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Moving A-Head (workshop: Sat 8 Feb 2014)

Terrible name for workshop. So sorry. Time pressure.

But I have been working a lot both myself and with many, many people who come to see me for one- to-one (F.I) with this issue of the freedom of the head in order to be able to look around (obviously) but also balance better, move from one position to another better (lying to sitting to standing etc) or one point of balance to another  (one leg to the other), be able to use the arms for pushing, pulling, reaching, typing, playing an instrument – even punching. It can be so difficult to do these kinds of things without fixing the head by hanging on somewhere in the neck or right at the junction of neck /torso or neck/shoulders and so limiting possibilities and disrupting the very activity we wish to improve. And then of course there is tension and pain etc that can go along with it. Continue reading “Moving A-Head (workshop: Sat 8 Feb 2014)”

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To Stretch or Not to Stretch

It often surprises people that ‘stretching’ is not a word that is often used in the Feldenkrais Method  (in my experience). However there is a rather different – and very valuable – approach to enabling muscles to find their length in the Method. So I put up an article from the New York Times called ‘Reasons Not to Stretch’ (April 2013)  about research into static (usually passive) stretching before exercise on my Facebook page a short while ago, because I felt it represented a piece of scientific understanding that is potentially going in our direction. (The link to it is currently broken everywhere so will have to refind the original research or find another way to get the article to post it!)

However,  it caused a little bit of a stir, Continue reading “To Stretch or Not to Stretch”

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Anxiety and Stress Patterns and the Feldenkrais Method

I just found this article on Anxiety and Stress which I wrote a few years ago for the newsletter of the health centre I work at. Trauma and anxiety have been cropping up as a theme in one-to-ones lately and I thought this article still read quite well – though it is a little more formal than my usual ‘blog’ style’ – so here it is: Continue reading “Anxiety and Stress Patterns and the Feldenkrais Method”

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Karate? No. Surely not? Not You, Vic!

Karate? No. Surely not? Not You, Vic! Is often the response I get, when I finally tell someone I am a student of Go Ju Ryu Karate.  If I had said I was doing T’ai Chi or Chi Gung or even Aikido or Judo there would be less surprise. Sometimes the surprise is because I weigh less than 50kg, am built like a bird and am known for being rather the opposite of confrontational. Continue reading “Karate? No. Surely not? Not You, Vic!”

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No, that actor is not on drugs: they’ve just had a Feldenkrais lesson

The wonderful thing about doing an FI (Functional Integration session: hands-on one-to-one) for an actor is that they are usually already half way there. If they are a student they are hungry to learn so they come really ready to learn something. If they are a seasoned professional they probably only come when they are in pain unless they already know the value of this work – but if they are open they simply can’t help learning something more along the way. I defy any truly curious actor not to get interested when they start to feel in vivid detail more of what they are doing and get a sniff of what else they could do as well. Continue reading “No, that actor is not on drugs: they’ve just had a Feldenkrais lesson”

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Walking With Ease Workshop Jan 27th

There is a lot of emphasis around at the moment on being stronger in a muscular sense. In general if someone comes to see me they tend to say ‘I am not strong enough’, ‘my back  is weak’, ‘my core is weak’ as an explanation for whatever it is they are having difficulty with. We also have a very exercise oriented culture in which things need to be done ‘strongly’ and nothing is any good unless you are using lots of effort and working very hard.

Now I should lay my cards on the table at this point and say there is nothing wrong with exercise and nothing wrong with using lots of effort and working very hard. Continue reading “Walking With Ease Workshop Jan 27th”