Practice:
My practive is inclusive in the spirit of the method. I work with different people and I adjust my approach to the client specific needs. When working with a person recovering from a stroke orientation in space and in the body needs to be reestablished, whilst dealing with severe pain.
I explore with the client developmental movements and basic functions helping to clarify and refine movements. Similar needs can be found when dealing with developmental disabilities.
Complex Post Traumatic Stress disorder benefits from a specific type of touch and rebalance of muscular tome and of the nervous system. Chronic pain is associated with many protective musculoskeletal patterns that can have a purpose but can also be at the root of further pain. I provide the clustomer with new movement options and encourage a free choice.
Performance improvement can be more related to refining a motor act and help the customers to move away from superfluous habits that can limit their progression.
Biography:
I started to practice the Feldenkrais method in my late 20s as a personal investigation; At that time, I was about to complete my master degree in Physics, I lived in Italy and amongst my very diverse interests I spent long time reading about consciousness, brain and human vision.
In one of my books about vision I found a Feldenkrais lesson.The movements were very simple, basic flexion and extension of the ankles with shifting progressively the attention through the body from the ankles to the head. I took my time through the lesson and I started to feel a pleasurable and progressive softening, toward the end the tiniest movements were echoing up to the top of my skull. When I got up I was amazed, the change in the general organisation of my neck muscles and cervical vertebrae was so deep that I decided I wanted to understand better the "magic" behind the method.
Since that moment I always practised and studied Feldenkrais as a side to my main occupation as scientist. When I moved to France to begin my doctorate in Physics, I was lucky enough to find a practitioner there and I continued to practice with her.I was always fascinated by the possibility of training to become a Feldenkrais practitioner but I had to put that aspect of my life on hold whilst I pursued my scientific career.
In my "other life" I am a condensed matter physicist and a senior beamline scientist. I am interested in magnetic and functional materials that I study mostly using x-ray resonant scattering.
As a scientist I found the Feldenkrais approach to human movement and learning the most sophisticated and complete one available to date. The Feldenkrais comprehensive approach encompasses the role of the nervous system, its plasticity, developmental and autonomous aspects, the role of the gravitational fields as an external force as well as aspects of the internal constraints dictated by the skeletal body mechanics. It is not surprising in this respect the consideration that the method is gaining amongst the new generation of neuroscientists. There are many aspects of human learning that are still beyond our current understanding and we should not be mistaken by thinking that this approach can deal magically with all the issues that we can experience but, based on my experience, I can certainly tell that it is an invaluable tool to find in ourselves resources to help us during our life journey.
