Adapt / Ability
The ability to adapt has been the driving force for the evolutionary success of the human species; it has allowed us to explore and inhabit new environments, to survive natures harshest moments and to thrive when the conditions become optimum.
This adaptability that makes us so uniquely successful also has some potential drawbacks, when we adapt to the trials and tribulations of our daily lives, the adaptations we choose, consciously or unconsciously, can lock us in to unintended consequences.
This could be as simple as holding your breath when something feels challenging, or as complicated as a postural habit developed due to hours spent sitting in front of a computer, each of these 'choices' can limit your options for movement as you go through life.
This is where the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education comes in. When our adaptations have left us with the sensation of limited choice, it can feel amazing to find ways to bring choice and freedom back into our movement vocabulary.
In this month's newsletter we explore the subject of adaptability from two unique starting points.
The first, an article written by Anita Schnee, a Feldenkrais® practitioner from Fayetteville, Arkansas. In the article she discusses the process of finding a pathway out of immobility and pain. She explores the similarities between developing healthy communication with horses, and the experience of relating to ourselves when we are living with discomfort or pain in our daily life.
The second is an interview with Agnese Porcari and Stefano Pacucci, two Feldenkrais practitioners from Italy, who have developed a partnering movement workshop which provides an opportunity to learn about ourselves in an interesting and new way. In the interview they discuss how working with a partner throughout the workshop provides another clue to tapping into our innate ability to adapt.
FGNA 2025 Annual Conference
If you would like to become more adaptable and develop your abilities, check out this years Feldenkrais Guild® of North America's annual conference. The subject for this year is adapt / ability, and there are a number of talks, workshops and Awareness Through Movement® lessons being taught as part of the conference.
There is an opening day panel discussion featuring, Elizabeth Beringer, Russell Delman, Ned Dwelle, Anna Johnson Wolf, Roger Russell & David Zemach-Bersin, which celebrates 50 years since the first training of the Feldenkrais Method of somatic education in North America.
The First Fifty
What would Dr. Feldenkrais, a man of science and innovation, have thought about how his method is being taught today?
A panel made up of members from that first training has been assembled to acknowledge this landmark event. These seasoned practitioners will share with us how the method has evolved and the noteworthy changes they have experienced over the first fifty years of teaching the Feldenkrais Method of somatic education.
Sign up at the link below and you will be notified of the meeting details and zoom link.
Sign up
You need to sign in as a guest, or register, if you are not already registered on the FGNA website. When you sign up for the panel discussion you are then eligible for an early offer to access the full conference.
We hope you enjoy this new edition of the SenseAbility newsletter.
Joe, Michelle and Jane
FGNA Communications team
