Learning through movement
Who and what is Feldenkrais?Moshé Pinchas Feldenkrais was born in Ukraine in 1904 and studied Engineering, Physics and Self-defence in Paris in the 1930s. He worked for the British Navy in WWII improving sonar capability and teaching self-defence. He aggravated an old soccer injury and fearing an operation would reduce his physical function, he applied himself to understanding and improving human movement and resolved his injury. He settled in Israel in the 1950s and devoted himself to refining his ‘method’. He wrote almost 20 books and taught extensively in Europe and North America until his death in 1984.
What is the ‘The Feldenkrais Method®’ about?
All movement is learnt. We learn about the world and ourselves as our nervous system grows and develops from baby to toddler to child and from adolescence to adulthood. We are constantly adapting as our bodies grow and as we get older, we adjust how we move depending on our physical abilities.
Whether or not we realise it, our body is capable of learning new information about how to organise itself in the most efficient way in order to undertake tasks or move in space. Feldenkrais enhances our abilities by bringing the neurological, physical and emotional components of movement together.
Feldenkrais teaching new practitioners at Amherst in Massachusetts c.1981
“Ageing can be a frustrating process. For many, it presents new challenges they have never faced before. Feldenkrais provides support in offering better function through learning new ways of moving.”
Who is Feldenkrais for?
Feldenkrais is for people of all ages and abilities
Children …
with physical or neurological challenges can learn to move more confidently and independently.
Adults …
from teens to middle age including actors, musicians and athletes can all learn to move more efficiently and pleasurably in the activities they love.
Older people …
facing the challenges of reduced physical capacity can find new ways to keep doing the things they love: gardening, golf, dancing or just moving freely in their daily lives with ease and pleasure.
Experience Feldenkrais for yourself ...
and start feeling the benefits
Individual sessions
Functional Integration® one on one is ideal for people with specific challenges or goals or who wish to learn at their own pace in a private setting. I offer one on one sessions for children and adults with neurological challenges. NDIS Participants are welcome and private health fund rebates are available. Other practitioners in the Northern Rivers also offer Functional Integration®. See below for contacts.
Group classes
Awareness Through Movement® classes are run each term in Clunes and cover a variety of topics aimed at improving movement and general wellbeing. Check the current program HERE.
Public workshops
I offer workshops such as Learn to Play, Walking more easily and Using your Dynamic Core at different times during the year, usually at weekends. Check out upcoming workshops HERE.
Advanced training
For Feldenkrais practitioners to develop a greater understanding of the Feldenkrais Method® and explore with colleagues ways in which we can improve our practice.
About Janet Auret
Feldenkrais® Practitioner and Assistant Trainer
Janet has more than thirty years’ experience as a Physiotherapist and Feldenkrais Practitioner.
As a teenager, Janet loved running and the fantastic feeling of being able to move easily. As sports captain at school, she encouraged all students to participate in sport and was amazed to find that some of her fellow students had never even had the opportunity to throw or catch a ball.
Her belief that everyone can enjoy moving – and her interest in encouraging others to experience the pleasure of movement – led to her training as a Physiotherapist, where her particular interest was supporting people with complex injuries or neurological impairment.
Janet ‘discovered’ Feldenkrais while rehearsing a dance performance and began studying the method in depth in 1988. Deciding that Feldenkrais offered a much more expansive framework within which to explore and teach movement, she has never looked back. She is much sought after as a Practitioner, workshop leader, mentor and as an Assistant Trainer for Professional Development programs in Feldenkrais throughout Australia.
Useful links
Other Feldenkrais practitioners in the Northern Rivers
- Greta Seed (Lismore)
- Jennifer Groves (Movement Intelligence Mullumbimby)
- Kerrie Hart (Ewingsdale)
- Linda Pontecorvo (Mullumbimby)
- Roger Bowden (Iluka)
Australia
- The Australian Feldenkrais Guild website has a directory of local practitioners, workshops and events.
- The Australian Feldenkrais Institute offers the Feldenkrais Professional Training Program.