FELDENKRAIS
I trusted them. I was sure that my words would not disturb
their experimentation.
And, in fact, when they got the knowledge they needed, they felt empowered to conduct even better experiments. Even after years of weekly classes and monthly workshops, they continued to find new rewards and remained interested in the journey.
Even beyond discovery and enjoyment, under my guidance they found the most encouraging and empowering idea in our Method: the permission to be yourself, to use your own senses to make your own decisions - in short, to believe in yourself. They said to themselves, “I am the owner of my body and no one knows better than I do about myself!”
I ignored Yochanan’s warning about language being less effective than movement and used words to convey knowledge which made my students’ experiments richer, deeper, and more practical.
I discovered that not every client was able to transfer what he found in an ATM into his life. So I developed ways to assist people in making this transfer. I developed interesting games which “educate” without “teaching”.
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Every “problem” inspired me to create a new game, a new ATM variation, or a new teaching strategy.
For example, I helped people who had difficulty imagining movement instructions by creating funny and revealing games to enhance their capacity to visualize(with impressive results).
ATM was my main activity. FI was complementary. I taught 11 groups a week with roughly a dozen participants in each group and, in this way, reached many interested and enthusiastic people.
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My Way
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In 1988 I was in the Stockholm Training of Yochanan Rywerant, enjoying the daily Awareness Through Movement lessons and the talks about their inner logic. Every ATM revealed something new about the principles we have to understand as Feldenkrais practitioners in order to competently provide our clients with the information their nervous systems need.
When I began teaching I felt passionate about inspiring my students.
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I wanted them to enjoy this process of discovery, to become curious about the world of movement, about their own natural assets, and the magical possibilities that are created through the process of self-exploration.
My students responded with interest and enthusiasm, moving and investigating like children. First they experienced their curiosity and then, later, their passion for ever-new discoveries. For them, their improved use of the body and new sense of well being was like the whipped cream on a delicious fruit cake - a precious by-product, but not the main course.
They came year after year, always wanting more - a never ending feast! Their whole life became richer because they took this new-found pleasure of exploration into other realms of their thinking, sensing, deciding and doing.
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I was lucky enough to reach many interested young people both students and professionals.
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Some had a limitation or some pain here or there, but their main interest was in developing competency and celebrating a deeper understanding of life itself. They felt free to ask questions (they got answers!) and they received attention when they wished to share the stories of how they discovered new experiences.
I offered them certain basic explanations about what we were doing together. I became increasingly capable of answering their questions and I felt the joy of their understanding when they realized that they truly knew what they are doing.
Through 27 years
of this kind of lively practice I have discovered and collected many treasures that I am now eager to share with you. Above all, I want to show you how you can help your clients move beyond their “pain issues”, begin to cultivate a deeper interest in themselves, and develop a passion for exploration. This can be done mainly with ATM classes, ATM workshops with special themes, and even bigger projects. I believe that ATM lessons are a more effective tool for spreading our Method than FI, which can only provide this experience to one person at a time.
Over the last 10 years
I have taught many Advanced Trainings in Germany, and given many mentoring sessions, both in person and online. My greatest joy is to see the personal transformations and the satisfaction of those who decided to learn with me.
