognize what students’ need and discover how
to engage their curiosity.
• Cultivate hands-on sensitivity, skill
and strategy.
• Learn what makes a lesson a lesson .
. . and how to turn that knowledge into persuasive,
lasting learning.
Click
here to watch a video introduction to Trilogy
Price:
$325.00, 12 DVDs in a binder with a data CD which
includes a Study Guide, Articles and SPIFFER notes.
Your Price: $292.50
w/coupon.
"Without
awareness of how we are, it is impossible to
truly "walk the talk," since the talk
doesn't know what the walk is doing!" -Lavinia
Plonka
Drawing
from her years of experience as a Feldenkrais
Method® instructor, Plonka provides
simple exercises, thought-provoking lessons,
and real-life examples that help you grasp the
relationship between your movement patterns,
and your emotional state.
Develop
a kinesthetic “sixth sense”
Effortlessly
command your postures and gestures
Change
your self-sabotaging attitudes and expressions
to new, more effective ones
Learn the structure & strategy of Functional
Integration® (FI) lessons. Explore the theory
and practice of the Method by teaching lessons
around a specific functional theme. Develop an
understanding of not just what to do, but why.
Each phase of a lesson is presented with an eye
to technical detail and to an explanation of the
reasoning behind it. Considering time-tested lessons
as if they followed the same logic as a musical
score, Ideas In Action brings
to light the compositional sense, technical organization
and experiential processes that underlie effective,
unforgettable learning.
You will learn, step-by-step, what to notice and
how to respond. This fosters the deep appreciation
of the grammar and syntax of lessons necessary
to become a reflective practitioner. The finer
points of technique and self-use are clarified.
In this program you will:
• Cultivate movement observation abilities
• Refine hands-on sensitivity and skills
• Develop better self-use
• Study classic lesson composition
• Learn FI scores and strategies
• Enhance creativity and intuition
• Become a more effective educator
Ideas in Action Vol 3:Price: $425.00,
19 DVDs in a binder with a data CD which includes
a Study Guide, MP3 files of the ATMs and SPIFFER
notes. Your Price:
$382.50 w/coupon.
The
Twenty Awareness Through Movement®
Lessons book is both a learning and
a teaching tool. These classic lessons are ideal
for practitioners and students of the Feldenkrais
Method® looking for additional material
to present to public classes where there is
little or no prior experience of the Method.
Erin presents the lessons in a straightforward,
easy-to-learn format. Each lesson is broken
down into (1) orientation, (2) movement suggestion,
and (3) sensory reference, all of which are
noted with clear instructions in three columns.
Many practitioners and students have found this
format beneficial for exploring the logic of
ATMs. Working with lessons when they are explained
in this way offers an opportunity to deepen
your understanding and felt sense of their natural
coherence.
73 Pages, Wire Binding or Download, List Price:
$34.95, Your Price:
$31.46 w/coupon.
If
you want to develop your speaking or singing voice,
this audio program is a must-have! Improve speaking
and singing by emulating the kind of movements
and sounds that infants use to develop their voices.
Enhance your voice by reprogramming the neuromuscular
patterns that are the building blocks of vocal
functioning.
A Soprano on Her Head supplies answers and methods
for overcoming universal psychological blocks
to creative expression - methods that have not
only been proven in her own studio, but which
trace back through history to the oldest and wisest
systems of understanding the integration of mind
and body. The work bears scrutiny both scientifically
and holistically.
Awaken your inner golf pro! Whether you are new
to the game or an old pro, these seven easy lessons
will improve your swing, your game and your score.
Achieve a truly balanced and centered stance,
and a more powerful swing. Make the elegant shots
that characterize the genuine expert. 3 CDs in
binder or Download. List Price; $39.95,
Your Price: $35.96 w/coupon.
A
Guide to Body Sense is an essential resource
for Feldenkrais® Practitioners, health
professionals, as well as the public, who are
interested in exploring their body-self relationship.
Fifty beautifully illustrated Feldenkrais®
Awareness Through Movement® lessons are
presented in the book with eighty pages of text.
Each of the eight chapters explores anatomical
segments and their relationships - the pelvis,
trunk, arm-trunk coordination, leg-trunk coordination,
feet and hands, movements in sitting, eyes, head
& neck, and various advanced movements. The lessons
in each chapter are presented as short sequences
of movements which clearly enhance the sense of
the skeletal movement and alignment. The book
is designed to free the body of inefficient habitual
patterns, easing chronic conditions and keeping
you young.
Discover
your hip joints! Your hip joints are the key to
easy and comfortable movement - but they are also
mysterious and hidden from our self-image. To
move powerfully from your hip joints is more than
just a nice idea, it is an experience you can
embrace and utilize more and more frequently in
your daily life.
We hope
you enjoyed receiving this message. However, if you'd
rather not receive future e-mails of this sort from AchievingExcellence.com,
please click on the link below.
Feldenkrais®,
Feldenkrais Method®,Awareness Through Movement®
and Functional Integration® are registered
service marks of the Feldenkrais Guild® of
North America.
