Awareness Through Movement^®: Feldenkrais^® Workshops & Class Series

Unless otherwise stated, workshops and class series at held the Feldenkrais Center for Movement Education, 98 Chenery Street, San Francisco, CA94131. To register online click on this link, or send us a message, or call us on 415.826.3680.

Three workshops on the Face, Jaw, Eyes and Neck, with Cliff Smyth
Saturdays February 11, 18 & 25, 2012. 1:00 - 4:00 pm. $50 per workshop, or $120 for all three (save $30).
Find greater ease and comfort through exploring the important relationships of the head and upper body to perception, communication and action.

The Face & the Jaw, with Cliff Smyth
Saturday February 11, 2012. 1:00 - 4:00 pm. $50/$120 for all Face, Jaw, Eyes and Neck workshops

Reduce strain and effort in your face and jaw. Tension in the face and jaw is a result of stress and habits. Changing how you use the jaw can decrease TMJ symptoms, and pain in the neck and shoulders. This workshop includes simple movements with the mouth, tongue, jaw and facial muscles. You'll sense how your breathing can improve and more comfort in your face. Feel and look more relaxed.

The Eyes & Vision, with Cliff Smyth
Saturday February 18, 2012. 1:00 - 4:00 pm. $50/$120 for all Face, Jaw, Eyes and Neck workshops

Easy use of the eyes will help you see the world in a new way. The eyes affect every aspect of our movement. They lead in turning, orient us in space, are part of the balance system and influence the work in the back and neck. As we all use computers so much, the eyes get used to focusing at a certain distance and aren't used in all the ways they need in order to be healthy. This workshop explores in easy to do lessons the complex ways the eyes work and affect our movement. The results for your whole body are immediate and powerful. The lessons are fascinating and fun.

Ease Your Neck, with Cliff Smyth
Saturday February 25, 2012. 1:00 - 4:00 pm. $50/$120 for all Face, Jaw, Eyes and Neck workshops

Neck pain and discomfort is second only to back pain as the most common musculoskeletal condition suffered in our community. Feldenkrais has so many ways to help with neck pain. These include improving the flexibility of the upper back and chest, learning to sense and use the support of the whole spine, to the connections with the eyes and the jaw. This workshop will draw on all of these to help you reduce pain in your neck, learn simple things you can do at work or home, and find more ease and comfort.

An Urban Retreat: Mindfulness Meditation and Feldenkrais, with Allison Shore and Cliff Smyth
Saturday March 3, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm. $60 recommended fee
Spend a day discovering the benefits of compassionate attention to your body and breath, using stillness and gentle movement.

The speed and intensity of city life can sometimes seem overwhelming - and it is hard not to take it into our sense of ourselves. Some time out would be a good thing. These 'Urban Retreats' offer the chance to spend a day discovering the benefits of compassionate attention to your body and breath, using both stillness and gentle movement.

Mindfulness is the practice of cultivating non-judgmental awareness in day-to-day life. During this day-long retreat you will be guided through periods of meditative practice, of varying length, aimed at helping you develop focus and also mindfulness - through attending to what is arising for you, whether it is bodily sensations, sounds, breathing or the activity of mind. Feldenkrais Method is a movement-based awareness practice. Several short Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons will be taught through the day in standing, sitting and lying. They will provide the opportunity to experience yourself through gentle, guided movement sequences. The emphasis is on developing the ability to move with less effort, strain or pain, and with greater smoothness, comfort and a sense of flow. These lessons can be done by anyone, at any level of movement ability.

In both practices acceptance of what emerges, compassion for one's own experience, and a way of experiencing oneself where ease comes not with effort, but from treating oneself with care and compassion. People new to either meditation, Feldenkrais Method, or both are welcome. Experienced students and practitioners will enjoy the chance to take time out for the care of the self.

Easy Hands & Arms, with Cliff Smyth
Class Series: Mondays March 5, 12, 19 and 26. 6:30 - 8:30 pm. $80 for series; $25 drop in
Discover more comfortable use of the hands, and how to find dynamic support from your body for the effective use of your arms.

This class series are for anyone with hand and arm injuries, and those wishing to prevent them. Each class will feature two easy-to-do and enjoyable Awareness Through Movement lessons with a short break between. The lessons will focus on the comfortable use of the hands, as well as the connection of the hands and arms with our shoulders, ribs, spine, pelvis and legs which provide dynamic support the effective self-use. The classes will draw on classic lessons from the 'Easy Hands and Arms' CD series and new material focusing on, among other things, the breath and comfortable sitting.

Pelvic Health and Awareness for Women, with Deborah Bowes
Saturday March 17, 1:00 - 5:00 pm. $60

This special public workshop for women uses gentle full body exercises to address important aspects of health that are directly related to the pelvis such as bladder control, back pain, balance, and sexuality. Many women report an overall feeling of enjoyment and aliveness from these lessons. Recovering the full use of the pelvic floor can help reverse the effects of getting older, hormonal changes, abdominal surgeries, hip replacements, or childbirth. This unique workshop has been developed from the latest research on the coordination of the pelvic floor muscles with breathing, the spine, hips and the abdominals. The novel and gentle exercises go way beyond traditional Kegels, and are appropriate for any woman, without without experience in Feldenkrais classes.

Floating Free: Feldenkrais for the water, with Annie Borgenicht, RN
Saturday March 24, 1:00 - 4:00 pm Cost: $50

Learn Feldenkrais lessons that you can take into the water.
Water is supportive; we have buoyancy! The unique properties of being in water leads to reduced pressure on the joints, and lessens the demands on your system as a whole. People often experience relaxation, and an increased ability to move with greater ease, and less pain, in water. Being in water stimulates a balanced control of movement that carries over to moving on the land. Use this class to enhance your pool exercise program - as a warm-up or cool down from swimming, and for greater flexibility and ease in whatever you do in the pool. In this workshop will experience Feldenkrais lessons which are easily transferable to the water. There will also be discussion about benefits and precautions for working in the water. Individual sessions in the pool may also be arranged with the teacher for an additional fee.

Twisting for a Healthier Spine, with Kathy Flock
Saturday March 31, 1:00 - 4:00 pm. $50
Find new length and flexibility in your spine.

In today's screen based culture, being bent forward with the head slightly down and the shoulders rounded is a common problem. In this workshop we will address this posture. You will discover how movements in turning and rotating bring length to the spine while encouraging an open, soft chest and freedom in the head and neck. Awareness Through Movement lessons that focus on turning and twisting allow the spine to return to a state of health. The natural curves in the spine make for easy movement in all directions. By balancing the use of the muscles in the front and back of the body will help you find balance, stability and comfort in sitting and moving. This workshop is appropriate for beginners as well as those with more experience of the Feldenkrais Method.

The Movement of Breathing, with Julie Casson Rubin
Saturday April 21, 1:00 - 3:30 pm. $45
Discover improved balance, stamina, strength and ease through integration of breath and movement.

There is no one correct way to breathe. Spontaneous breathing needs to fit a person's changing circumstances. In this workshop we will explore various ways and rhythms of breathing so that your breath matches what you are doing in the moment. We will use Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons to improve the functioning of the physical components of our breathing: the diaphragm, chest and back. We will attend to both the ways and the means of breathing, improving the quality of your rest and your activity. This workshop is appropriate for beginners as well as those with more experience of the Feldenkrais Method.

Ease Your Shoulders: Lighten Your Burden, with Abby Miller
Saturday May 5, 1:00 - 4:00 pm. $50
Reduce strain and improve the flexibility and power of your shoulders.

Our shoulders have enormous potential for freedom of movement, enabling an infinite variety of action and expression through our arms. Too often, though, we experience the shoulders as areas of strain, discomfort, and burden. Many activities of modern life cause us to stiffen our shoulders as we type, text, grip the car steering wheel, and the like. Restricted movement of the shoulder girdle creates stiffness in the upper back and chest as well as pain and dysfunction in the arms and hands. Habitual tension in the shoulders also makes them prone to injury when circumstances require spontaneous and powerful actions such as lifting, reaching, pushing, throwing.
The gentle movement lessons in this workshop will help restore the comfort, flexibility and power of your shoulders. You discover more clearly how to sense the skeletal structure of the shoulder girdle, and how to find more effective support from your spine, pelvis and legs. Becoming aware of how the shoulders connect to the spine and chest can liberate the upper back from muscular overwork, while empowering your arms. This workshop is appropriate for beginners as well as those with more experience of the Feldenkrais Method.

Registration for our workshops is essential, but easy!
We now have online registration with payment by credit card. Just click on this link, which will take you to our on-line registration and payment site. There you will find the list of workshops, just click on the 'Sign up now' button. When you set up an on-line account, it is sent to us for approval. It is not an automated system. This provides extra protection for our system and your data. We process requests daily. Your request will be responded to and your request to sign up for a workshop will be honored.

If you are already on your mailing list you might find your information there - please update or correct any information. As this is a new system for us, please contact us if you any difficulties. You can find our cancellation policy at the bottom of this page.

Or, if your prefer, you can call us on 415-826-3680 or send us a message though this website to reserve your place, and we will let you know how to make a payment by check.