Feldenkrais MINI LESSONS: MethodS for Mindful Movement
A series of Mini Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement lessons with Sarah Baumert
Students have asked for shorter lessons for those moments when there’s not enough time to do a full hour long practice. In these live sessions, I will be teaching two shorter Feldenkrais lessons. Each class time will be a completely new set of lessons. When you register for the series, you will also gain access to a handful of other short mini Feldenkrais lessons. *All lessons are recorded. Registering for the series gives you access to the recorded lessons indefinitely.
Why shorter lessons?
Last night at the end of the day, I was feeling tired. The August heat was getting to me and I lacked motivation. I noticed I had a little time before I needed to get moving on dinner, so I laid down and did a 20 minute Feldenkrais lesson. Prior, I had been staring at the screen for awhile so my eyes were tired and to be honest I was just feeling sort of dull. After 20 short minutes, I felt totally changed. My nervous system felt calm, but I also had the energy to take on the rest of my night.
“The human nervous system is eminently suitable for change.” -Moshe Feldenkrais
This experience reminded me of one reason I am offering these mini lessons, which is for you all to stock up your library with a similar opportunity. They are there for you when you need a shift or interruption of your current state, but don’t have an hour to spare. I like to think of them as more than a 5 minute movement snack, but also not the whole buffet. Just the right nourishment.
By the end of the series you will have 16 mini lessons to keep with you for those days you just need a little something.
$75 for the 16 lesson course
For full scholarship, please inquire directly with Sarah.
What You'll Discover In This Online Course:
Movement:
• This series will include 16 mini lessons.
Lessons included in this series:
Freeing the Neck From Behind
Circles On the Top of the Head
Twisted Arms in Sitting - Improve Your Neck and Shoulders
Circles That Refine the Self Image
Sensing the Spine With the Help of Your Hands
Tilting Legs, Arms Above Head
Knee Pulling Through Arm
Inhabiting the Hands
X - Pressing and Lifting, Lengthening and Shortening
Learning in Sitting
Connecting to Yourself
Flexible Wrists & Flexible Chest
Soothe and Orient Yourself
Simple Eyes
Connecting Ribs and Sternum
Treat Yourself Shoulder Release
Connection:
• Q & A sessions
• Online forum to connect and ask questions if you are doing the recordings
• Optional 10 minute consultation with Sarah
• Email support
Ways to keep practicing:
• Stream recordings indefinitely
• Option to download recordings
Once you have purchased the course, you will have immediate access to the class recordings.
How to use the Marvelous software for livestream and recorded classes.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
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Starting in the 1930’s, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais began to develop a somatic form of neuromuscular re-education. Feldenkrais developed two practical approaches for exploring early developmental movements, as well as more advanced complex actions.
1) Functional Integration - manually directed, hands on, private lessons. Learn more about 1:1 the Feldenkrais approach here.
2) Awareness Through Movement - verbally guided mindful movement classes done in a group setting.
Both approaches are described as “lessons”, as they involve beneficial learning processes for the brain and body. In guided Awareness Through Movement classes you study your potential to act, and how you refine your self organization to make any movement. Feldenkrais is not stretching or straining, it is learning. The method uses gentle mindful movement and directed attention to help people learn new and more effective ways to move and be in the world.
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Yes! It’s not uncommon for students to feel taller and to stand more upright (with less effort) after a Feldenkrais session. Most all humans “hold” the body with a specific tone in the muscles. Over time this muscular tone habituates and becomes our “posture”, for better or worse. Using guided awareness and small movements in Feldenkrais lessons, the body can shed its unnecessary muscular tone, so that the skeleton can then find its more optimal place to be.
“Although we each have a fantastic skeleton and musculature designed to give us flexible support and hold us upright against the pull of gravity, we frequently develop postural habits that challenge our skeletal structure's effectiveness and cause muscular tension inflammation, and a gradual deterioration of our joints.” - Feldenkrais Trainer David Zemach- Bersin
With awareness, specificity, and practice, Feldenkrais lessons can give you the ability to free the muscles of the neck, shoulders, spine, and pelvis. As one moves towards more freedom of the muscles, one also moves towards a more easy, elegant, and upright posture supported by the strength of the skeleton.
Our aim in Feldenkrais is not a perfect posture, but a place of less tension and conflict in the body where our posture is fluid, not rigid. Everyone’s posture, or how they “use” themselves, isn’t always optimal. With the help of the Feldenkrais method, your postural habits can improve to make everyday movements more enjoyable and easy.
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Both practices emphasize listening to your body, respecting its limits, and unlocking its potential. However, their approaches differ, offering unique pathways to self-discovery. A seasoned yogi might find Feldenkrais deepens their internal awareness, while a Feldenkrais practitioner might discover greater strength and power through yoga.
While most yoga practices tend to focus on alignment and the shape of a pose, the Feldenkrais method differs, in that the emphasis is on the coordination and quality of movement, not in holding a pose for a set amount of time or reaching the limits of a stretch. Feldenkrais emphasized ease and efficiency in movement and to never reach a point of strain or even stretch. The movements are always done within a range of comfort, creating an environment where the nervous system feels safe enough to learn and change. There are no shapes or poses in the Feldenkrais method, but instead we work with developmental movement patterns and mindful movement explorations.
Join this course and . . .
Receive access to 16 mini lessons to do on your own time.
Learn from a gentle guide and experienced Feldenkrais practitioner.
Sprinkle your day with moments of mindful movement and self-discovery.
Connect with a supportive community of like-minded individuals.
Register today and take the first step towards a more empowered and pain-free you!
About Sarah: Sarah Baumert is known for her thorough and diverse instruction and her dedication to holding space for individual personal discovery. She facilitates whole body alignment in her students as a way for them to access balance, strength, mobility and physical clarity. Through sensory rich movement experiments, she guides students in cultivating mindfulness and deepening their learning process. She works with a variety of populations including athletes, seniors, artists, dancers, musicians, and those experiencing injury or surgery recovery. Sarah is a certified Yoga Therapist, an Authorized Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® Teacher and Feldenkrais Functional Integration® Practitioner. Her objective is to acquire the most effective skills for helping her students live with less pain and more pleasure in their bodies.
What people are saying about Sarah's teaching:
“I have never, ever felt my hands and lower arms as I did at the end of class tonight. They were glowing in a fuzzy, pleasant way. I can’t describe it otherwise. - Linda
I am so grateful that you continue to provide these life giving, body strengthening and soul nurturing classes. They are like an inner meditation for every cell in my body! - Rosie
After I switched to the ‘regular’ yoga class, I realized I missed how I felt during and after Feldenkrais. I experience an ease of being, a soft wholesomeness, in Feldenkrais. I meditate most mornings, and I sometimes find that same stillness after Feldenkrais. Also, ease of movement: I am always struck at how gracefully I can move a limb compared to how the limb starts out. -Elizabeth
What I love so much about your classes: when the unexpected happens, like a jigsaw puzzle falling into place. Keep surprising me! - Jane
I find your classes to be exceptionally supportive and illuminating, and I’ve so benefitted from the learning and the unlearning I’ve experienced. Drop by drop, this practice and what I’ve received from your teaching have radically changed how I am in my body and in my life. These online Feldenkrais courses have become some of my favorite practices ever, and I’m excited every time you propose a new series. - Betsy
After these lessons, I often feel like I am “floating”. I continue to realize, in real time and activities like walking, the connection between all parts of my body….the supple power that moves up and down my spine, from my head to my pelvis. - Helen”