Feldenkrais® Method through Awareness Through Movement® Workshop

Embrace Your Body and Mind – A Gentle Movement Journey for Women

As the busy holiday season approaches, join us for a soothing workshop designed just for women, where we’ll explore the Feldenkrais® Method through Awareness Through Movement® (ATM) workshop. This gentle practice is akin to Tai Chi or yoga, emphasizing slow, mindful movements that promote strength, flexibility, and a harmonious connection between body and mind. The Feldenkrais Method's Awareness Through Movement (ATM) is a somatic education technique that uses slow, mindful movements to improve strength, flexibility, and body-mind integration.

What is The Feldenkrais Method®?

Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, an Israeli physicist, engineer, judo master, soccer player, and gymnast, developed a groundbreaking approach after facing a knee injury. Instead of opting for surgery, he drew on his physics expertise and used his body as a research subject. This led to the creation of a method that helps individuals move beyond ingrained movement patterns.

Feldenkrais believed the central nervous system is crucial to a person's comfort. He emphasized the importance of becoming aware of the skeleton, muscles, and joints. This heightened awareness allows each body part to contribute effectively to every action, ensuring no single part is overburdened.

With the skeleton providing proper support, muscles naturally relax, reducing tension and enhancing range of motion and flexibility. This awareness enables individuals to recognize their habitual, negative postures and movements and develop more functional ones.

He formalized his findings into The Feldenkrais Method®. This program not only improved his movement efficiency, range, stress levels, posture, flexibility, and self-image but also enabled him to help countless others achieve similar relief.

How it Works

ATM lessons aim to rewire the brain by strengthening the body-mind connection. Students engage in gentle, attentive movements, exploring their bodies to develop skillful movement patterns. Within a supportive, non-judgmental environment, a Feldenkrais teacher verbally guides them through simple movement sequences. This approach encourages students to accept themselves and their bodies by moving only within their comfort ranges. The process emphasizes curiosity, discovery, and exploration, focusing on the quality of movement and observing one's internal experience while performing the movements.

Who Should Attend?

This workshop is perfect for:

• Breaking Limiting Patterns: Explore simple, effective strategies to transform movement and thinking habits that hinder your progress.
• Overwhelmed or Burned Out Individuals: Discover a dependable approach to alleviate anxiety and reconnect with your body.
• Those seeking to maintain healthy movement or manage aches and pains.

Did You Know?

Your body holds sensations, thoughts, and emotions, shaped by the patterns you've developed throughout your life. While some patterns empower us, others can lead to stress, anxiety, chronic pain, and suppressed emotions. The Feldenkrais® Method through Awareness Through Movement® uses movement and mindfulness to help rewire the brain, releasing unhealthy patterns that may be keeping you from healing and fully experiencing pleasure in your body.

What to Expect:

• Duration: In this three-hour workshop, you can look forward to experiencing meditation, journaling, gentle movement, and a discussion on the Feldenkrais Method.
• Setting: Comfortably indoors, with options to sit in chairs or lie on the floor, soft lighting, and meditation music.
• We will close our time in Circle, enjoying an herbal tea.
• Guidance: Deborah will lead you through a series of movements, encouraging you to explore your body’s capabilities with gentle attention.
• This workshop is open to eight women.
• $60.00 - non-refundable

Benefits:

• Discover how to move efficiently and safely in daily life, improving your posture and reducing tension.
• Experience the release of stress and chronic pain while unlocking new levels of comfort and ease.
• Enjoy the surprising changes that can occur through this mindful approach, leaving you feeling refreshed and re-energized.
• This workshop is the perfect opportunity to take a break from holiday stress, reconnect with your body, and cultivate a sense of calm and clarity.
• Join us for an afternoon of movement, connection, and empowerment

What to Wear

• Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing that allows you to move easily. You should feel comfortable enough to sit, stand, and lie down in what you're wearing. 
• Wear /bring socks
• Please avoid wearing perfume, essential oils, or other fragrances that people might be allergic to or sensitive to. 
• Please bring a yoga mat or blanket and a large bath towel that can be folded for comfortable head support. 

Meet Your Instructor:

Deborah Murphy,
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner,
Centered Riding Instructor - Level ll, USDF Associate Instructor,
Reiki Practitioner - Master Level

Deborah brings a wealth of experience to this workshop. Growing up with horses, she has been riding since childhood and became passionate about the discipline of Dressage while serving as an Air Traffic Controller in Maine during the 1980s. Competing successfully through Second Level and earning her United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Associate Instructors status in 2009, Deborah has shifted her focus from competition to fostering trust and relationships between horse and rider.

Her journey into movement awareness began in 2009 with Centered Riding®, a method that emphasizes body awareness and centering for better communication with horses. Deborah became a certified Centered Riding Instructor in 2010, further enhancing her skills with a Level II certification in 2014.

In 2016, Deborah discovered the Feldenkrais Method through an Awareness Through Movement class tailored for riders. She quickly noticed improvements not only in her riding but also in her daily life—moving with more ease, balance, and grace. Inspired by these transformative experiences, Deborah pursued training to share the Feldenkrais Method with others.