“Move today and you’ll love moving tomorrow.”- Ruthy Alon, Feldenkrais Practitioner and movement trainer.
I haven’t met a soul who couldn’t benefit from moving more efficiently and with greater ease. Necessity gets us going, while curiosity keeps us going. We have endless options to move — to go place to place, up and down, side to side — but can you feel the pleasure, the efficiency in your movement? As children we’re incredibly curious, we explore, we discover how to reach for a toy, to roll over for our first time, to crawl, to fetch, and voila, we stagger to walk and everyone cheers.
As the years go by, many folks find it challenging to get enough exercise, yet all that is needed is curiosity, and the willingness to relearn efficient ways of moving. The Feldenkrais Method is an ideal companion, as lessons guide us to mobilize our spine, to use our bodies more fully, which increases performance and reduces repetitive stress injuries. After experiencing a Feldenkrais lesson, people often report pain relief, increased energy, that their brain is “awake,” and they have more swagger in their gait. How cool is that?
Health benefits of movement
By moving, you’re strengthening your muscles, improving your coordination, flexibility and balance, and the health benefits are truly motivating with respect to preventing disease. By embracing movement, you reduce pain, have sounder sleep, are happier, and need less medication. In a nutshell, the better we move, the better our health, we have greater independence and life is more spontaneous.
Curiosity is a key ingredient in the Feldenkrais Method, which lends itself well to group, online lessons where I verbally guide you through a sequence of gentle movements.
Body Moves is an online class, at no cost to you, and is accessible from the comfort of your home, thanks to the Homer Council on the Arts (HCOA) and the American Parkinson’s Disease Association (APDA). Each 40-50-minute lesson starts in the sitting position, adding layers to the movements. Along the journey, I’ll share my passion for anatomy, which in turn gives you better insight to how you can learn to move with greater ease and comfort.
You are in charge, so try something new and discover how easy and pleasurable movement can be.
Classes are Wednesday and Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Alaska time, Drop in for one or two, or the entire series. Register at homerart.org/body-moves.
Dotti Harness-Foster, M.Ed. and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, STEADI and Dance for Parkinson’s instructor and teaches virtual Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement classes.
