| Pre-training Workshop Schedule
Before the 2005 Feldenkrais Practitioner Training Program starts in June 2005, we're offering a series of workshops. These provide an intensive format for experiencing and learning about the Feldenkrais Method. Each seminar is designed around a specific theme and integrates movement lessons, hands-on demonstration, lectures and discussions. The seminars are designed for those who are considering taking a practitioner training program or have a personal interest in an in-depth experience. Check our site periodically for announcements of additional workshops. If you would like to host a workshop at your location specially designed for your interest group, please contact Olena Nitefor at nitefor@aol.com.
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The Pelvis as the Power Centre:
The relationship between the pelvis and
the head, neck and eyes (workshop description)
We will explore lessons which relate the movement of the power center to the orienting mechanisms of the head. When the relationship between the head and the pelvis is clarified, movement becomes efficient and reversible. Spatial awareness and the quality of self direction also improve. As the muscles in the pelvis engage more efficiently, tensions in the neck and shoulders disappear.
Date: Sunday October 2, 2005, Time:1:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Cost: $110 (includes GST)
To register: Contact Olena
The Feldenkrais Method opened a door to the workings of my own self: the physical,
psychological, spiritual, concepts described in Tai Chi classics, and by teachers (O Sensei, Jigaro Kano etc.) are becoming much clearer.
Roger Sadlo, Marial Artist and Feldenkrais teacher Roger Sadlo, Marial Artist and Feldenkrais teacher
Breath and Dynamic Posture (workshop description)
Only a fully breathing body can have dynamic posture.
Only a well supported body can breathe well.
Recover this significant synergy.
Breath sets the tone
Breathing underlies everything we do. It provides the rhythm and tone with which all of our actions, feelings and even thinking take place. Breathing also reflects difficulties we experience in our actions or inhibitions we carry in our emotional states.
Breath is very dimensional
At it's most un-inhibited and fullest, breathing is the alternate expansion and contraction of the whole trunk in six directions! Up and down from the top of the shoulders to the pelvic floor. Forward and back from breast bone and belly to the whole back, from base of the neck to the bottom of the spine. And left and right through the whole chest, belly and back. If you watch a healthy toddler breathing, you will see what I mean.
What you awaken for breathing . . .
In these two days you will begin to awaken the parts of yourself which are necessary for such breathing: diaphragm; ribs; rib joints; abdominal, chest and back muscles; as well as the joints of the spine. You will expand your conceptual understanding of breathing as well as develop insights into how you inhibit your own breath.
. . . creates support
Once these parts are awakened through and for breathing, they become available to generate dynamic support. The spine literally breathes you into height; the ribs and breast bone support your head and shoulders, the free belly and lower back support you in standing and sitting. Your whole torso becomes a pneumatic support device!
Who is this workshop for?
This workshop is for breathing professionals (singers, speakers, athletes, dancers, wind players, teachers), conscious breathers (people who practice yoga, meditation, martial arts, Pilates), as well as for the non-professional, casual, perhaps unaware, breather.
These days will comprise FELDENKRAIS Awareness Through Movement, some conceptual presentations, as well as the usual atmosphere of exploration, collegial observation and humour.
Date: Saturday May 7th and Sunday May 8th, 2005 Time:12:30 - 5:30 pm, both days
Cost: $170 (includes GST) for both days To register: Contact Olena
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Posture as Inner Support (workshop description)
All human movement whether large and powerful or small, delicate and refined needs to be supported with good posture.Skilled movement requires inner support
Whether you play a musical instrument, use a paintbrush, a computer, a dental or construction tool; whether you play a racket sport, do martial arts, ski, jog or row . . . you can improve your performance, skill and physical comfort significantly by refining the posture needed for the "movement" part of your work.
Good posture is something to do, not something to have
Posture is not about holding a correct position as you move. It is the ability to provide adjusted and accurate support for every tiny movement shift you make. For skilled and pain-free movement, postural adjustments must be as fluid and free as the movement itself. Therefore, posture cannot be static and fixed; it must be dynamic and changeable. Good posture can be thought of as a constant "action under the action."
For some movements, "good posture" means finding the support through your skeleton to feel stability, groundedness, and strength. For other movements, "good posture" means finding the nimbleness of your skeleton, the lightness that lets you turn, bend and twist with your violin, your flute, your hammer, or your kitchen knife. Good posture provides you with support to use your arms powerfully or skillfullly without strain in the shoulders, forearms or hands. It allows your head the most mobility, your neck the maximum length and minimum effort, and your lower back the greatest ease.
Even sitting and standing thrive on dynamic, rather than static posture. When you stop "holding" yourself upright, and find how to support yourself dynamically, you sit and stand more effortlessly and comfortably.
Posture is a skill
Most modalities take a static perspective on posture. Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement develops your ability to master the fluid aspects of posture, the ongoing "action under the action." Through structured movement and awareness explorations, you first discover where and how you habitually support your movements statically. You then learn how to find postural support which is fluid, more appropriate to the action at hand, and more responsive to your movement needs.
Paradoxically . . .
Once you learn to find dynamic posture consciously, postural adjustments begin to happen spontaneously. Movement and its support in gravity become integrated partners in intelligent action. That is true skill. And when movement and support work together, that is when you begin to find greater ease and comfort in movement. You will feel the difference when you pick up your instrument, sit at the computer, put on your skis, go out for a run, swing the tennis racket . . .
Date: Weekend of January 15th and 16th, 2005 Time:12:30 - 6:00 pm, both days Cost: $95 (includes GST) for one day, $170 (includes GST) for both days To register: Contact Olena
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Thaw Out (workshop description)
When you feel that winter has your bones . . .
A pervasive stiffness settles in. Boots seem to immobilize ankles as much as they protect the feet. Shoulders rise to new heights, even as the neck shrinks downward, looking for protection in collar and scarf. Head lowered against the wind, eyes watching for patches of ice, mid winter we are not a graceful or comfortable lot.
I invite you to thaw out . . .
To regain the movement in your ankles and feet. To ease your shoulders and free your neck. To feel your back and spine rolling and lengthening, rather than frozen into a resigned winter stoop. To feel that movement is a light hearted adventure, even in the dead of winter. When you put the boots back on, the scarf back round, and head outdoors feeling re-energized.
Date: Saturday March 5, 2005, and Sunday March 6, 2005. Time:12:30 - 6:00 pm Cost: $95 (includes GST) for one day, $170 (includes GST) for both days, To register: Contact Olena
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From head to foot: re-organize (workshop description)
Day One: The Toes, the Ankles, the Hip Joints
Restoring the full range of flexibility to the feet creates improvement from the ground up -- through the entire self. Freedom in the ankles improves balance and clarifies efficient movement in the hip joints. It generates a new sense of groundedness which ripples outward in surprising directions.
Day Two: The Incredible Versatility of the Ribs
When the possible movements of the ribs become clearer, unnecessary efforts in the chest disappear. The new suppleness promotes easy breathing and increased efficiency and pleasure in all our actions. These Awareness Through Movement lessons help further integrate the changes from Day One of the workshop.
Who should attend?
Date: Weekend April 9 & 10, 2005 Time:10:00 - 4:30 pm Cost: $130 (includes GST) for one day, $210 (includes GST) for both days, To register: Contact Olena
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| Feldenkrais®, Awareness Through Movement® and Functional Integration® are registered service marks of The Feldenkrais Guild of North America® |