How Feldenkrais classes are different from Yoga, stretching, and other approaches

Here are some ways that your Feldenkrais class is different from other classes, including exercise, dance, yoga and many others.

Exercise, dance, yoga

Feldenkrais lessons

expect to move, stretch, and experience some intensity of sensation.

we move small and slow, to experience the subtler sensations

using their eyes for learning movement, e.g watching a teacher

instructions are verbal, not visual

energetically through a series of challenging poses, and to pace our movements like a choreographer or a dj

move at their own pace, doing as much as they choose, and resting when they choose

generally expected to be challenging, delivering us beyond our limitations

cultivate effortlessness in movement.

Upright, often some balance challenges

practice in reclining positions, and rest regularly

Particular breathing form or formula

Options offered for student to learn the rhythm that fits their needs

Interest and attention to the aesthetic of alignment

Student learns possibilities that may help them to spontaneously find their alignment

Attention to muscular force

Listening to ways to distribute the work according to the size of the muscle group

Attention and activation of the “core”

Learning to spontaneously organize/coordinate movement in many directions

Sheri Cohen, a teacher of Yoga and Feldenkrais advises, “Practice being constructively disobedient, even if it means doing something different than what everyone else is doing in class. When you need to rest, rest. “

Adapted from an article that originally appeared on the shericohenmovement.com blog

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