Learning with Feeling, Moving for Life

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT BALLET PRIVATES, THE Feldenkrais® Method AND SOUNDER SLEEP™

What is the Feldenkrais® Method ® of Somatic Education?
Who Benefits form the Feldenkrais® Method?
What Happens in a Feldenkrais® Method Session?
How does the Feldenkrais® Method ® Differ from Massage and Chiropractic?
How are Feldenkrais® Practitioners trained?
Private Ballet Lessons
Functional Integration lessons
Sounder Sleep™

What is the Feldenkrais® Method ® of Somatic Education?

The Feldenkrais® Method is a form of somatic education that uses gentle movement and directed attention to improve movement and enhance human functioning. With the Method, you can increase your range of motion, improve your flexibility and coordination, and rediscover your innate capacity for graceful, efficient movement.

By expanding the self-image through movement sequences, the Method enables you to include more of yourself in your movements. Students become aware of their habitual neuromuscular patterns and rigidities, and learn to move in new ways.

Who Benefits form the Feldenkrais® Method?

Everyone can benefit from the Method. The Feldenkrais® Method helps those experiencing chronic or acute pain of the back , neck, shoulders, hips, legs, knees, as well as healthy individuals who wish to enhance their movement abilities. The Method has been very helpful in dealing with central nervous system conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and stroke. Musicians, actors, and artists can extend their abilities and enhance their creativity. Seniors enjoy using it to retain or regain their ability to move without strain or discomfort.

What Happens in a Feldenkrais® Method Session?

In group Awareness Through Movement® lessons, the Feldenkrais® teacher verbally leads you 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, you will learn to abandon habitual patterns of movement and develop mew 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. There are hundreds of ATM lessons, varying in difficulty and complexity, for all levels of movement ability. A lesson generally lasts form 30 to 60 minutes.

Private Feldenkrais® lessons, called Functional Integration® lessons, are tailored to each student's individual learning needs. The teacher guides your movements through gentle non-invasive touching and words. The student is fully clothed, lying on a table or in a sitting or standing position. At times, various props (pillows, rollers, blankets) are used in an effort to support the student, or to facilitate certain movements. The learning process is carried out without the use of any invasive or forceful procedure.

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 with the muscles, in chiropractic, with the bones. These are structured approaches that seek to effect change through changes in structure (muscles and spine). The Feldenkrais® Method works with your ability to regulate and coordinate your movement, which means working with the nervous system and the whole person.

How are Feldenkrais® Practitioners trained?

All Feldenkrais® practitioners must complete 740-800 hours of training over a 3 to 4 year period. Trainees participate in Awareness Through Movement® and Functional Integration lessons, lectures, discussions, group process, and watch videos of Dr Feldenkrais® teaching. Newtonian mechanics, physics, neurophysiology, movement development, biology, and learning theories are presented in the training programs.

Private Lessons

Private BALLET lessons are available by appointment.

Mme Modelski takes private students from the age of 11 up.

After contacting Mme Modelski, the student is expected to book and pay for studio space before the lesson. Payment for the lesson will be upon completion of the lesson. There is a 7 day cancellation policy.

Private ballet lessons are usually 1 hour in length. Videotaping will be allowed only with prior permission from Mme Modelski.

The parent or guardian of minors are required to be present during the private lessons.

Contact: peffdance@aol.com

Phone: 646-319-2371

Functional Integration lessons are one hour, by appointment only, in advance. There is a 48 hour cancellation policy.

The Feldenkrais® Method
52 Sterling Circle # 205
Wheaton IL 60187

Sounder Sleep™ is a method of achieving healthier sleeping pattern for life.

Developed by Michael Krugman, Feldenkrais® Practitioner, this method teaches the options for getting to sleep, going back to sleep and achieving healthy alertness during the day without the aid of drugs.