Feldenkrais at World Fellowship Center
Conway, NH
If you've ever been to a Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement class, you've probably experienced the wonderful, and at times profound, changes that can take place through this method in your body and in your sense of self. Now imagine what could happen over the course of several whole days, as you go deeper and deeper into your senses, and flesh out the map of your self-image.
This weekend retreat is modeled on the process used in professional Feldenkrais Practitioner training. We will do at least three Awareness Through Movement lessons each day, allowing time for both rest and discussion between lessons to help you integrate what you have experienced. The program will take place in the morning and early afternoon, leaving you free to enjoy everything else that World Fellowship has to offer for the rest of the day.
The Theme • Schedule & Logistics • Registration
this year:
Thursday — Sunday, July 5-8, 2012
(informal pre-retreat begins Monday July 2)The Tenth Annual Feldenkrais retreat
Approaching the Headstand
How to Make the Impossible Possible, The Possible Easy,
And the Easy Elegant and Satisfying
In the 1950s Moshe Feldenkrais taught David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, to stand on his head. According to one story, Ben Gurion got the idea from a conversation with Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, about the benefits of yoga.
Another story says that Ben Gurion was simply experiencing back pain.
Either way, Feldenkrais used the headstand to teach Ben Gurion to find an optimal — and powerful — organization of his back. The idea is that if you can balance your spine on its small end, it will become easy to balance it on its proper, upright foundation. The head will feel light, the back powerful and easily upright, and the individual will feel tall — a useful sensation for a politician leading his country through its first steps of statehood. It's been said that Moshe stood Ben Gurion on his head, so that Ben Gurion could stand the country on its feet.
In 1980, Feldenkrais taught the headstand again. This time to some 200 students of his method at the Amherst training. He chose the headstand specifivally because it is difficult for most people. That way he could teach not only the alignment of the spine and the powerful organization of the back, but also -- and perhaps most importantly -- how to take on a challenge with gentle curiosity, allowing oneself to arrive at an objective through focus on the process, rather than pursuing a goal with force and strain.
After all, if you can learn those three things, does it really matter if you can stand on your head or not?
Whether or not you actually stand on your head by the end of the workshop (and whether or not you were able to do so at the start), you are likely to discover:
- how to soften your body and reduce effort in general
- your breath, and how to recognize -- and avoid -- the habit of holding your breath when encountering a challenge
- your spine (especially your neck), and how to more efficiently carry your weight, whether inverted or upright
- ease, poise, confidence, and power in your posture
I hope you will join me. It should be a fun ride.
Click here to see description of themes from previous years:
Walking, "Spiral Power," "Power and Grace from the Core,"
and "Baby Moves for Grownups"