Expand Your Ability

Do you feel lost, directionless, overwhelmed by choice, or feeling powerless to make lasting change in your life? If so, this episode has something for you. In this episode I will talk about creating a life plan -- a document that represents the vision of your live going forward that can continue to guide your future decisions. I will talk about why I needed it, the process I followed and my exper...

A old woman is walking down a busy sidewalk in the city when she is firmly bumped aside as a man runs past her. Wait a second... that man stole her purse! Fortunately a police officer heard the cries and chases the man through alleyway, over fences, and past cooks in the hot frantic kitchen of a restaurant. The he turns the corner and it's a dead end. The thief is trapped. The police man aims his...

Lavinia Plonka, veteran teacher of the Feldenkrais Method is my guest this week. Her background stretches from playing the according, to theatre and mime, to yoga and the martial arts. She brings her rich history of learning and exploration in so many fields to this conversation.  We talk about how she got into the Feldenkrais Method, pursuing mastery and her thoughts on daily practice. In this ep...

Do you have a memory of a time when you were a kid and you ran away and hid? There was something so bad and you felt so terrible that  you had to get away. Does that memory linger with you? Does it arises from time to time and you think , "that was a really rough moment." You can still taste the feeling and sensation. You may even sense how the memory contorts your body.  Our responses to difficul...

We deal here with health and not with disease. This is what Moshe Feldenkrais told the students of his training program back in 1980. Feldenkrais offers a two part definition of health and I think it's a big reason the Feldenkrais Method is so compelling for practitioners and long time students of the work. So what is health? Is it simply the freedom from disease or illness, or is it something mor...

On this episode I want to talk about this framework: the 3 goals of the Feldenkrais Method. These are interrelated goals. Each one makes the others possible. I hope by breaking this down into these three categories, we can illuminate some new and less obvious spaces between ideas.  Spoiler Alert, its more than about moving better .  The three goals of the Feldenkrais Method I will explore are Oute...

This episode presents my interview with Kelly Cordes of Central Minnesota's WJON radio station. I talk to with her about what is the Feldenkrais Method, it's benefits and what does taking a class look like. I was connected with Kelly because I have been teaching at the Whitney Senior Center in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Seniors are in a particularly open to the Feldenkrais Method because it is so acces...

The Feldenkrais Method is a way to improve your own sense of self-value in your. The way in which you value yourself by your own standards, and less and less by the standards of others. How good is that? Would that be worthwhile for you? On this episode we explore the 4th of nine reasons for Moshe Feldenkrais advises for movement as a tool for self-improvement and growth.  The ability to move is i...

When Jenny Frank-Doggett incorporates Feldenkrais® into her therapy sessions, she finds it helps her clients to feel better. She means 'feel better' in two meanings. They feel better in their body and mind and they can feel more . They can become more attuned with their experience. Language is tough. I agree that it's important that we connect Mind and Body. Our culture in the West has had such an...

I've used the term story many times on this podcast. Stories are what we've learned about ourselves, beliefs about how we should act. Stories are the way our past continues to shape our actions. Some common stories that live out in people's experiences are I'm not good enough , I'm not lovable , its better for me to not feel , I need to push hard to get results.  (Do these resonate with you?) On t...

As a curious child, Sarah Baumert, experimented with the yoga postures she found in a book. She found joy in how the postures stimulated intense energy or offered calm. She was far more comfortable with expressing with her body than her words and became a professional dancer. When she became a yoga teacher she learned to put her profound experience into words so she could guide students to find th...

For over a decade I have done video editing. So often by the end of a work session I would walk away feeling cranky or prickly. While creating the videos I was also creating unnecessary discomfort (which sent my on a journey into the Feldenkrais Method).  That was the basis for burnout and resentment. Not good. I believe everybody is fundamentally creative. We create the relationships we have with...

"We all have more experience of movement, and more capacity for it, than of feeling and thought," says Moshe Feldenkrais in his 3rd argument for Why Movement as a basis for self-improvement. In the North American culture I call home, there is a strong emphasis on personal growth through acquiring information like facts and ideas with not much of a focus on learning through movement (I understand t...

Have you ever been called "too sensitive"? I have and I don't like it. It's not helpful and I think it misses the point. In this episode, I reframe sensitivity. Sensitivity is a good and necessary quality. Sensitivity is about how you receive information from the world to inform your actions. Wouldn't you prefer a partner who is sensitive to your needs? A baker who is sensitive to the ingredients?...

My guest this week is Jeff Haller, a 40 year veteran Feldenkrais practitioner and trainer of other practitioners. Jeff Haller chose the Feldenkrais Method over many other professions, including aikido, psychotherapy, and basketball coaching because he believed this method was singular in helping people transcend their history. He's a generous and compassionate teacher.  In this episode you will he...

When big emotions sweep through you, what do you do? How do you handle them? Big emotions like rage can lead us to destroying the relationships that are important to us.  This episode explores the story of one of my students, Shahryar, who has a history of 'pent-up' aggression. This aggression led him to make choices he later regrets. He attempted to deal work out those feelings through forceful e...

Discerning quality is essential to living life with choice and satisfaction. You do this already when you turn off that Netflix show because it's just not good. Boring! Or maybe you're a mechanic and you're tuned into the sounds of the engine. That clunks not a good sound... You're attentive to quality when you type up that sensitive email to your client. You want to get the words just right. Am I...

It's springtime! Yay! Get those windows open and bring in the light. Oh boy, there's a lot of work to do.  We really did let ourselves go during the wintery months.😅 The impulse to spring clean is so natural as the days get longer and warmer. But do you think to spring clean your your house of habits? House of habits , you ask, what is that? In short, its your history, your behavior, the sum tota...

Well, that was a waste of time. That was Alice's first experience of the Feldenkrais Method 25 years ago. Little did she know she would come to love it and produce a movie about the method years later. "I felt like I was taken apart and put back together in the way I should be put back together." That's how Alice Boyd's described her first experience in a 1:1 hands-on Feldenkrais lesson. Alice Boy...

There is the common list of benefits about the Feldenkrais Method: people get from lessons saying they feel taller , more grounded , lighter , more graceful, easier movement, less pain etc. That's a good and with this episode I wanted to focus on the surprising benefits of this work. The benefits that emerge as new thoughts for yourself.  Like the following: I didn't know I was doing that! I never...

Put aside your self-help books. Step away for a moment from the your therapy session. Consider movement as a key ingredient you've been missing. In a world that's so focused on thinking and feeling, why would movement be necessary for self-improvement? Let's find out. Moshe Feldenkrais in his book Awareness Through Movement gives 9 reasons for Why Movement? We tackle the first one: Your nervous sy...

When your friend says they are going to go do an ATM, do you look at them perplexed? I guarantee you they are not grabbing money from a machine. 💸💸 ATM is the short hand for Awareness Through Movement ®, the group class of the Feldenkrais Method ®. If you find yourself curious about Awareness Through Movement , but you want to know what you're getting yourself into, listen to this episode. You'l...

"We act in accordance with our self-image." Moshe Feldenkrais opens his book Awareness Through Movement with this line . He then says the self-image "governs our every act." Feldenkrais is taking the broadest view of human behavior. This episode dives into what is the Self-Image and its three factors: Heritage, Education and Self - Education . Understanding this fundamental idea will help you purs...

Do you find yourself getting after it at work, focusing hard to make this Friday's deadline but you don't really know how to turn it off this urgency when you get home? That high-pressure way of doing then sneaks into your relationships, which isn't so appreciated. 😅 There is the old phrase, How you do one thing is how you do everything. We need to ask the question: What if we don't like how we d...

Welcome! In this first episode I will talk about:  who I am and my background What is the Feldenkrais Method the goals of this podcast. +++++ Hi, I'm Jeffrey.  I am a Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and Filmmaker. I am the director of the upcoming documentary on the Feldenkrais Method. Stay connected and subscribe to the podcast. Download my free guide: 9 Surprising Benefits of the Feldenkrais...