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Home Classes, Workshops, Private Sessions About Olena Continuing Education Contact The Feldenkrais Method is developed into two ways of working to improve
functioning: Starting with gentle movements where you learn to pay attention internally and to sense yourself and your breathing, you develop the ability to sense holding patterns and to let them go. This ability is then brought into larger more dynamic movements. You learn to access, sense, and move parts of yourself which had "disappeared" from your movement abilities. This brings greater ease, better understanding of yourself and proportionately diminishing pain. Through attention, movement and guided awareness you learn how to free yourself from habitual, detrimental patterns and to find new ways of "doing".
Functional Integration®
_______________________________________________ Breath and Dynamic Posture (workshop description) Only a fully breathing body can have dynamic posture. Breath sets the tone Breath is very dimensional What you awaken for breathing . . . In these two days you will begin to awaken the parts of yourself which are necessary for such breathing: diaphragm; ribs; rib joints; abdominal, chest and back muscles; as well as the joints of the spine. You will expand your conceptual understanding of breathing as well as develop insights into how you inhibit your own breath. . . . creates support Once these parts are awakened through and for breathing, they become available to generate dynamic support. The spine literally breathes you into height; the ribs and breast bone support your head and shoulders, the free belly and lower back support you in standing and sitting. Your whole torso becomes a pneumatic support device! Who is this workshop for? This workshop is for breathing professionals (singers, speakers, athletes, dancers, wind players, teachers), conscious breathers (people who practice yoga, meditation, martial arts, Pilates), as well as for the non-professional, casual, perhaps unaware, breather. These days will comprise FELDENKRAIS Awareness Through Movement, some conceptual presentations, as well as the usual atmosphere of exploration, collegial observation and humour. Date: Saturday May 7th and Sunday May 8th, 2005 Time:12:30 - 5:30 pm, both days Cost: $170 (includes GST) for both days To register: Contact Olena _______________________________________________ Posture as Inner Support (workshop description) All human movement whether large and powerful or small, delicate and refined needs to be supported with good posture.Skilled movement requires inner support Whether you play a musical instrument, use a paintbrush, a computer, a dental or construction tool; whether you play a racket sport, do martial arts, ski, jog or row . . . you can improve your performance, skill and physical comfort significantly by refining the posture needed for the "movement" part of your work. Good posture is something to do, not something to have Posture is not about holding a correct position as you move. It is the ability to provide adjusted and accurate support for every tiny movement shift you make. For skilled and pain-free movement, postural adjustments must be as fluid and free as the movement itself. Therefore, posture cannot be static and fixed; it must be dynamic and changeable. Good posture can be thought of as a constant "action under the action." For some movements, "good posture" means finding the support through your skeleton to feel stability, groundedness, and strength. For other movements, "good posture" means finding the nimbleness of your skeleton, the lightness that lets you turn, bend and twist with your violin, your flute, your hammer, or your kitchen knife. Good posture provides you with support to use your arms powerfully or skillfully without strain in the shoulders, forearms or hands. It allows your head the most mobility, your neck the maximum length and minimum effort, and your lower back the greatest ease. Even sitting and standing thrive on dynamic, rather than static posture. When you stop "holding" yourself upright, and find how to support yourself dynamically, you sit and stand more effortlessly and comfortably. Posture is a skill Most modalities take a static perspective on posture. Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement develops your ability to master the fluid aspects of posture, the ongoing "action under the action." Through structured movement and awareness explorations, you first discover where and how you habitually support your movements statically. You then learn how to find postural support which is fluid, more appropriate to the action at hand, and more responsive to your movement needs. Paradoxically . . . Once you learn to find dynamic posture consciously, postural adjustments begin to happen spontaneously. Movement and its support in gravity become integrated partners in intelligent action. That is true skill. And when movement and support work together, that is when you begin to find greater ease and comfort in movement. You will feel the difference when you pick up your instrument, sit at the computer, put on your skis, go out for a run, swing the tennis racket . . . Date: Weekend of January 15th and 16th, 2005 Time:12:30 - 6:00 pm, both days Cost: $95 (includes GST) for one day, $170 (includes GST) for both days To register: Contact Olena _______________________________________________ "Begin to understand how you can apply this process in many life situations." |