Feldenkrais for Life podcast

Answering listener questions on topics like yoga, emotional release in practice, and why we don't stretch in the Feldenkrais Method®. Visit https://AchievingExcellence.com and https://DonnaRay.com to learn more about Donna and Al and to explore our class and product offerings. Visit the show website: https://FeldenkraisforLife.com.  

How do convergent and divergent styles of thinking relate to creativity? We explore how Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons can stimulate flexible, creative problem-solving. Visit https://AchievingExcellence.com and https://DonnaRay.com to learn more about Donna and Al and to explore our class and product offerings. Visit the show website: https://FeldenkraisforLife.com.

As our physical abilities improve through practice, so does our confidence to meet life's challenges. We discuss how the Feldenkrais Method can cultivate resilience for aging well.  Visit https://AchievingExcellence.com and https://DonnaRay.com to learn more about Donna and Al and to explore our class and product offerings. Visit the show website: https://FeldenkraisforLife.com.

Ancient civilizations often referred to the sacrum as the “holy bone.” We discuss the “holy bone,” the social impact of our self-image and the pelvis, and the birthing process. Visit: https://AchievingExcellence.com and https://DonnaRay.com to learn more about Donna and Al and to explore our class and product offerings.

In his book, The Potent Self, Dr. Feldenkrais puts forward four criteria for coordinated, well-learned action: the absence of effort, the absence of resistance, the presence of reversibility, and breathing and posture. We discuss each of these with examples. Visit: https://AchievingExcellence.com and https://DonnaRay.com to learn more about Donna and Al and to explore our class and product offerings.

Cross-motivation is when we enact more than one motivation at the same time. By becoming aware of our cross-motivations and sorting out our intentions so we are acting in a mono-motivated way, we use less energy, feel better, and get more done in our lives. Visit: https://AchievingExcellence.com and https://DonnaRay.com to learn more about Donna and Al and to explore our class and product offerings.

We discuss trauma resolution from the perspective of psychotherapy and the Feldenkrais Method. Visit: https://AchievingExcellence.com and https://DonnaRay.com to learn more about Donna and Al and to explore our class and product offerings.

We discuss how mistakes are essential to learning. Hear a story about how a music teacher encouraged a little girl to make mistakes to help her learn; and how trying to do something correctly limits our success.  Visit: https://AchievingExcellence.com and https://DonnaRay.com to learn more about Donna and Al and to explore our class and product offerings.

We discuss why we move slowly when doing Feldenkrais lessons. And how essential that is for learning. Experience the difference between going quickly and going slow. Visit: https://AchievingExcellence.com and https://DonnaRay.com to learn more about Donna and Al and to explore our class and product offerings.

Working within your range of comfort, Exploring variations at the border of ability, discovering a greater capacity, Doing too much, Involving more of yourself Visit: https://AchievingExcellence.com and https://DonnaRay.com to learn more about Donna and Al and to explore our class and product offerings.

We discuss how reframing an illness can improve the healing process. How your brain is predictive, and how to build resilience through intentionally engaging in challenging situations. Visit: https://AchievingExcellence.com and https://DonnaRay.com to learn more about Donna and Al and to explore our class and product offerings.

Differentiation is a crucial concept in the Feldenkrais Method®. We discuss and define differentiation and give lots of examples and a guided movement experience so you can sense the differences. We discuss differentiation in emotions, movement, thinking, and sensing.  Visit Donna’s site: https://DonnaRay.com Visit Al’s Site: https://AchievingExcellence.com Get your first Feldenkrais lesson from AchievingExcellence.com. Use coupon awesome-podcast to save 20%.

A fundamental concept of the Feldenkrais Method® is the brain cannot think without motor movement. We get into this concept through some movement explorations and discussions. We talk about thinking, feeling, sensing, and acting and how we move our attention to these different domains of experience as needed in our daily experience. Shifting our attention like this is primarily outside our conscious awareness. However, we can bring this process to consciousness. Donna guides us through a series of imagined movements that make this phenomenon more explicit.  Norman Doidge, The Brain's Way of Healing  Visit Donna’s site: https://DonnaRay.com Visit Al’s Site: https://AchievingExcellence.com Get your first Feldenkrais lesson from AchievingExcellence.com. Use coupon awesome-podcast to save 20%.

We talk about the work of Alia Crum and the studies she has done on mindsets and their influence on our health and biology. We get into the effects of social suggestions on aging. We discuss auto-suggestion and how health care providers could improve their communication skills. We return to Dr. Feldenkrais and his interest in auto-suggestion and hypnosis and how these concepts became influential in developing his method.  Thinking and Doing: https://achievingexcellence.com/thinking-and-doing/ Visit Donna’s site: https://DonnaRay.com Visit Al’s Site: https://AchievingExcellence.com Get your first Feldenkrais lesson from AchievingExcellence.com. Use coupon awesome-podcast to save 20%.

How does the mind influence the brain? It was a widely held belief that the mind was a result of the brain, and the mind could not reflect and affect the functioning of the brain. It was just around 2000 that this belief started to change. Dr. Feldenkrais understood this decades ago and applied the idea of using the mind to change the brain in his Awareness Through Movement® and Functional Integration® work. Dr. Feldenkrais is considered one of the first neuro-plasticians. Visit Donna’s site: https://DonnaRay.com Visit Al’s Site: https://AchievingExcellence.com Get your first Feldenkrais lesson from AchievingExcellence.com. Use coupon awesome-podcast to save 20%.

What is reversibility? Dr. Feldenkrais considered this an essential concept of the Feldenkrais Method®. We give examples and do some explorations with reversibility. We also discuss good posture, cultivating quality movement, and choice. We end with how the method is generalized to daily life and how the benefits show up spontaneously without practice. Visit Donna’s site: https://DonnaRay.com Visit Al’s Site: https://AchievingExcellence.com Get your first Feldenkrais lesson from AchievingExcellence.com. Use coupon awesome-podcast to save 20%.

We discuss the functioning of the mouth and jaw. What is the relationship between the jaw, neck, and eyes? How does the pelvis influence the functioning of the jaw? What part does the tongue play in a well-organized jaw? We discuss and explore these ideas in this podcast, which introduces our audio program, "Release Jaw Tension Now." https://achievingexcellence.com/release-jaw-tension-now/ Visit Donna’s site: https://DonnaRay.com Visit Al’s Site: https://AchievingExcellence.com Get your first Feldenkrais lesson from AchievingExcellence.com. Use coupon awesome-podcast to save 20%.

We discuss a concept Dr. Feldenkrais presents in his book Body and Mature Behavior. Which is that there are two paths of development. One is the pathway of improvement in which a person continues to make finer and finer distinctions. The other is the pathway of decline in which a person lumps their experience into larger and larger categories. We discuss this in reference to movement, the Feldenkrais Method®, and hobbies such as painting, gardening, and building.  Body and Mature Behavior: https://achievingexcellence.com/body-and-mature-behavior/ Visit Donna’s site: https://DonnaRay.com Visit Al’s Site: https://AchievingExcellence.com Get your first Feldenkrais lesson from AchievingExcellence.com. Use coupon awesome-podcast to save 20%.

Why rest? When to rest? How does resting improve learning and productivity? There is resting as in naps, and there are rests that help us learn. Waking rests helps improve and integrate what you were just doing—facilitating learning. Resting can reset the brain and nervous system for improved performance.  Visit Donna’s site: https://DonnaRay.com Visit Al’s Site: https://AchievingExcellence.com Get your first Feldenkrais lesson from AchievingExcellence.com. Use coupon awesome-podcast to save 20%.

What happens in the brain as we age? How can we use the Feldenkrais Method® to continue to improve ourselves and do the things that are important to us in life? We each share our insights on how the Feldenkrais Method can keep you moving and vital while aging. Visit Donna’s site: https://DonnaRay.com Visit Al’s Site: https://AchievingExcellence.com Get your first Feldenkrais lesson from AchievingExcellence.com. Use coupon awesome-podcast to save 20%.