A FELDENKRAIS Retreat At Schossrueti, Switzerland

To peek into the magic that awaits in mountains of Switzerland, click on the link below for a slide show! The FELDENKRAIS Retreat will be in March of 2009...

We will be doing FELDENKRAIS AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT lessons every morning to ground, center and relax. Find yourself in a mental state far removed from the everyday hum drum of monkey mind. Join us for a journey of self-introspection in an environment that truly reflects the beauty to be found inside the human spirit!

After sampling local delicacies for lunch, we will venture forth to visit the numerous attractions, or to simply hike in solitude in the foothills of the Swiss Alps; your choice. There is a castle not far away, a lovely little village at the foot of the hill, a cheese maker will share the secrets of making a medley of Swiss cheeses... for more details - email me your interest! This beautifully renovated farmhouse is only a half hour from Bern, the historic capitol of Switzerland.

Our exact dates for 2009 will be in March and I will post them soon. The cost is $1920.- including room and board, less if we get more people so round up your friends and family! Check out this transformational location for a truly FELDENKRAIS shift in consciousness!

To view the slide show of the location, check out the following link and be sure to click on full size first to really appreciate it's splendor!

http://www.google.com/ig?source=gama&hl=en

Pain

"Learning to inhibit unwanted contractions of the muscles...is the main task in coordinated action."
- Moshe Feldenkrais, The Potent Self




The Chinese word 'Song' means relaxation, but not in the sense of eliminating all tension. Rather, it means to cultivate a sense of greater aliveness born of the absence of unnecessary tension. Learning to sort out what is and what is not necessary is the how the process of AWARNESS THROUGH MOVEMENT does it's magic.

I am not my pain. I am not my ego, nor the roles I play. I am not my work, not how much money I make. These are places where we all loose our way from time to time. In teaching ATM to the public, I am constantly amazed and slightly horrified at how much people are willing to live with in terms of pain. These people accept as ordinary, as just the way it is, a level of physical pain that boggles the mind.

It has become who they are. It is their history, the focus of their daily regimen. As such, it becomes their identity. They get tired of talking about it or not. Some talk about nothing else, some just sublimate it, shoving awareness deep beneath the surface just to cope. I either have to gently keep reminding people not to continuously recite a litany of accidents or injuries that explain why they hurt all the time, or I have to get them to admit that they really do hurt, much more than they can say. In the first case, the constant repetition of the 'story' of pain is like a form of self-hypnosis that perpetuates it. In the second, the denial is as fierce as the pride of any serious drunk intent on defying the world to call them on their misery.

One of the most significant ways that FELDENKRAIS works is by helping us to have a more accurate self-image. Following the neural pathways that babies go through during early development, basic ATM lessons help us define how our bodies work. Babies learn to where their feet are by moving them, touching them to things, feeling how they make contact. In the same way adults can pursue FELDENKRAIS ATM as a practice that completes and defines more accurately who they are.

In rolling around on the floor in this slow, relaxed state, observing our experiences without judgment, I learn volumes about myself. I learn what my realistic limitations are as governed by the laws of gravity. I also learn surprising things about the ways I limit myself. I discover how I can move in places where I had no idea that movement was possible. In the most recent lesson I put up as an audio file on http://feed.awarenessthroughmovement.info called 'Low Back Pain,' I learned about the places my spine can move so that my low back does not do all the work.

For every place that hurts, there is a part of the spine or the self that is blocked, that is unfamiliar, unused and not a part of our self image. In the same way that children clarify what they are able to do with their bodies, the practice of ATM clarifies how we can enlarge our repertoire, expand the spaces between our joints and enter the expansive realm of life as a learning rather than life as an ever shrinking prison of pain.

In the FELDENKRAIS Method we do not cure, heal or fix. We change the focus and teach you to move in new places, and to trust your own ability to make improvements. Once you have an injury or a chronic pain, you can never go back to the way you were. But you can become greater than you were, bigger than your problem, if you will. You can LEARN what provokes it, what makes it better and how to move through it. You can trust that learn how to work with your own nervous system's ability to self-correct.

FELDENKRAIS is self-empowering. By working with ATM as a practice you become self-sufficient in learning how to improve how you feel, so that decline is not a fact of life, a belief that propels you into premature capitulation and aging. It gives you a tool so invaluable it is difficult to communicate to others. There is no price that can be put on it because it involves a perpetuation of your own ability to learn. It cannot be patented, and no one else stands to benefit from it but you. Teaching this is a challenge, because it is like leading people on an intimate journey. I can't go with you. I can merely show you the way. The sooner you commit, the sooner you will transform your pain into a new perception of possibilities.

Becoming Aware of What We Take For Granted: Notes from Switzerland

It seems to be a human trait to take for granted what we see all the time. While visiting family in the Berner Oberland, in Switzerland, the landscape which surrounds me is breathtaking, and yet, I sense how completely ordinary it seems to the people around me who live here all the time...




We become blinded by that which is familliar.

How can we see ourselves and our world anew so that we can appreciate the fullness and bittersweet beauty of life without becoming jaded and bitter or numb? I ask myself these questions as I travel the countryside of my own youth and realize how much I could not see when I was growing up here in Switzerland, and how differently I see it now that I have spent so many years with a variety of practices that develop the ability to see things from a different perspective intentionally. While growing up, I saw not only "the glass" as half empty, I focused on what hurt, what made me afraid and what I found hard. Granted, I did not have a perfect childhood, yet it is still amazing how much these things diverted me from the stunning surroundings that I accepted as simply a part of my daily commute to school.

Vacations are full of potential, not just for rest and recovery from the everyday grind of work and responsibility, but for experiencing a change in how we experience the world around us. Seeing the richness of life is something we easily become numb to as we fall into the automated rut of habitual work and struggle. A change in environment allows a perspective that often brings a richness to the very experience of sensing. It seems as if the grass is indeed greeener, the forsythia flowering nearby smells sweeter and the very clouds that float in the heavens more expressive and dramatic.

One of the many noteworthy benefits derived from the cultivation of Awareness Through Movement (ATM) as a practice, is that it allows us to see our environment, both internal and external, anew, as if never seen before. Taking the time to become aware of the sensation of the floor underneath us, the way that gravity can ground us and how to move through the world with relative ease and less effort, all these parts of an ATM practice make a substantial difference in our ability to appreciate and enjoy. But fitting a practice into our daily lives is only a piece of the puzzle. It is a maintenance program for fending off burn-out that must be supplemented by periodic changes in enviornment to give us time to integrate what we live into a life that has personal meaning for you as an individual.

There is a Toaist saying that that which we focus on grows. And even here, where the beauty is stunning and the quality of life incredibly comfortable, there are rumblings of increased depression and violence among teenagers. What are they focusing on?

One of the tactics used in professional FELDENRKAIS Trainings to help potential teachers make a huge shift in the perception of their own reality is to have the actual Training take place in an environment that is startlingly beautiful, so that an opening is already present for creating a doorway out of automated survival mode into relaxation, comfort and a more expansive attitude.

I have long been cogitating on how to make this same experience available to the public, for in my own life, I found it to be a gift of immeasurable value. So to that end, my cousin and I are discussing some possibilities, creating options, cooking up a plan. We have spent most of our time riding her stocky little western ponies along the pathways that separate tufts of mystical evergreen forests from vast grassy hills, accompanied by glimpses of the alps that run for miles and miles in the distance. She has a huge traditional Berner Oberland farm house on the top of a hillside less than an hour from Bern, the capitol of Switzerland. My cousin, Kati, has completely renovated this beautiful old wooden house and turned it into a gorgeous place for groups to stay, to do retreats, workshops or just experience the incredibly powerful peacefulness of the views which surround the hause in all directions.

Meanwhile, lie down, do an ATM lesson and reconnect with yourself. Remember what is most important to you. Why are you here? Are you living according to your values? Do you love the life you are living? If not, then it is time to take a "time out," to re-evaluate, to check in and reorganize yourself. This is fundamentally what the FELDENRKAIS Method is all about.

The Ego's Resistance to Change

By now you have probably experienced the rebound effect, a regression into old behavior that happens when we attempt to move in new directions. Don't panic. Just let it ride it's course, knowing that you are more than the compulsive response of your ego.



The comfort zone that we create for ourselves is how we maintain a sense of feeling normal, adequate to the task of living. It is a function of the ego to try to maintain a sense of being in control so that this level of comfort can be maintained. But, when we take a look inside and decide that a few changes need to happen, often there is an experience of fear. That fear is you brushing against your ego. It whispers, 'Leave well enough alone, don't bother. It's too much work. Things are fine just the way they are.'

Often, when you open that door anyway and go through it, your ego gives it a push to hit you in the rear end as if to say, 'See, I told you so.' Yet, if you just keep walking in that new direction, the feeble attempt of the ego to keep you a prisoner of your own limitations will gradually subside, unable to reach you. The door is only wide enough to keep hitting you if you remain stationary on the threshold.

I notice this temporary change in behaviors right away when I try to change how I eat. It's about to be spring, and every year at the yoga studio where I teach we do a group cleanse. It's kind of like lent, only different. It's an opportunity to let go of the old and embrace the new by giving the digestive tract a rest. The choice of how to do that depends on the person. It could mean just giving up sugar or wheat for a week. What makes it difficult is wavering on the threshold of choice. What makes it powerful is commitment backed by clear intention. A leap of faith, if you will, that it will make a significant difference in the quality of your life if you stick to your guns.

What makes AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT so powerful is that you learn to confront change as a practice. You learn to test what's safe and what's not. You venture into the realm of the New having assured yourself that it can be done, having tested the waters. You learn to apply the scientific method to your own experience to show yourself that there is another way. So, persist in your quest. Trust yourself. You are greater than your ego and your limitations both.

It's said that the only thing we can count on in life is that things will change. Part of what makes us old before our time is holding on to what once was, resisting the inevitable. It's our resistance that makes us rigid like a horse that braces and will not move. The more I work with people, the more I know for sure that it's our resistance to change that keeps our minds rigid and our bodies, being dutiful servants, simply follow the lead of the mind.

Motivation

Finding the motivation to initiate a change in behavior is what holds most people back. There is no question that AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT (ATM) can help you initiate major shifts in your life, but how do you get into the habit of doing it?



There are four keys to making any substantial change in behavior. This subject has fascinated me for years precisely because I work with people actively engaged in looking at - or actively avoiding - how their lifestyle choices create pain and suffering. Why is it that different people respond differently to the same situation? One person's blessing is another person's worst nightmare. How does that compute?

Key #1 Define Your Values

What is really important to you that you kind of gloss currently? Becoming more conscious of what is really important to you is different than spending your time doing what has to be taken care of. Of course there are things that you have to do, like dishes, car maintenance and washing your sheets, but how do you find the impetus to do things that are above and beyond what has to be handled? Find the value in what is important to you personally.

ATM is a form of self-care that allows what is really relevant to bubble up from your subconscious mind. The very activity itself lends itself to connecting more deeply with what you value. But what if you are having trouble just beginning, or just signing up for a class that you know on some level you would like to do? What then? Remember that the FELDENKRAIS Method is not just about becoming more physically mobile or dealing with physical pain. It's about becoming more fluid in your thinking, in your solutions, in pursuing your bliss and making your life more fulfilling on all levels.

A Motivational Exercise

Free-writing in the morning, right after you wake up is a great way to allow your values to guide you into new behaviors. Think about what's bothering you, or what's on your mind. What issue is up for you? Give yourself ten minutes to complete a series of seven sentences around that issue and you will find, not only do you have more clarity, but you are accessing your subconscious intelligence. Often you already know what to do, you just need to allow yourself to get in touch with it. The issue you are working with fills in the blank. The sentence stem you begin with is this: "If I were more conscious about what is really important to me, I would..." Fill in the blank, seven times, each day for at least five days.

Commitment is the decision to carry out an intention even when the initial excitement has faded. When you feel yourself lagging, remember the initial enthusiasm and excitement you felt. When you 'don't feel' like it, remember that you can change how you feel by changing how you move - which may be as simple as free-writing about what you would do if you were more conscious about what is valuable to you. From there, you will find it easy to move right on in to a full blown ATM by following along with an audio cd or calling to sign up for support with a live instructor.

Key #2 Create Bite-Size, Measurable Goals

For example, improving your posture might be a goal you aspire to because you have made the connection between slumping and pain in your shoulders and neck. For most people, improving their posture seems an insurmountable, overwhelming task. But going to an ATM class weekly for an hour over six weeks and doing a 40 minute ATM at home with a cd once a week is both finite and measurable. It's a bit of a catch 22, you cannot stay connected to the overall goal because you can't remember how good it felt to stand upright, supported by your skeleton without having your muscles work overtime to keep you from falling over. Yet, if you break it down into measurable steps, you can create a sense of success, of staying on track and of working towards your goal.

There is one catch - sometimes things take longer than anticipated. Sometimes having an initial plan is not really enough, it's just a beginning. When you bump into this caveat, it's time to sit down again and repeat the process from the beginning - with compassion, no judgement. It's called re-evaluating your goals and it's an important part of staying realistic, motivated and consistent.

Key #3 Avoid the "All or Nothing" Trap

Would you give up earning money just because you missed a day at work? Of course not. Whatever happens, the show must go on, right? Well, what difference would you see in your life if you applied the same attitude to your personal goals? When you fall off the horse, get up, dust yourself off, and get back on. Be more conscious. How? Apply the basic principles of ATM: go more slowly, pay more attention, and observe your reactions and experiences with compassion. Be a witness to your own learning without guilt, shame or judgment, but with attentive support, acceptance of what is and compassion for yourself.

Key #4 Find Accountability

Get the individual attention you need to monitor how you are doing, with someone who can help role model these behaviors for you. When you commit to a live class over a series of weeks, your ATM teacher can give you feedback and encouragement. Teaching ATM is all about teaching people how to be there for themselves. It's about supporting you in becoming more attentive to your own needs, more accepting of who you are and more compassionate with your personal foibles and lack of clarity around some things. We all have places where we are stuck or where we don't always act in our own best interest. Find the support you need to realize your own intentions.

If this idea appeals to you, the idea of having someone coach you through the process of making significant changes in your way of relating to yourself, call me, I will be happy to work with you to flesh out your goals and to stick to them! This would involve an initial consultation, and weekly follow-up by phone and/or email. - Gabrielle

Toward A New Definition of Success

What gets in the way of initiating those changes you want to make? Perhaps your definition of success is self-limiting.


It is the time of year for new resolutions. So what needs to be different for those new goals to materialize? What makes this year different from last year? It's possible that your idea of success is getting in your way. If success, to you, is something amorphous and vague, like loosing weight (how much?), or feeling better (better than what?), or taking better care of yourself (in what way?), chances are your definition of success needs to be updated.

When you don't know where to begin, it helps to be held accountable. That's one aspect of what I do. I support you in learning to stand for what you want. For each person, it's different and so I create a safe space in the classroom for you to discover what success means, to you.

It helps to focus on competing with your own past performance, to not compare yourself to others. By learning to assess how you are doing, you bring the focus back to what is relevant. By learning to cultivate your ability to sense yourself, you loose the habit of denial, of recrimination and judgement. I have worked for years with meditation techniques that try to teach people to stop being judgemental intentionally. But I have not found that it works. As the ancient Chinese proverb states, 'What you resist persists.' In the FELDENKRAIS® Method of AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT®, you will learn to observe without reaction, to assess without judgement, without resistance.



It helps to change your focus from results to learning Process Oriented Wellness. In this framework, your progress is measured by sticking with the program, because that is an easily attainable goal. It's measured by staying with the process, because that's what creates quality of life. Waiting for something to happen puts you and your experience on hold. Learning to focus on making the present moment more comfortable, more tangible and more solid brings back the fullness of being alive, the recognition of what you want and how to keep moving towards it.



And lastly, by focusing on and quantifying things you usually ignore, you make them real. ATM creates improvements and shifts in your emotional states, your dreams, your sleeping patterns, your daily comfort levels, your energy levels, your creativity, your sense of confidence, your level of contentment and emotional stability. These are all measurable things. Yet, the emphasis is no longer on external measurement. The emphasis is on internal measurement. How does it feel to you? That is what really matters. This is your life, not the life of a lab rat or a specimen in a science experiment. Take back your power by taking charge of your ability to sense improvement, contentment, comfort and aliveness and build whatever life you wish to from here, at the intersection of experience and choice.