Photo by Gift Habeshaw
February 10, 2023
Using the Feldenkrais Method®
for Stress Management
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From the Editors
The Feldenkrais Method is well known as a movement practice that is incredibly effective for pain relief, improving posture, and developing higher levels of physical performance. Yet many students of the Method also find immense benefit from Awareness Through Movement® classes and individual Functional Integration® session in terms of their mental health and their capacity to regulate their emotional well being.
Long before the "Mindfulness Revolution" that is picking up steam today, Moshe Feldenkrais understood that our experiences of 'mind' and 'body' cannot be separated. This understanding is at the core of why so many people have found solutions for their difficulties by working with the Feldenkrais Method of somatic education after other approaches didn't help. A significant reason for this phenomenon might be that embedded within the way Feldenkrais® practitioners teach movement is a fresh orientation to how we relate to ourselves. This month's contributors zero in on this self-relationship as they highlight the ways that the Feldenkrais Method can support stress management.
In her interview with Joe Webster, Australian Feldenkrais practitioner Molly Tipping talks about the relationship between stress and anxiety and the difference between psychological and somatic approaches to emotional regulation. Rachel White Galvin invites readers to stop being so serious and reconnect with the natural stress-relieving properties of play. Fritha Pengelly describes how practices like the Feldenkrais Method and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) function as tools for cultivating resilience such that we can confidently face lifes ups and downs.
Jane, Joe and Seth
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Finding a Route Out of Anxiety with the Help of The Feldenkrais Method®
An Interview with Molly Tipping
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This month Joe Webster interviews Molly Tipping, discussing how the Feldenkrais Method® can be used to build skills to reduce anxiety and manage stress, including 'how to explore new and novel situations without being overwhelmed'.
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About Molly:
Molly Tipping is a gentle and joyful Somatic practitioner. Trained in Feldenkrais®, Ideokinesis, Consent, Trauma, Pilates and Dance, Molly is specialises in embodiment, anxiety and the performing arts, and has found her niche - marrying her dramatic arts background with her astute body-mind sensitivities. Molly runs a busy private practice and lectures at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in Anatomy, Movement for Actors, Resilience Tools and Performance Anxiety.
Molly is also the creator of the training program, Embracing Anxiety, as well as many home programs, including Move Over Anxiety, co-authored with Brigit Cosgrove.
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Burned Out? Here Are 5 Ways to Bring More Play Into Your Day!
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Photo by Eleonora K
By Rachel White Galvin, GCFPCM
As modern humans, ever-striving for the illusive “work/life balance,” it’s easy to get stuck in a rut. We repeat the same routines day in and day out for months, if not years or even decades. Wake up → Go To Work/School/Activities → Come Home → Sleep. Rinse and repeat.
The unrelenting tasks of making sure bills are paid, mouths are fed, and the house is (somewhat) clean are peppered in daily. Add to that, the occasional ballet recital, t-ball game, or drinks out with friends for some extra spice (or more stress).
Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. Like a frog in a hot pot of water, we realize later than we’d like that “Houston, we have a problem.”
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About Rachel:
Rachel White Galvin holds a Doctorate in Viola Performance, is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner, and is the Chief Galvinizer at MindFelt Methods. Like many parents during the Covid Pandemic, she was forced to reconsider the effectiveness of schools and was introduced to the concept of unschooling. Its approach felt like a natural complement to the Feldenkrais Method®. She has since garnered inspiration from the writings of Akilah S. Richards, John Holt, and Pat Farenga. In exploring the world with her children, she has focused on deschooling her own curiosity-killing habits acquired from decades of schooling. As the creator of The Unpractice Experiment, she brings the experiential approaches of unschooling and the Feldenkrais Method to musicians burned out from their own school experiences. She lives in Carpinteria, CA with her husband, two kids, two cats, a dog, two cavies, an assortment of fish, and a host of carnivorous plants.
Her website is www.mindfeltmethods.com. Instagram: @mindfelt_methods
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Building your resiliency practice
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Photo by Johannes Plenio
By Fritha Pengelly
What happens if we think about “health as a dynamic condition?” Perhaps if we think of life as a process, as Moshe Feldenkrais did, we can understand that stress and adversity are normal aspects of living and that we have the internal resources for recovery and healing. Feldenkrais said, “improve the quality of the process and you improve the quality of life itself.”
If we consider the flip side and think of health as something static – that any perturbation of the system degrades one’s health and capacity for health – we get stuck looking at symptoms and how to get rid of them, rather than looking at the deeper, underlying processes that lead to those symptoms. This approach may provide temporary relief, but rarely solves the dis-ease processes or leads to longer term healing.
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About Fritha:
Fritha Pengelly, GCFPCM, Certified IOPS Practitioner, and an Accredited Certified EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Practitioner is based in Northampton, MA. Her practice is deeply informed by her background as a professional dancer and dance educator.
Fritha spent seven years (1994-2001) performing and teaching nationally and internationally as a member of the New York City-based Doug Elkins Dance Company. In 2006 she received her M.F.A. in dance with a focus on anatomy and physiology from the University of Washington and has taught as a visiting artist at various colleges and universities in the U.S. Additionally, Fritha has taken courses Tapping out of Trauma 1.0, Tapping out of Trauma 2.0, and a foundational course in Meta Health. She maintains an active practice in Northampton and online.
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- Movement of Opposition, an Awareness Through Movement® lesson by Fritha Pengelly. Click here to listen
- Check out Building Your Emotional Resiliency Practice combining The Feldenkrais Method® with EFT with Fritha and Sarah Young. Sessions include EFT Tapping followed by Feldenkrais ATM® lessons
- Molly has provided an exercise called Scanning for Comfort. From her series, co-authored with Brigit Cosgrove, Move Over Anxiety.
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