SPRING 2010 WORKSHOPS

Workshops give you a chance to do several ATMs (Awareness Through Movement lessons) in a row allowing for an in-depth exploration into specific themes. Each lesson builds upon the next and results in an increasingly refined sense of coordination, organization, and relaxation. Never been to a Feldenkrais ATM class before? No problem! A workshop is a great introduction to this amazing form of self-improvement.
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Yoga & Feldenkrais Workshop

A workshop designed to introduce you to the Feldenkrais Method® and explore the relationship between Feldenkrais and Yoga. See how it might be possible to use Feldenkrais Method movement sequences to deepen your understanding and experience of yoga poses.
What will be taught? What will you learn?
Two Feldenkrais Method Awareness Through Movement® (ATM) lessons will be taught. Both lessons will help create a more optimal physical organization for doing Cobra and other back-bends. Various components that make it possible to do a back bend with ease will be highlighted by the lessons. The lessons are also generally useful for improving posture, and helping with shoulder, neck, and back discomfort.

What is Feldenkrais?
Feldenkrais lessons could be described as movement meditations. Whereas a typical yoga class will consist of a variety of poses, an Awareness Through Movement lesson is typically focused on a single functional movement theme. In Awareness Through Movement, many variations on the primary theme are introduced, all designed to improve the primary movement pattern of the lesson. Gradually, a new organization emerges restulting in greater ease and an improved image of the movement. Masterful, beautiful movement both looks and is relatively effortless.

A different approach to dealing with difficulty...
An overarching goal of the Feldenkrais Method is to teach an approach to addressing movement challenges that relies less on extra effort and struggle and more on refinement, gentleness, and subtlety.

Teachers:
Dale Jensen,
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitionercm

Pam Lindberg,
Iyengar Yoga Teacher

When:
Saturday, May 22nd, 1:00 to 3:00 pm

Location:
Harmony Yoga
1955 Pauline Blvd, Suite 100 B
Ann Arbor
harmonyyogaannarbor.com

Cost: $25

More information:
734-646-9368 (Dale)
734-995-4059 (Pam)

REGISTER
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Read more about Yoga & Feldenkrais:

In Yoga Journal:
Somatics: Yogas of the West (discusses Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, more...)
Inside-Out Bodywork (Feldenkrais on page 2)
Fill in the Gap (Cross-training with Pilates, Feldenkrais and Body-Mind Centering)

Relax Your Hands & Arms

Teachers:
Brian Baraszu &
Dale Jensen,
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitionerscm

When:
Sunday, June 6
Time: TBA

Location:
TBA

Cost: TBA

More information:
734-646-9368 (Dale)
734-812-7183 (Brian)

REGISTER (coming soon)
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Learn to relax your hands, arms, and shoulders in this Feldenkrais workshop. Using the remarkable Awareness Through Movement process, Brian and Dale will give you tools to use at home that help bring about a soft, relaxed quality in your hands and arms which will reduce discomfort, improve sensitivity.
Who Should Attend:
  • Musicians
  • Artists
  • People with arthritis, carpal tunnel, RSI
  • Those with a history of overwork, overuse, or injury to their hands
Benefits:
  • Learn to undo tension in hands, arms
  • Reduce tension in the rest of your body by reducing tension in hands
  • Improve sensitivity and flexibility
  • Reduce your chances of developing overuse or injury to the hands
  • Learn to use your hands gently, softly, with ease

Introduction to Feldenkrais
at Northville Yoga Center

Workshop #1: Saturday, April 17
1:00 to 3:00 pm

Workshop #2:
Saturday, April 24
1:00 to 3:00 pm


Workshop #3:
Sunday, April 25
1:00 to 3:00 pm


Northville Yoga Center
200 South Main St. – Suite B
Northville MI

(Across the street from the Chamber of Commerce)

Cost:
$25 / day
Contact Northville Yoga Center to register
248-449-YOGA
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Expand your potential for easy, smooth, more coordinated movement with classic Feldenkrais Method lessons taught in pairs over the course of 3 days. [Each lesson is self-contained and each day stands on its own. You may choose to do 1 day, 2 days, or all 3 days. ]

Awareness Through Movement lessons consist of both functional movement sequences as well as more general themes related to improving learning ability, discovering tendencies of self-use, learning to overcome challenges with ease, discovering more internal resources, improving one’s self-image, distinguishing between appropriate and parasitic effort, and more. These themes allow you to extend the learning from a lesson into other areas of your life.

Participants in Awareness Through Movement classes report many benefits such as improved comfort, a sense of well-being, feeling grounded, feeling more supported, having a more complete sense of oneself, feeling stronger, feeling lighter, and being more relaxed. The benefits you experience will be unique, but you can expect some of these reported benefits as well.
Some lessons that will be taught:

Hip & Shoulder Circles - Small, simple, relaxing movements of the shoulders and hips that grow in complexity over the lesson and leave you with a compelling new image of what walking could be like.

Pelvic clock - probably one of the most taught lessons in the Feldenkrais Method, and for good reason. Discover the freedom that results when your pelvis can easily move in any direction.

The Movement of the Eyes Organizes the Movement of the Body - learn a surprising method of improving movement -- improving the movement of the eyes.

The Carriage of the Head - Improve from the top, down. We encounter the world primarily through the sense organs of our head and face. It is not surprising then, that the organization of the head has a tremendous impact on our use of the rest of ourselves.

Becoming aware of parts of which we are not conscious with the help of those of which we are conscious - Imagine rolling a ball along the surfaces of your body - it quickly becomes clear which parts are in your self-image and which parts are not. This is a lesson performed largely without movement that nonetheless has the potential to radically alter movement.

Perfecting the Self-Image - a lesson with the potential to radically alter your perception of how to improve movement. A lesson with a very surprising ending for many people.

Comfortable Neck Workshop

Workshop #1: Sunday, April 18
1:00 to 3:00 pm


Core Grace Pilates
211 S. Fourth, Suite 1B
Ann Arbor, MI

Cost: $25
Register (student discount available)
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Comfortable Neck Series - April 18, other dates TBA
Neck pain, stiffness, and discomfort are NO FUN. In this workshop series, you will learn to improve neck comfort using a whole-systems approach to movement, i.e. The Feldenkrais Method.

This series will occur over 3 days in April & May and will include movement sequences that: mobilize the pelvis and shoulders, improve movement of the jaw, and integrate smooth movement of the eyes, all of which contribute to a comfortable, injury-free neck.
Attend ALL workshops or just one - Each stands alone.

April 18: Mobilize your pelvis and entire spine - Learn simple movement sequences that create more mobility in your pelvis and your spine. A mobile pelvis means a mobile base of support for your head. When your base of support moves easily in all directions, you feel more supported, your head feels lighter, and your neck feels longer and more comfortable.

Date TBA: Unlocking your shoulders
- Tension in the shoulders has a direct impact on your ability to easily move your neck. Learn to unlock your shoulders using small, gentle movements that achieve longer lasting results than traditional stretches.

Date TBA: Relieve jaw tension and eye strain
- Often overlooked as a cause of neck pain, clenched jaws and strained eyes create immobility in the neck. Learn to recognize and reduce tension using gentle movement that creates lasting results.

Can't make it to a workshop? Want to repeat the experience at home?
Workshops will be recorded and available for purchase as an mp3 download.
See the
Audio Download page for available classes and workshops.