Move Better, Feel Better: Feldenkrais Awareness Summit

Move Better, Feel Better

Feldenkrais^® Awareness Summit

Empower yourself by learning with over 35 experts in movement and wellbeing.

Discover the potent highways between your brain, body, emotions, health and action in the world.

We are pleased to introduce you to the top practitioners and teachers in somatic learning who will guide you in using movement to achieve your dreams.

FREE ONLINE EVENT | May 1 – May 10, 2020

Bummer! You missed this event. We had a wonderful 29,000 people join us. The good news is you can still purchase the recordings.

What will YOU get by being a part of this online conference?

Learn from these Master Teachers

David Zemach-Bersin, Tom Myers, Anat Baniel, Gil Hedley
Jeff Haller, Linda Tellington-Jones, Russell and Linda Delman
Alan Questel, Irene Lyon and many others.

36 Sessions organized into themes

Sports ~ Fitness ~ Spirituality Meets Physiology ~ Emotional Intelligence
Grace while Aging ~ Physical Challenges ~ Embodied Anatomy ~ Essential Feldenkrais ~ Somatics at Large

PLUS

Marilena Petridou

Taro Iwamoto

Teachers

Two Movement Lessons each Day

Awareness Through Movement^® lessons that are easy to fit into your schedule. These potent experiences will give your brain and nervous system the food they crave.

During the summit, you will experience positive changes
every day that will accumulate towards
your better living now.

As a SPECIAL BONUS for claiming your free ticket, YOU WILL RECEIVE…

Our exclusive:

2020 MOVE BETTER INSPIRATIONAL Guidebook

We all need encouragement on this journey of wholeness. Let these experienced teachers give you that extra boost when you need it.

Each expert shares a quote that inspires them, as well as guidance on its application for daily living. You will find this e-book mind-expanding and body-helpful.

What did people say about the last Summit?

The summit was extraordinary. So rich and inspiring!

I put many of my usual obligations on hold, I was so riveted to the unfolding days and themes.

Margaret Pierpont

This Summit was like the connective tissue between people from all over the world. I felt overwhelmed and thrilled by that much information on such a high, profound and professional level.

Dorothy Henning

FEATURED Master Sessions

Each day you will get 48-hour access to three powerful, transformational sessions with master practitioners in their fields and two Feldenkrais^® Awareness Through Movement^® lessons. Plus you can participate in a live panel discussion on that day’s track/theme.

DAY 1: Keynote and Opening Party

The Feldenkrais Method^®: Learning Through Movement

Join these editors as they explore the soon-to-be-published book The Feldenkrais Method^®: Learning Through Movement. In this session, we will discuss what we learned from the 22 contributors, how the Method can be used in other fields to improve performance and quality of life, as well as what the future of the Feldenkrais Method^® might hold. The book includes chapters on who Moshé Feldenkrais was, concepts of learning, working with martial artists, athletes, musicians, animals and children, the Feldenkrais Method^® in rehabilitation, and how Feldenkrais^® can enhance practices like Yoga and Pilates.

Staffan Elgelid

PhD, PT, GCFP, C-IAYT, RYT-500

Chrish Kresge

DAY 2: Sports

Vladimir Latocha

Phd, Olympic Swimmer

Feldenkrais^® for swimmers

Swimming can be very pleasurable, especially when a swimmer learns a few important things: how to play with and in the water by oneself (i.e. not trying to mimic a movement that is not felt); how to coordinate aquatic movements that are very different than walking; and because of the repetitive nature of swimming, how quality movement can prevent injuries. Discover tools, whether you are a swimmer or you are a practitioner or coach who helps swimmers.

Rich Goldsand

Assistant Trainer, Arizona State University Faculty

New perspectives on weight training: A Feldenkrais^®approach

How can you enhance the quality of strength training? Rich will focus on the use of the skeleton and the dedicated anti-gravity muscles of the neck, back and pelvis to do the job they were designed for—keeping us upright and stable—thus freeing other muscles to do their own best job of moving us through space.

We will explore how to use structural support during strength training to move more efficiently, more smoothly and with greater coordination. We will learn to recognize and build on that enhanced quality of movement to help develop musculature to the optimum.

Karin Major

Horse riders, develop your partnership, skill and feel

In the UK there is a show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, or, in the US, ’Dancing with The Stars’. Celebrities are matched with professional dancers and they learn to dance. In the early stages, the celebrities are ‘danced’ by the professionals. As the weeks go by the celebrities build their skills and become better partners to dance with. Horse riding is the same. You can be a partner with a negative, neutral or positive impact on your horse. How do you progress to ride with feel?

Panel Discussion

Theme: Sports

Join co-host
LAVINIA PLONKA and these experts

Brent Kisilevich

KREŠIMIR ŠOŠ

DAY 3: Emotional Intelligence

Jeff haller

Ph.D.

Moving towards emotional dignity

Moshé Feldenkrais viewed health as having the ability to meet life’s changing needs. When we have enough resources that we can choose, for example, to meet moments of perceived threat by thriving rather than defending ourselves or being self-protective in some way Emotional Dignity emerges.

Odette Guimond

Ph.D., actor and director, Certified Feldenkrais® Teacher (AFQ), Certified Alba Emoting Teacher (CL4), Emotional Body Lead Instructor/Trainer (EB6)

Emotions as universal mother tongue

Our self-image is built on all our relationships. The first dialogue we established after birth was through e-motions (movement, breathing/voice, and facial expression), building literally Me (Ego needs and stories), Myself (de-fusion with Mother-relationships) and I (soma). Each time I engage in a dialogue, a Functional Integration lesson, with a unique person, I imagine how many people I am talking to, through touch and voice. The same is happening when I direct an Awareness Through Movement^® lesson, using voice and words. How do we learn listening, intuition, response-ability, from a Self-centered experience?

Alan Questel

GCFT

Liking your self more

I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t want to like themselves more! But then the question becomes, HOW do we do that? The Feldenkrais Method^® offers a unique opportunity to discover and practice this, one that can extend past the classes or private sessions. Even if you already like yourself come and find out how you can like yourself even more … and more … and more …

Panel Discussion

Theme: Emotional Intelligence

Join co-host
LAVINIA PLONKA and these experts

Tiffany Sankary

Michael Landau

Feldenkrais® Practitioner

DAY 4: Fitness

Angela Crowley

GYROTONIC^®️ Educator, Guild Certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner, Licensed Massage Therapist

The GYROTONIC^® System: A new paradigm for fitness

The GYROTONIC^® System provides a revolutionary approach to fitness.

The primary movements of the Gyrotonic^® method are elemental spinal motions which are present in every daily activity and sport. Gyrotonic^® methodology expands these motions into exercises in every conceivable plane of motion inherently preparing the body to move in any direction while creating strength and length on all sides of the body. The result is long lean muscles, increased power and ease in movement. The unique suite of equipment allows free-flowing movement in any trajectory with options of creating support or resistance in varying relationships with gravity. You will see the Gyrotonic^® system in action and how it has benefited a wide range of populations. We will also discuss how drawing on a somatic approach like the Feldenkrais Method^® can help maximize the potential within this unique training system.

Rachel White Galvin

DMA, GCFP

Crossfit and the goal mindset paradox

Goal-setting is a great personal development tool, but for many, it can create a paradox. When you base your worth solely on the achievements, you can find yourself moving further away from your goals. CrossFit’s evidence-based methodology has empirically demonstrated its ability to create super-fit humans, but this comes at the cost of things that aren’t as quantifiable, like mental health and chronic repetitive stress injuries.

In this talk, Rachel will discuss how the Feldenkrais Method^® can help you efficiently improve your mobility, defy your limits, and redefine your mindset to better achieve your goals.

Nadia Genois

GCFP

Pole dancing meets Feldenkrais^®: A happy but not so obvious encounter

It should have been easy, connecting two passions together but it was not happening. In retrospect, it was, in me. A transformation through explorations. How could pole and Feldenkrais^® be complementary? At first glance, they seemed so different. I had come to pole to be more active, find empowerment, seeking a sense of community and a desire to discover hidden potential. The same reasons I later came to Feldenkrais^®. A discussion around how this method can help with your athletic endeavors, about the obvious and not so obvious ways it may enrich your movement practice, health, and your life.

Panel Discussion

Theme: Fitness

Join host
CYNTHIA ALLEN and these experts

Angela McMillan

Sheri Cohen

Assistant Trainer in the Feldenkrais Method®, RYT

DAY 5: Physical Challenges

Mercedes (Didi) Von Deck

MD, Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, E-RYT 500

I’ve got back pain: What’s the solution?

Almost everyone will experience back pain in their lives, and Western medicine does not always help. In the U.S. alone, over $50 billion is spent each year on various treatments. Often back pain sufferers develop habits to avoid pain which may lead to more pain which can become chronic. What works? Is there a solution that will break this cycle? The Feldenkrais Method^® offers an option for preventing and relieving pain. I will examine current treatments as well as techniques you can do yourself.

Dwight Pargee

MS, GCFP

Learning to walk again, and again and again… Oh, where do I begin?

Dwight Pargee, Assistant Trainer in the Feldenkrais Method^®, is recovering from a spinal injury from about two years ago. He will share his ideas on using the Feldenkrais Method^® for restoring function, neuroplasticity, autopoiesis, life, the universe and everything … and maybe some cooking tips.

Mary Susan Chen

PT, GCFP

Pelvic power: your multi-tasking undercarriage

De-mystify your pelvic floor through self-care and self-knowledge. Let’s shed some light through somatic learning, a little anatomy and discussion of the interrelationships with hips, back, breathing and more.

Panel Discussion

Theme: Physical Challenges

Join co-host
LAVINIA PLONKA and these experts

Candy Conino

PT, GCFP

Marcella Bretschneider

Feldenkrais® Practitioner, C.P Facilitator, IFF Volunteer

DAY 6: Essential Feldenkrais

Diana Razumny

Feldenkrais® Trainer/ED

Method to the magic—Awareness Through Movement^® mechanics

We will be looking into some of the parts and pieces that go into an Awareness Through Movement^® lesson that add up to changing our perception of ourselves and our relationship to the world around us. These changes are, at times, surprising and described as miraculous or magical. There is a method to this magic and that is the interest in this session.

David Zemach-Bersin

Creating neuroplastic change with Functional Integration^®

Functional Integration is the hands-on, practitioner-guided aspect of the Feldenkrais Method^®. It works by taking advantage of the fact that your brain wants to help you. By providing useful sensory information and the conditions which support learning and change, Feldenkrais^® Practitioners create highly individualized sessions to help their clients’ nervous systems build new neurological pathways that improve comfort, organization, posture, movement and more. David Zemach-Bersin studied directly with Moshé Feldenkrais and is an expert in Functional Integration^®. He will explain how it works, who it can help, and offer a video example of Functional Integration^® in action.

Irene Lyon

MSc., GCFP, SEP

Are we shortchanging Feldenkrais’ genius?

Moshé Feldenkrais was deemed by Norman Doidge as one of the first Neuroplasticians. Is it time to shift from a method of movement to a theory of human learning?

Panel Discussion

Theme: Essential Feldenkrais

Join host
CYNTHIA ALLEN and these experts

Christina Petersen

Creator of the ConMoto Podcast, Assistant Trainer in the Feldenkrais Method®, Sounder Sleep System® Senior Teacher

Arlyn Zones

M.A. Theatre Arts and Feldenkrais® Trainer

DAY 7: Somatics at Large

Linda Tellington-Jones

Ph.D (hon)

Connecting with cellular wisdom through Tellington TTouch^®

The influence of the Feldenkrais Method^® on Tellington TTouch^® and the birth of the interspecies connections. The pathway from activating new neural connections to the recognition of and communication with cellular wisdom. Learn about the basics of Tellingon TTouch^® and the 9 elements that enhance relationship, behavior, performance, and well-being of animals and people. Get to know how to achieve the potential of the Awakened mind and Heart-coherence.

TTouch^® is a gift from the animal kingdom to humans and by using the Animal names for the TTouches we acknowledge the spirit of the animals and connect deeply with Nature.

Martha Peterson

CCSE, RSME

Hanna Somatics: Turning sensory-motor amnesia into sensory-motor awareness

Learn more about the concepts and principles of Hanna Somatics that can help you alleviate the physical effects of stress and trauma, restore sensory-motor control, and live with mastery, choice, and joy.

David Hall

Alexander and Feldenkrais^®: What’s the difference?

Moshé Feldenkrais described FM Alexander as having the best hands in the world. What were they like? and what does that mean? Alexander accused Feldenkrais of stealing his ideas. Did he?

How much Alexander Technique is there in the Feldenkrais Method^® and what is the difference between the two? What are the trainings like? How many Alexander lessons did Feldenkrais^® have and who is that mysterious man holding Ben Gurion’s other leg in that famous beach headstand photo? Most importantly, are you missing out if you have never felt that experience of Alexander’s direction?

David Hall, a practitioner of both Methods, feels that both AT and FM teachers miss out if they never experience the other. This session will give you an experience of what an AT teacher is thinking and feeling when working.

Panel Discussion

Theme: Somatics at Large

Join host
CYNTHIA ALLEN and these experts

Nick Strauss-Klein

GCFP

Elinor Silverstein

DAY 8: Embodied Anatomy

Tom Myers

The neuromyofascial web

Fascia is the Cinderella of body tissues—systematically ignored, dissected out and thrown away in bits (Schleip 2003). However, fascia forms the biological container and connector for every organ (including muscles). In dissection, fascia is literally a greasy mess (not at all like what the books show you) and so variable among individuals that its actual architecture is hard to delineate. For many reasons, fascia has not been seen as a whole system; therefore we have been ignorant of fascia’s overall role in biomechanics autoregulation.

Thankfully, the integrating mechano-biological nature of the fascial web is becoming clearer. It turns out that it really is all one net with no separation from top to toe, from skin to core or from birth to death (Shultz & Feitis 1996).

Gil Hedley

Ph.D.

Integral anatomy: Textural layers, continuity and relationship

Integral Anatomy is an approach to seeing and experiencing the human form with a view to putting the somanaut-explorer’s experience of the human body together, rather than merely naming it apart. Integral anatomy relies on models from nature rather than machinery to witness the textural layers, relationships and whole-body continuities which comprise the human form. The goal of integral anatomy is to generate in the explorer of inner space a sense of awe, wonder, connection, and appreciation of the human form, in addition to a comprehensive understanding of the many textures which can be differentiated there.

Lisa Clark

Program Director Body Mind Centering & Yoga Immersion Series: Foundations In Embodied Anatomy; Foundations In Developmental Movement, Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator, Body Mind Centering Teacher, Founder EmbodiYoga Programs RYS

Body-Mind Centering®: Choice through a felt experience of the body

Body Mind Centering^® is a deep internal study of the body, and its principles form the basis of a dynamic embodied approach to enhancing the felt experience of the body. Exploring yoga through key principles of each of the body systems, embryology, and movement development opens a door to the more transformative aspects of yoga and moves us from an external approach into the subtleties of the practice.

Panel Discussion

Theme: Embodied Anatomy

Join host
CYNTHIA ALLEN and these experts

Carol Montgomery

PT, MSPT, GCFP

Kathy L. White

PT, MPT. GCFP

DAY 9: Spirituality meets Physiology

Larry Goldfarb

Ph.D., CFT, GCFP

Purposeful practice: Prayer and Feldenkrais^®

What can we find out by asking how Awareness Through Movement^® lessons and the act of prayer are similar?

Join a pioneering Feldenkrais^® teacher and trainer for a deep and delightful inquiry into this question. You’ll learn about how movement changes consciousness, what it means to renew your practice, why having a practice matters, and how you can benefit.

Erin Geesaman Rabke

Somatic Naturalist & Embodiment Mentor, Guild Certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner, Embodied Life Teacher, Work That Reconnects Facilitator

Embodiment, compassion and ecology: A spiritually integrated approach to healing ourselves and our relationship with the world

It’s high time we contextualize our somatic practices in the times in which we are living. Feldenkrais^® can offer a profound pathway to awareness, to embodied presence, and to decolonizing our relationship with our own living bodies as well as with the world around us. Embodying compassion is a practice that can be deepened and personalized through Awareness Through Movement^®. Deep Ecology, rooted in Systems theory, is made personal through Feldenkrais Movement^® lessons, and then can be extrapolated and embodied in how we inhabit and relate to the systems in which we live. We’ll explore the fertile reciprocities between Feldenkrais^®, embodiment, compassion, and deep ecology and discover how that which heals our own body-mind can also be world-healing as well.

Buffy Owens

GCFP, FMCHC

The breath of resilience

Would you like to learn about how your breath can soothe your body, calm your mind, and help you live a more resilient life?

The breath is the universal thread that bookends our life. It’s the first independent act we do outside the womb and the last we take before we die. Each breath, like all movement, is a direct reflection of how you engage with yourself and the world around you.

In this interview, Buffy will share what she’s learned about how working with the breath can transform the way we move through the world and face adversity.

Panel Discussion

Theme: Spirituality meets Physiology

Join host
CYNTHIA ALLEN and these experts

Maggy Burrowes

Josh Schreiber Shalem

MM, GCFP

DAY 10: Grace while Aging

Anat Baniel

What dare I wish for as I age?

Many generations, observing people as they age, have reached the conclusion that deterioration is inevitable—for very good reasons. However, with the discovery of brain plasticity, and the development of intentional and effective ways to implement and utilize it, we can help create a new picture of aging that would have been hard to imagine even 20 years ago—certainly 50. Anat Baniel Method^® NeuroMovement^® is one of the ways to create this transformation.

Russell and Linda Delman

Learning together: A couple explores aging gracefully

Few gifts are a greater blessing than a long, intimate relationship.

Few challenges can be greater than a long, intimate relationship.

As we age, the gifts and the challenges change.

In this session, we will discuss some of our essential learning as two people dedicated to a life path of Awareness and Love as we enter our 47^th year together.

Nancy Haller

MA, GCFP

Feldenkrais Method^® and BrainEase

Are you brain injured, brain tired, do you live in brain fog or do you know someone experiencing brain issues? Enjoy thoughtful use of the Feldenkrais Method^® to create more Brain Ease. Be kind to yourself, move slowly to allow time for your brain to find a pathway, begin to accept the differences and be joyful for what you can do with ease today. Tenacity and knowledge are your tools for lifelong learning to be the best person you can be at every moment.

Frederick Schjang

Creating communities of elders through ATM lessons

Can you become a revitalized elder through group classes in Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement^®? Frederick Schjang’s experience in teaching seniors in LGBT centers, synagogues, high end gyms and the New York City Parks department tell him yes and he would like to share with you how it has help his students thrive and can do the same for you.

Panel Discussion

Theme: Grace while Aging

Join host
CYNTHIA ALLEN and these experts

MaryBeth Smith

MM, GCFP, RSME/RSMT

Allison Rapp

Feldenkrais® Trainer and Business Coach

This summit is sponsored by:

Host

Cynthia Allen launched the first Feldenkrais^® Awareness Summit in 2018. She is the creator of the online Your Learning Body program, published researcher on the effects of the Bones for Life^® approach in the elderly and co-creator of Integral Human Gait™ theory. She sees clients in Cincinnati, Ohio, at Future Life Now, LLC.

Co-Host

Lavinia Plonka is a Felenkrais Method^® Assistant Trainer and Emotional Body^® instructor. Lavinia’s many books and audio programs have introduced thousands of people to Awareness Through Movement^®. She is a faculty member of The Shift Network, has a private practice in Asheville, North Carolina, and teaches workshops both online and internationally.

GYROTONIC®, GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM®, GYROKINESIS® and GYROTONER® are registered trademarks of Gyrotonic Sales Corp and are used with their permission.