Photo by Brian Mann on Unsplash
May 6, 2022
Walking and the Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education
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From the Editors
We learn to walk when we are about one and at that point the learning is done. We hardly ever stop to think about how to improve how we walk. Yet, walking is such a complex activity that many aspects of it could be fine-tuned.
This issue of SenseAbility has so much great material to inspire you to look at your relationship with walking. Carol Montgomery’s article focuses on the ankle joint and how it is essential for the effortless walking. Carolyn Palmer shares a story of her recovery after a spinal surgery and how her walking is connected to her self-image. Alan Questel joyfully shares the secrets of walking well in his insightful interview. Don’t miss an excerpt from Chava Shelhav’s new book on child development, it goes into how children learn to walk in great detail.
Happy strides,
Lavinia and Yulia
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Effortless Walking and the Feldenkrais Method, an Interview with Alan Questel
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This month Yulia Kriskovets interviews Feldenkrais® Trainer Alan Questel about walking and what could be done to walk effortlessly. Check the Resources section for the Front of the heel lesson that Alan mentions in the interview.
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About Alan:
Alan S. Questel is known for his clarity, creativity and down to earth style of teaching while bringing a depth of understanding, humor and a gentle human perspective to learning the method. Trained by Dr. Feldenkrais, he teaches and directs Feldenkrais® Professional Training Programs in the USA, Australia, Europe, Japan and South America. He is the author of Creating Creativity, creator of Pregnant Pauses – Movement for Moms as well as 19 Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® CD sets for the public. His new book Practice Intentional Acts of Kindness… And like yourself more will be released soon and his current trainings are in Santa Fe, NM and upcoming in Aurillac, France. His website is www.uncommonsensing.com.
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Walking: Integral Human Gait™ theory
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Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash
By Carol Montgomery, GCFPCM
1. Move a foot forward.
2. Move the other foot forward.
3. Repeat until you reach your destination…the bathroom, the kitchen, the mailbox, up a hill, the grocery store.
Oh, if only walking were only that simple.
The joyful feeling of freedom in movement is often appreciated only when interrupted or unavailable. Over the years, your gait, or the pattern of how you walk from point A to point B, decides if walking facilitates health and wellness or facilitates disease. Walking is beneficial when your nervous system can access options of mobility and stability embedded in healthy gait patterns. A proficient gait allows for pleasurable exertion when navigating uneven ground or stairs. An integrative gait allows for variance in speed and turning that reduces fall risk. A high-quality gait pattern alters the brain's white matter organization, improving cognitive flexibility, processing speed, and fluid intelligence. What do you need today that allows you to experience better walking? What is it that will enable you to embody an efficient gait that will inadvertently go on to impact the quality of your life for as long as you live? (...)
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About Carol:
Carol A. Montgomery is the founder and owner of Montgomery Somatics, private physical therapy and somatic education center dedicated to initiating paradigm shifts in the fields of healthcare, wellness, and movement. She holds a Master’s Degree in Physical Therapy and is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais PractitionerCM and a Senior Trainer in Movement Intelligence. Carol is co-creator of Integral Human Gait theory and has written about the Feldenkrais Method for The Feldenkrais JournalTM and the Alternative and Complementary Therapies Journal. Her website www.MontgomerySomatics.com
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Walking With My Self-Image
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Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash
By Carolyn Palmer, Ph.D., GCFPCM,
One day I could walk without much thought.
Then one day I couldn’t, even with thought.
It started with what felt like a pulled muscle in my back. Tense over my dog’s emergency surgery, I attributed the pain to those very anxious few days. But then I developed a sustained fever, and sought medical attention; the source of symptoms was yet unclear. In a couple weeks’ time, I started needing a hiking pole for support. A few days after feeling slightly numb in my legs, I could not stand. Emergency room doctors diagnosed a spinal infection eating away at my thoracic vertebrae T7 and T8 and the disc between them. In an immediate laminectomy, the neurosurgery team removed the disc, cleaned the area, and installed stabilizing 10 inch rods from T4-10.
Since then, in hospitals and at home, I have been learning to walk again.
To go from fully functional to being unable to stand, in a month’s time, was shocking. It has also been head-spinning to recover function. The Feldenkrais Method has been central to my recovery. (...)
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About Carolyn:
Carolyn Palmer, Ph.D., is a Developmental Psychologist at Vassar College, and a Feldenkrais Method and Child’Space® movement teacher. She studies lifespan action development, embodied learning and teaching practices, and contemplative practices. Carolyn offers lessons, classes, and workshops on using movement to enhance attention, learning, comfort, parenting, and teaching. During her recent recovery, she has been grateful for guidance provided by Feldenkrais and Somatic Experiencing teacher Dan Rindler, and by her wise colleagues, Feldenkrais Teachers of the Hudson Valley.
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An Excerpt From "Child Space," a Book by Chava Shelhav
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Photo by Alyssa Stevenson on Unsplash
An Integrated Approach to Infant Development Based on the Feldenkrais Method
By Chava Shelhav, Ph.D.
with Orly Gat and Tomer Hollander
Published by North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California
All Right Reserved
Excerpt courtesy of Somatic Resources and North Atlantic Books.
Available from FeldenkraisResources.com, Better Bookstores and Amazon.com
An Integrated Approach to Infant Development Based on the Feldenkrais Method
An Integrated Approach to Infant Development Based on the Feldenkrais Method
First Steps: As Walking Evolves
When the infant has already learned to stand, and he can stand by leaning on a couch or on a chair, the world around him supplies stimuli that lead him to move toward them. He discovers the possibility of walking while supported. The support helps him stabilize his upper body and allows him to freely move the lower half of his body. The infant transfers his weight by leaning on a source of support in order to lift a leg and place it in a new spot. Surprisingly, most infants begin with side stepping, known as cruising, before they take steps in a forward direction. The following are the reasons for this:
The supporting foot stays in full contact for the duration of each step when stepping sideways. In contrast, walking forward requires the infant to shift weight from the heel to the arch, and then to the toes, which means that a more advanced organization and balance are needed.
Shifting weight sideways is done in a way that requires less differentiation in the movement of the joints of the body than walking forward. Side stepping (cruising) is a kind of falling onto the foot, so that the foot, the pelvis, the torso, the hand, and the head move as one unit in a global movement. (...)
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About Chava:
Chava Shelhav, Ph.D., was one of the first fourteen students trained by Dr. Feldenkrais. She continued to work with him for many years and served as his assistant in the Amherst training. She went on to earn her MA degree from Boston University and her Ph.D. from Heidelberg University. Chava has achieved distinction through her work with infants and children. During the last forty years, as she trained thousands of students. She created “Child’Space” - a method of developmental coaching that applies Feldenkrais theory to working with babies and their caregivers.
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It's Moshe's Birthday!
IT'S NOT TOO LATE
TO JOIN!
Online | TODAY! May 6, 2022 @ 12 - 2pm PT / 3-5pm ET
"Is The Feldenkrais Method a Spiritual Practice, and was Moshe a Spiritual Man?"
Presented by Robbie Ofir, Feldenkrais® Trainer, Ph.D., PT with Larry Goldfarb, teaching the “Prayer Lesson”
Not able to attend live? Register now and receive the recording!
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- The Seated Strap Stretch, a free lesson from Carol Montgomery, who guides you through a Feldenkrais somatic exploration to discover how ankle and hip mobility can improve your gait, walking with more ease and confidence. Watch here!
- Walking with your back…letting the force go through you, a free lesson from Alan Questel - Download it now.
- Finding the Front of your heel, a free lesson from Alan Questel.Find the difference here
- ‘What Is Walking?’ lesson series from Alan Questel. For more information and to purchase, find it here.
- Movement Exploration of Hands and Feet by Carolyn Palmer. View the lesson here.
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