interview


During a Freeing Your Body session I work with your body in order to improve your brain’s functioning so you can

* release muscle tension
* find more freedom from pain
* learn about yourself and your own awareness , and
* become a more complete, healthy human being by developing your own appreciation of yourself.

◊ Wear comfortable clothes for your session. I will ask you to take off your shoes and your belt, as well as jewelry, hair clips, etc. before we begin.


◊ We generally begin by talking about how you are feeling, and about any questions you have about the Feldenkrais Method. You may be seated on the table, or you may be lying down.

◊ When I understand enough, I will begin to support, then move parts of your body.



◊ I will observe how your body moves, how your movements are arranged in ways which are related to the concerns you have talked to me about earlier in the session. I may move your arms, or your head, perhaps your whole torso, in ways that will help you to discover that you have more options for movement than you realized.

◊ I may also ask you to make small, repetitive movements with your hand, or your head or leg while you sit or lie on the table. At the same time I will be learning more with my hands. I will place my hands and give you support and other signals in order to help you see that what we learned earlier in the session is also applicable now, while you are the one moving yourself.

At the end of your session we will observe together how you feel. When you sit, when you stand, when you walk about, do you feel differences? Where? Can you talk about the feeling of what was before and what is now? Or is it better just to stay with it on your own and have confidence in your process? The differences often create a sense of change which can’t exactly be explained, but which is clearly an improvement.

Your only homework will be
to become increasingly aware
of the differences you feel and to make note of them,
whether aloud in words to someone else,
or quietly without concept for yourself.

with student

This is why a somatic lesson works. It doesn’t try to change your intellectual processes. This process doesn’t require any “conscious” participation at all. A session is directed to the part of your brain which is involved with your actions. Its goal is to promote more efficient change in your neurological circuitry. It is the circuitry in that part of your brain which understands the session well enough to discover changes.

What does this mean? It means you don’t have to be able to “understand” anything or explain anything. You will see that you were able to change without having had to think about it. You don’t even have to know what changed. If something is different, that means you learned something, and with practice you will learn more and change more. You’ve been learning and changing this way since you were a baby, but you haven’t been paying attention to the fact that it’s going on.

How is that possible? There’s lots of neuroscience which explains it. Start here:

neurons 4

www.kavlifoundation.org/science-spotlights/neuroscience-of-decision-making#.VucJNDbmgK9

What Is Neurological Plasticity?
More on The Feldenkrais Method®

David Rowland
7 Lombardi Lane
Hanahan, SC 29410
(415) 264-2199
David@FreeingYourBody.com