Do you wonder what to expect? There are hundreds of ways you might respond to your first few Feldenkrais® lessons! So much depends on your very unique body, history, and learning style. However, there are some responses that are so common, it's reasonable to expect at least one of these developments.

As thousands of other Feldenkrais students have found through their personal experiences, you will learn to notice subtle changes in yourself after each lesson -- and you will often be surprised by the impact these subtle changes have on you over time. It's common for people to say, after their very first lesson, " I just can't believe how much different I feel already."

The older we get, the harder it is to stand up tall, sit up tall, and do so effortlessly. Wear and tear on our joints, injuries, long hours spent at a computer, carrying around children, or on the job slowly whittle away our uprightness and create a roundness in the shoulders, discomfort in the neck and low back. Knee and hip injuries or replacements complicate posture severely. And yet, through Feldenkrais lessons, you can dramatically improve your posture in a relatively short time, without surgery or painful invasion of any kind.

You have to feel this for yourself to believe it.

We tend to think that when our neck hurts, the problem is in our neck; and yet, this is rarely so. For a moment, think of the neck as the top of your vertical structure. Being vertical, that is, standing, requires a cooperative effort from many, many joints, muscles and bones starting at your feet and ending where your neck balances your head on top. Any compromised area along your vertical self creates a challenge for neighboring body segments. For instance, if you injure your knee, something in your pelvic area or lower back will probably try to make up for the lack of mobility and reliability in your knee! This kind of extra compensating behavior in your lower back may then lead to a change in the curvature of your middle back. The difficulty with your knee can also refer down the vertical structure and create challenges for your ankles. So, you can see, your neck is a bit of a hero! As the last section of the vertical column of your body, your neck has to somehow balance the considerable weight of your head, regardless of the misalignments and altered movement patterns in other parts of yourself. These challenges often result in neck pain and, in the long run, conditions such as compressed discs or dowagers hump.

So, if you want to solve your neck problem, you must consider the entire body, and that is the strong suit of the Feldenkrais Method®. Often after a lesson that doesn't even directly revolve around neck movements, you'll find your neck dramatically altered and far more comfortable.

Now that you have given some thought to the inter-connections of your entire body, it follows that, like the neck, lower back pain doesn't always originate in the place where you feel the discomfort. Once again, the health of your legs, your hips, and your entire spine make a difference in how happy your lower back will be.  Scores of Feldenkrais lessons contribute to a happier lower back, in many cases helping people to avoid invasive procedures that might otherwise be recommended.  This doesn't mean that the Feldenkrais Method is a medical treatment!  In fact, it's an educational approach that teaches you how to feel and initiate subtle but profound changes in how your move, think and sense your  daily life. 

Most of us have a strongly held belief that working hard is the path to success, and that nothing good can be accomplished without it. There are countless examples in many areas of life to support this common sense belief.

However, there are also times in our lives when working hard keeps us from learning to work smart. In your Feldenkrais experience, you will begin to sense the difference between the two. This happens because, in Feldenkrais, you will be more successful if you work gently, slowly, without added effort. This way of moving and thinking, which evolves from practice, spills over into the rest of your life so that you can discriminate and choose: Is this a time to work hard, or a time to work smart?

Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, the 20th century scientist and developer of the method now known by his name, always discouraged his students from taking notes in classes. This often created a stir among adult students who were accustomed to taking down every word when in a complex lecture or learning environment. His students were convinced that they would not remember without taking notes. While there certainly is a time and place for note-taking, you will find that your ability to remember your Feldenkrais lessons will be better than you think, because they are embedded in your body memory. And, as I always encourage my students to do (even when I give them notes to take home!), if you go home after your lesson and repeat as much of it as you can remember without consulting your notes, you might be surprised at how much you can recall. And, if you do this as a habit, you will gain much more confidence in your ability to remember many things, not just your Feldenkrais lessons. It seems that memory improves when we exercise it!

I'm sure you're curious by now, and possibly thinking of how the Feldenkrais Method might be able to help you solve a problem or two.  Please visit the North American office of the Feldenkrais Guild and search for a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner® near you.