THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD

Moishe Feldenkreis © International Feldenkrais® Federation Archive

THE FELDENKRAIS
METHOD

“Joyce is a kind, passionate, patient, grounded, and highly intelligent person who has a deep desire to share her gifts and help others. Her sensitive and healing hands completely transform the way I hold myself and this transfers through my whole body into everything I do, aiding me toward full mobility and recovery.”    –– Jane Chen

We all possess a strong inner voice and power, but life can disconnect us from these things and then we become limited in our  potential. The Feldenkrais Method helps to reconnect you to the original full power of yourself so that you can experience enhanced functioning all aspects of your life. Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984) began developing his method in the 1940s — initially to heal his own sports injury — and it is now practiced worldwide. A physicist, mechanical engineer, martial artist and educator, Dr. Feldenkrais based his studies of movement and consciousness on principles of physics, biomechanics and an empirical understand- ing of learning.

What Feldenkrais created is a form of somatic education that uses gentle movement and awareness to improve the organization of your skeleton, muscles and nervous system. In this way, you learn to increase your ease and range of motion, and improve your flexibility, balance, and coordination.

Check out this article on the Method in  The Washington Post! 

I discovered The Feldenkrais Method after pursuing different forms of therapy for a dance injury I incurred in 2003 during an audition. Struggling with the spasms in my upper back for three years, I tried physical therapy, chiropractic work, massage, and acupuncture. These things brought me temporary relief, but I found my body would still spasm in times of stress.

Eventually a dance teacher suggested I try the Feldenkrais Method and it has since become my permanent solution to health. The Method restructures my system and opens up new pathways of movement so that I can avoid relapses. I have experienced a deep and profound healing without effort or strain. Now I am in my 50s and still dancing!

I became a practitioner so that I could share this knowledge with others. I completed the four-year certification program through Feldenkrais Resources Training Institute in Berkeley and San Diego, California in January of 2012.

For me,  the Method is a most pure manifestation of the educational experience. By showing you your habits and introducing more improved options for movement, you develop your own sustainable process of empowering yourself. You become more you. I consider my practice now to be an engagement with an ongoing process of empowerment and health.

The Feldenkrais Method encompasses two different approaches:

  • In Functional Integration, the practitioner gently moves the body.
  • In Awareness Through Movement, the practitioner gives verbal directions for you to move yourself.

I teach Awareness Through Movement once a month as a member of The Daily Improvement Collective

To Book a Functional Integration Session: joyce@joycelu.com

  • Single sessions: $100
  • New Client Special: $250 for 3 sessions!
  • Location: South Pasadena
  • Home visits can also be arranged

BODY • SOUL • PERFORMANCE