Every year, our teachers record lessons for International Feldenkrais Week.

The lessons are here to stream (listen to) or download (keep) for your personal use and to share with friends or family. They are not for commercial use – thank you.

International Feldenkrais Week 2024

To mark International Feldenkrais Week and the anniversary of the 120th birthday of Moshe Feldenkrais, we are celebrating with the launch of a series of free online Awareness Through Movement (ATM) recordings.

Six ATM lessons, which fall under the theme of ‘Transitions’, will be available to download here and will be released on a daily basis between 6 and 13 May. Recordings are by teachers Sharon Gimpel, Hannah Wheeler, Josephine Horder, Scott Clark, Shelagh O’Neill and Kristin Fredricksson.

Details of free and low-cost in person classes during IFW 2024 are available here.

Day 3 – ‘Are you ready to stand up?’ with Josephine Horder

As a professional cellist, I have had a career-long apprenticeship in sitting. Cellists must adapt to purpose designed orchestral chairs (if lucky), merely adequate chairs and all too often – unsuitable chairs. We can be sitting for long periods and there is very little ‘wriggle room’ when supporting a cello. Comfortable sitting bones and a healthy, happy spine become major preoccupations when this is your profession.

Along the way I have experienced revisions and revelations in the way I sit, especially since the Feldenkrais Method came into my life.

Most recently, and most relevant to the short Awareness Through Movement lesson I have recorded for International Feldenkrais Week, I have found that feet play an essential role in both sitting sustainably and comfortably, and also in maintaining vitality. Compared to standing, sitting brings with it a sense of inertia and has associations with relaxing, resting, slacking off and letting go. However, those associations are not conducive to the alert concentration and physical vitality needed for rehearsals and performances, nor for any other form of seated activity or work.

Once our bottoms land on a chair we might fall into the trap of assuming that feet and lower legs have no part to play and we typically express this by crossing our legs or tucking our feet under the chair. It was a revelation to discover how feet can contribute to alert concentration and vitality; they are an essential ingredient in ‘active’ sitting, by which I mean a sense of readiness and freedom to move in any direction, an ‘antidote’ to a state of inertia. By actively connecting with the floor, the feet can fire up an anti-gravity energy through the legs and into the hip joints, pelvis and spine. This provides welcome and necessary support to the shoulder girdle and arms, much needed where hands and arms are involved in complex and demanding tasks.

It might look as if cellists use only their hands and arms. My experience has been that cello playing is as physical as tennis playing – only constrained by a chair – and involves all parts, from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head, collaborating together as a harmonious whole in service to the needs of the music. If the musical context is quiet and calm, then all parts can take the opportunity to refresh themselves. When maximum energy and engagement are needed, then it is my feet which provide the power source and support.

In my IFW lesson we explore the role of feet in alert sitting, (whether playing an instrument, desk work or at the meal table) by addressing the question – are you ready to stand up? Moshe Feldenkrais proposed that a hallmark of an efficient action is that it requires no preparatory adjustment. In light of this, the question becomes – are your feet positioned in such a way that you are ready to stand up? Even more challengingly, is the whole of you, up to the crown of your head, connected to your feet so that you are poised for action and ready to stand up?

This is an 18 minute lesson exploring the role of feet in alert sitting and readiness to stand up. You will need to sit on a flat, firm, armless chair or stool. Ideally your thighs should be horizontal or very slightly sloping down towards your knees and please remove your shoes. Today you will work with one foot of your choice; I invite you to return to this lesson at some point and work with the other foot.

Josephine Horder is a professional cellist and Feldenkrais practitioner based in Tring.

Day 2 – ‘Spring Awakening – Sensing Ground Forces’ with Sharon Gimpel

A short lesson exploring the force coming from the ground through the whole body – a world of connection from foot to pelvis through the spine to the head.

Feldenkrais said that babies are already preparing for learning to walk when they are on their backs playing and exploring gravity. I still remember the joy and surprise on my daughter’s face when, as a baby, she pushed her foot into the ground and felt her head moving – that’s the beginning of eventually standing and moving upright. This lesson is a short example of this theme on which Feldenkrais built so many of his lessons.

Sharon Gimpel is a Feldenkrais and somatic movement practitioner and a movement artist based in Stroud.

Day 1 – ‘From Side to Back’ with Shelagh O’Neill

Transitions – from side to back.

Moving from one thing to another – we do it all the time. 

This simple lesson, moving from side to back, can help us understand how clear articulation can make any transition easier. 

Managing transitions is a great test of resilience and flexibility. How quickly do we go? So quickly we can’t really manage the change? (perhaps we’d rather not dwell too long). Or so slowly we forget the intention? And apart from speed, what other factors seem relevant – comfort, attention?

Understanding the range of movement possibilities can help us find the way to do something with clarity and focus.

This lesson is a brief dip into the way the Feldenkrais Method brings freedom of action – not only in physical movement, but the way we think about enacting change.

Shelagh O’Neill is a Feldenkrais Practitioner based in the south-west of England.

Finding a lesson to suit

Scroll down to view the catalogue. Click the small white triangle to choose a year and see a list of lessons. Each lesson has a descriptive name, its duration and the position(s) for doing the lesson. Which do you fancy?

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