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I'm delighted to introduce our September newsletter. It focuses on working with children, particularly those with disabilities, conditions and impairments. Practitioner Lou Coleman, who has worked with this client group for many years, shares her thoughts on how and why Feldenkrais can be so effective in this context. I've recorded a 20 minute lesson, to complement the blog, and explore this theme further.
We have our final library events coming up, this time in Sussex, as well as a host of workshops and classes throughout the UK. Don't miss out on the pick of our recent social media posts and articles, and a link to the North American Guild's recent news.
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And as for me...since being on the Guild Committee I have edited this newsletter. Do get in touch with any feedback. Based in London and Frome, I mainly work with adults aged 40-60 who realise they can longer do what they've previously taken for granted. Ed Bartram
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The Fantastic Language of Movement: Sensory Intelligence of Children
by Lou Coleman
Neuroscience has given us incredible insight into how the brain and the nervous systems continue to learn new skills - learning never stops. Feldenkrais is grounded in the belief that everybody can learn regardless of abilities. The method is subtle yet dynamic, and through a movement modality, a Feldenkrais approach unites the self to organise for better everyday functionality.
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Apprenticeship with the Floor
One of the first things babies begin to learn is how to move. They respond to stimuli - internal and external sensory sensations. In the early weeks and months of life, along with bonding with their primary caregiver(s), babies begin their long apprenticeship with the floor. The floor is the place where most early functional movement learning happens. They respond to sensory impulses to kick, to move their arms, to breathe, to turn their eyes and head.
They discover the beginning of weight shift and weight bearing; the basics of physics - if something lifts, something else presses. Through these subtleties of pressing and lifting different parts of themselves, their relationship with gravity begins to change and they begin to roll, changing their orientation. Over time, they work out how to lift their head, move their pelvis, get their arms out of the way as they roll. Trials through sensation and movement gradually sees their movement repertoire develop. No-one tells a baby how to move, yet their sensory movement foundations are being laid, and they’re off on their way towards the next development stages.
Children with impairments, conditions or disabilities
Children and teenagers who are born with or acquire impairments, conditions or disabilities have very similar early learning processes to those who do not have medical diagnoses. Their growing curiosity of the world invites them to respond to what they find is possible for them. They explore the beginnings of movements and navigate their own physicality. They explore their world through their sensory intelligence - their knowing eyes, their breathing, or a weakness in limbs that will effect weight bearing and balance. These unique characteristics will influence their movement repertoire.
In their own time as sensory beings they start their learning journey by figuring it out for themselves, through working out what is possible. All babies and children follow their
intelligence and no one tells them how to move.
For children and teenagers who have additional physical or learning needs, my role as a Feldenkrais Practitioner - someone who teaches movement - could be helpful. My approach appreciates the child’s non-verbal wisdom, whether I’m working with diagnoses of autism, profound and multiple disabilities, sensory processing or cerebral palsy. I meet the child or teenager with respect for how they already move. I’m not looking to fix or correct, but to invite the child into the wonderful world of learning from their own resources and skills. Working together, they extend that learning, building on their own intelligence and sensation. This approach supports their brain and body working more in harmony - everybody could do with some of that!
Piecing the puzzle together
This learning through movement and sensation is a language children and teenagers are already experts in. It could be they’re already moving independently on and across the floor. It could be they’re wanting to learn a new everyday functional movement or simply to have more agency, but are a little stuck.
In sessions lasting about an hour, we work toward learning a particular skill or movement. We explore pieces of the movement puzzle they already know, to ensure the foundations are stable enough to be built on. A house can’t be built on wobbly foundations! Then we move on towards the next part; this could be a subtle, very internal movement, but could be a part of the larger puzzle. In the same way as babies try, make errors, find different
variations, and then find the easiest and most comfortable way, we will too. We explore the different possibilities.
Touch as communication
As a teacher working with the child or teenager, my approach is mostly hands-on, using touch. Touch as communication taps into the child and teenager’s sensory intelligence. It is part of a fantastic internal language they already know, and have known long before other ways of communicating began to develop. A Feldenkrais approach, using respectful, intentional, clear touch, can support learning from the inside-out. Relying on through-the-body sensory information - tactile feedback, proprioception, vestibular and kinaesthetic sensing, they learn through movement. This approach to learning can be particularly beneficial for children and teenagers whose worlds are more non-verbal, whose communication is mostly through body language: their knowing eyes, their hand fidgeting, bubbling vocalisations or leading you towards the object they want. By trial and error, by trying many different options, touch and sensory input become another way to communicate and learn.
After we explore together the different aspects of the movement puzzle that feeds into their development, it’s over to them. As a sensory being with many capacities and wisdom they translate what they have learnt in their own way, finding ways to live life with more agency and connectivity.
Contacting a Practitioner and speaking to them about their work and experience is the best way to start a conversation about Feldenkrais for children and teenagers.
Biog
Lou Coleman is a Feldenkrais Practitioner whose practice has developed from over 17 years of working with children, teenagers and their families in a variety of settings. Over
the years she has supported families with disabled children as they welcome a new baby into the family.
Lou has experience and training in the different approaches which can be used to support people with Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC) and Profound and Multiple Learning
Disabilities (PMLD). With her everyday being rich with the nuances of life, she knows that creating a welcoming, fun environment without limiting expectations can bring out the
delightfully unexpected! loucoleman.org
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Apprenticeship with the Floor
a 20 min lesson
Try this lesson by Ed Bartram, which explores how we begin to learn to move, through pressing and lifting on the floor.
Notice how you can transmit force from one end of your skeleton to the other, with one leg long and the opposite arm overhead. Reducing your effort makes it easier to notice how this happens.
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Photos © Laura Montag, for Lou Coleman's project Stick-Stuck: a curious place to play
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News from the UK Feldenkrais Community
UK Library Events
Guild Practitioners in Sussex are oganising our final library events in Lewes (October 9th, 4-7pm) and in Seaford (November 6th, 3-6pm). The libraries will then stock seven key books on the Feldenkrais Method. These include the Elusive Obvious by Moshe Feldenkrais, with an introduction by Norman Doidge which has recently been re-published. Contact rebecca@inspiring-connections.co.uk for further information on these events.
Classes and Workshops
Take a look at the Guild website to find a teacher or a class. For a list of Feldenkrais workshops taking place in the UK in the next month:
Longer Courses / Outside UK
• Tuesday - Sunday, 1 - 6 October 2019, 10am - 6pm
Rebecca Meitlis: Step into Awareness, a Feldenkrais retreat
AGISTRI 18010 Greece; www.walkingretreat.org.uk
London
• Saturday, 14 September, 2 - 5pm
Lou Coleman: From Sitting to Standing; loucoleman.org
Yoga Point, 122 Dalberg Road, BRIXTON SW2 1AP
• Saturday, 21 September. 1.45pm - 4.45pm
Ed Woodall: Feldenkrais Method; clapham@yogahaven.co.uk
Yoga Haven 63 Wingate Square, Clapham, SW4 0AF
• Sunday, 22 September, 2pm - 6pm; www.maggyburrowes.com
Maggy Burrowes: Unfold Your Wings: Release Your Heart From The Back
The Sunflower Centre, 81 Tressillian Rd, Brockley, LONDON, SE4 1XZ
• Monday, 23 September; 10.30am - 1.30pm; www.feldenkraisworks.co.uk
Victoria Worsley: Developing Emotional Nuance, (FOR ACTORS)
The Actors Centre, 1A Tower Street, LONDON WC2H 9NP
• Friday, 27 September; 10 am - 1 pm
Emma Alter: Musicians Union: Feldenkrais for Musicians
60-62, Clapham Rd, London, SW9 0JJ; link to workshop
• Saturday, 28 September; 10.15 am - 5.15 pm
Victoria Worsley: Feldenkrais: Mobiise the Spine
The City Lit, Keely Street WC2; www.feldenkraisworks.co.uk
• Saturday, 12 October; 10.30 am - 4 pm
Scott Clark: Freeing the upper back & shoulders; www.feldenkraislondon.com
The Classrooms, SE1 3QP; entrance from Weston Street, opposite the Greenwood Theatre
• Saturday, 12 October; 2 - 5 pm
Lou Coleman: From Standing to Walking; loucoleman.org
Yoga Point 122 Dalberg Road BRIXTON SW2 1AP
• Friday, 25 October; 10 am - 1 pm
Emma Alter: Musicians Union: Feldenkrais for Musicians
60-62, Clapham Rd, London, SW9 0JJ, link to workshop
• Sunday, 27 October; 11 am- 1.30 pm
Jenny Hill: The eyes and spine connection; www.jennyhill.org
Apothecary Natural Health Centre, 33 Greyhound Road, LONDON W6 8NH
South East of England
• Sunday, 15 September; 10 am - 4 pm
Sabine Schmid Blackaby: more mobility in the spine and ribs through turning and twisting
Bletchworth, Surrey; www.feldenkraisbrighton.co.uk
South West England
• Thursday, 5 September, 7pm
David Zemach-Bersin: The Feldenkrais Method - Discover the Language of your Brain
SPACE Studio 6, Dartington Hall Estate, TOTNES TQ9 6EQ; www.lifeworks4.me.uk
• Friday - Saturday, 20 - 21 September; 2 - 5 pm
Nikhila Mary Ludlow: 'The Jaw & Pelvis Connection'; www.lifeworks4.me.uk
Dartington Village Hall, Dartington, Totnes TQ9 6JD
• Saturday, 21 September, 2 - 5 pm
Susanne Olfs: Introductory workshop; discovering.feldenkrais@gmail.com
Wildgoose Space, 228 Mina Road, St. Werburghs, BRISTOL BS2 9YP
• Saturday, 21 September, 2 - 5 pm
Baerbel Ruecker: Back For The Future; link to workshop
Taurus Crafts, Function Room, The Old Park Park, Forest of Dean, Lydney, GL15 6BU
• Saturday, 28 September; 10.30 am - 3.30 pm
Wilfred van Dorp: Injury Free Walking; www.naturalhealthconsultancy.co.uk
Upton Community Centre, POOLE, BH16 5JA
• Sunday, 13 October; 2 - 5 pm
Jackie Adkins: Releasing the Jaw; www.movetolive.co.uk
Room in Frome, Unit 1a Scott Road, FROME, Somerset BA11 1AL
• Saturday, 26 October; 2 - 6 pm
Jackie Adkins: Are You Sitting Comfortably? www.movetolive.co.uk
Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Rd, EDINBURGH EH16 5AB
• Sunday, 27 October; 2 - 6 pm
Jackie Adkins: Seamless Transitions; www.movetolive.co.uk
Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Rd, EDINBURGH EH16 5AB
East of England
• Sunday, 29 September; 2 - 6 pm
Yeu-Meng Chan: Body Mindfulness - A Healthy and Happy Spine!
Feldenkrais Essex Studio, WESTCLIFF ON SEA, SS0 9EZ; www.feldenkrais-essex.com
• Sunday, 20 October; 2 - 6 pm
Yeu-Meng Chan: Body Mindfulness - Freeing Your Neck and Shoulders
Feldenkrais Essex Studio, WESTCLIFF ON SEA, SS0 9EZ; www.feldenkrais-essex.com
Central England
• Saturday, 5 October; 2 - 5 pm
Ed Woodall: Feldenkrais Method; https://www.oxforddanceforum.com/contact-us/
The Dance Space Suite 27, Oxford House, John Smith Drive, Oxford Business Park, OX4 2JY
Wales
• Sunday, 29 September; 10 am - 1 pm
Veronica Rock: Spine Becoming Free; vhrock@feldenkrais.co.uk
Verve Fitness, Health & Wellbeing, 2-4 George St., LLANGOLLEN LL20 8RE
• Sunday, 27 October; 10 am - 1 pm
Veronica Rock: Left / Right Symmetry; vhrock@feldenkrais.co.uk
Verve Fitness, Health & Wellbeing, 2-4 George St., LLANGOLLEN LL20 8RE
North of England
• Saturday, 14 September; 10 am - 1.30 pm
Caroline Scott: Developmental series: Rolling; link to workshop
The Hebden Therapy Centre, 9 Wragley House, Valley Road, HEBDEN BRIDGE, HX7 7BZ
• Saturday, 14 September; 2 - 5 pm
Anne Robertson: theme TBA; annerobbo@talktalk.net
Bodywise Manchester Buddhist Centre.Turner St M4 1DZ
• Saturday, 21 September; 2 - 5 pm
Julie Wrigley: Finding Space & Length - a Feldenkrais workshop for easier movement
York Yoga Studio, 112 Acomb Road, YORK, YO24 4EY; www.smoothmoveslab.org
• Friday, 11 October; 12 - 3 pm
Veronica Rock & Wendy Sadler: Softening our Outlook
Romiley LifeCentre, ROMILEY SK6 4BN; vhrock@feldenkrais.co.uk
• Saturday, 12 October, 2 - 5 pm
Anne Robertson: theme TBA; annerobbo@talktalk.net
Bodywise Manchester Buddhist Centre.Turner St M4 1DZ
• Saturday, 19 October; 10 am - 1.30 pmCaroline Scott: Developmental series: Crawling; feldenkraisyorkshire@gmail.com
Hebden Therapy Centre, 9 Wragley House, Valley Road, HEBDEN BRIDGE HX7 7BZ
Training to be a Feldenkrais Practitioner in the UK:
The Feldenkrais International Training Centre's (FITC) new training has recently begun in July 2019. It is still possible to join the training, including attendance at a 3-day course in September. Click here for further information.
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A bit more food for thought: the pick of our recent Social Media posts
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