What is The Feldenkrais Method?

The Feldenkrais Method® is a form of somatic education that uses touch, movement and directed attention to restore wellbeing and healthy functioning.

The method enables you to become aware of habitual neuromuscular patterns and rigidities and learn to move in new ways, increasing range of motion and improving flexibility, coordination. It helps you improve skills and overcome limitations brought on by stress, misuse, accident or illness.

Who can benefit from the method?

Everyone can benefit; it helps those experiencing chronic or acute pain of the back, neck, shoulders, hips, legs, or knees, as well as healthy individuals who wish to enhance their movement abilities and refine their skills.

It is offered in two modalities: Functional Integration® and Awareness Through Movement®.In this 2 hour introductory workshop both modalities of the Feldenkrais Method will be discussed, followed by an Awareness Through Movement® practice and a Q&A session. Students interested in the one-on-one modality, will have the chance to schedule Functional Integration®sessions outside of the workshop hours. 

What is an ‘Awareness Through Movement®’ (ATM) lesson?

In Awareness Through Movement® lessons students are led through a sequence of movements in basic positions: sitting or lying on the floor, standing or sitting in a chair. These precisely structured movement explorations involve thinking, sensing, moving, feeling and imagining. By increasing awareness, the student learns to abandon habitual patterns of movement and develop new alternatives, resulting in improved flexibility and coordination. Many lessons are based on developmental movements and ordinary functional activities (reaching, standing, lying to sitting, looking behind yourself, etc.). Some are based on more abstract explorations of joint, muscle and postural relationships.

What is a ‘Functional Integration®’ (FI) lesson?

Functional Integration® lessons are individual sessions designed to meet the student's personal interests and needs. Communicating through touch and movement in addition to words, the teacher guides the student in a one-on-one process of self-discovery. 

Lying on a table, or in a sitting or standing position, the student is led along movement sequences that help expand the self-image and enable to include more of oneself in the movements. 

After experiencing FI® lessons, students often express feelings of relaxation and ease. They may breathe more freely and find that their thoughts have more clarity. The learning process is full of pleasant surprises and personal breakthroughs. 

How Does the Feldenkrais Method Differ from Massage and Chiropractic? 

While all of these practices touch people, the Feldenkrais Method is very different. In massage, the practitioner is working directly with the muscles, in chiropractic, with the bones. These are structural approaches that seek to affect change through changes in structure (muscles and spine). 

The Feldenkrais Method works with the ability to regulate and coordinate movement, which means working with the nervous system and the person as a whole. It is for anyone who wants to reconnect with the natural abilities to move, think, and feel.

About Jennifer Blanco

Jennifer Blanco has been teaching the Feldenkrais method since 2015 in Los Angeles, Barcelona and online in the context of holistic health, physical therapy & body work centers.

She also teaches Functional Integration and Awareness Through Movement to performers -including musicians, dancers and actors- privately and in the context of dance, theater & music institutions and festivals. She combines her experience as a Feldenkrais® teacher with her knowledge in the field of performing arts -including theater, dance, and music- to help performers improve their body awareness, move with greater ease and overcome physical and emotional blocks that may limit their performance on stage. Her approach focuses on an artistic practice that promotes health, personal growth, and development.

The Feldenkrais training program she graduated from is accredited by the European and Israeli Training and Accreditation Board (EuroTab). She is fluent in English, Spanish, Catalan and German and holds a degree in Film and Television Production.