Author: Donna

Hi Students!
People ask me all the time if Feldenkrais can help them with… (fill in the blank).  Today I would like to begin answering some frequent questions that I am asked.  If there are any learning experiences that any of you would like to share with others on this blog, please let me know and I will include it next time.

Can Feldenkrais help reduce the occurrences of Migraine Headaches?
I will answer this from my own personal experience.  In my twenties, I used to get migraines whenever I became stressed out.   Luckily, I started to get trained to become a Feldenkrais Practitioner when I was 28 years old, and this was the beginning of helping myself.  Through the Feldenkrais Method, I discovered that the way I held my head to the right side was a major contributing factor to my migraines.  I also learned that my right eye was my dominant eye as well as the eye that I could see more clearly out of.  Because I used this eye more it made me side bend my head to the side most of time.  When I became tired; tried too hard; or was over stressed; this pattern would intensify.  And this is when I would get a migraine.

Continue reading Feldenkrais Experiences

“When we have relieved all the unnecessary tensions (that have been built up in the course of develpment as the only means of reacting to the environment available at that time, that have become useless at present), we can obtain a better and easier comportment.  Thus, if we eliminate from standing all that is extraneous to it such as standing manly, femininely, authoritatively, nicely, efficiently, arrogantly, proudly, or meekly and all the other cross motivations that we cultivate in childhood and adolescence with such wholehearted conviction of doing right, there remains standing as dictated by the structure of the body and its nervous mechanisms.  A stance that is rare, but which we are all capable.”  ~ Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais

I chose to share this quote from The Potent Self,  because I thought the timing was appropriate since we all put away our masks and costumes from Halloween.  I think it is easier to feel how our stance and posture changes when we put on a costume and assume a character than it is to feel the stances we live with everyday.  As Moshe Feldenkrais states above, once we can recognise how we stand and the cross motivations that fuel it we can than give it up.  Coming to this place of self awareness can lead to letting go of alot of physical and emotional pain which will allow for greater ease of functioning.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Thank you for choosing me to share this wonderful method with you.

Donna