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Come get inspired! Awareness of our breathing has far reaching impact on our health and well-being. This year’s conference presenters will help you deepen your understanding of "Breath” through the Feldenkrais Method®, from the very scientific aspects
to the most practical strategies you can use to breathe easier through life. Attendees will have the option to participate in the workshops live or via recording.
We are excited to let you know that the full Conference Series is open to practitioners, trainees, and the PUBLIC.
All dates and times are posted in US Pacific Standard Time.
Friday, September 6, 2024
Frederick Schjang | 8:00 am - 9:00 am PT
Ungluing the Lungs from a New Perspective
Join Frederick Schjang for a morning series of ATM lessons based on “Ungluing the Lungs.” Lessons will be done in both a seated and standing position with options for exploring the lessons lying down.
Equipment needed: a chair with a hard bottom surface or the floor—cushions (optional) for comfort.
Moti Nativ | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm PT
BREATH - improving stability and balance for efficient action
We all know that breathing is a continuous action, always with us in any activity. Gravity also continues in any action that we perform. If our stability is weak, we will use excessive force to maintain our balance in our actions.
I will approach the theme of Breath through the concept of Saika Tanden breathing. Such breathing is traditionally used in seated meditation and is connected to Chi (Ki).
Dr. Feldenkrais, the Judoka, said that “most people talk about that as if it's a mysterious kind of thing in the lower abdomen with all sorts of metaphysical meanings and powers...My description of it is only in movement... It has to do with the full
organization of your body.
In my presentation, we will combine the AY lesson with the Judo technique to experience Saika breathing in movement as Moshe described.
Jae Gruenke | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm PT
Running Out of Breath
Many athletes, even professionals, are limited by the feeling that they can’t get enough air, even though they’re fit and don’t have asthma.
Medically, this is called “dysfunctional breathing,” but that fails to explain why a person would breathe badly when oxygen demand is high.
The answer often lies in how the athlete moves, because the movements of their sport and their breathing happen together, as a single motion.
In this workshop we’ll look at:
- the movement characteristics of dysfunctional breathing
- how these can be produced by different ways people run
- how good running coordination makes dysfunctional breathing impossible
- the connection between rhythm and “race nerves.”
We’ll finish with a simple Feldenkrais lesson to improve the ability to run and breathe.
Anna Haltrecht | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm PT
Rings and Sheets: Connecting the Sphincters to the Breath
In this workshop, we will delve into various movement patterns that link our ring and sheet muscles. Drawing inspiration from Ruthy Alon’s 1983 Sphincter workshop and Movement Intelligence, participants will learn functional sequences that integrate the
facial and lower sphincters with the cycles of breath.
By initiating movement through our sphincters and breath, we cultivate an internal listening that has been known to be restorative along the entire “channel” from our mouth to our pelvic floor, connecting the digestive, urinary, and respiratory systems.
The sphincters are in constant communication with each other and by working with the sphincter muscle network in conjunction with the diaphragm, we can enhance a sense of unity within ourselves, promote harmony, and improve a whole host of physical functions.
Additionally, we will incorporate spontaneous dance, both inner and outer, into our explorations, utilizing movement patterns that transition from sitting to lying to standing to moving through space.
Anastasi Siotas | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm PT
The Power of Paradoxical Breathing
An investigation of how we might exhale. By increasing the volume of our abdomen and narrowing our chest as we exhale, we are breathing 'paradoxically'. Some people use this way of breathing without thought, while others find it foreign and challenging.
Using paradoxical breathing can promote a range of vocalizations that can efficiently produce everything from a low rumble to a roar. Dr. Feldenkrais presented this form of breathing as a way to give rise to better control over the limbs and as a
way to create a more erect posture than ordinary diaphragmatic breathing. In this workshop, we will explore these ideas through practical exercises while also examining the anatomy of the structures involved to more easily visualize how to control
this interesting way of using ourselves
Friday, September 27, 2024
Frederick Schjang | 8:00 am - 9:00 am PT
Ungluing the Lungs from a New Perspective
Join Frederick Schjang for a morning series of ATM lessons based on “Ungluing the Lungs.” Lessons will be done in both a seated and standing position with options for exploring the lessons lying down.
Equipment needed: a chair with a hard bottom surface or the floor—cushions (optional) for comfort.
Fariya Doctor | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm PT
Unpacking the Magic of the See-Saw Breath
There are many lessons that Dr. Feldenkrais taught that explore the incredible variations on the theme of BREATH. How appropriate to have a conference dedicated to this life giving function.
One series of lessons explores “see saw” movements of the ribs and abdomen to stimulate changes in the muscles of respiration and breathing itself.
I have heard from many practitioners about their overall dislike for this series of lessons
that involve the See Saw Breath. However, it is a powerful way to create change rather quickly.
This workshop unpacks the process so all participants will feel more fluid in their options of breathing, discover their preferences, uncouple
the function of breath from the muscles of respiration and ensure the process is less elusive, and more obvious!
We will dive into the anatomy between each movement lesson, as well as clinical applications, so you might know how to
apply this magical movement for your clients.
Breathing truly is a powerful mover of so many systems in the body. The see-saw breath provides a way for us to discover habits and optional patterns of movement, to bring us to an
easy, effortless breath.
Carol Lessinger | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm PT
Breathing Through Your Diagonals
You will receive two Awareness Through Movement lessons. The first one highlights mobility through your breastbone, scapula, and ribs. The second lesson will expand on the first by connecting your pelvis to your shoulders and finding out how your diaphragm
can accommodate to your actions. Along the way, you will be given options to discover new sensations in breathing while in asymmetrical positions.
Carol’s passion is to help you create your path of discovery while immersed in the Awareness Through Movement Lesson. She gives you the framework of the movement and then invites you to follow whatever movements arise spontaneously from the process.
Self-discovery, self-trust, and self-healing are available when you are guided by your own unique body wisdom. The framework is always there to catch you when you need it.
Tim Sobie | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm PT
Beyond Diaphragmatic Breathing 101, by introducing Feldenkrais Armamentarium 303: Using Breath, Bone, and Gesture as Dynamic Triad for Revitalizing the Respiratory Landscape
Diaphragmatic belly breathing remains the routine prescription across many professional fields for treating psychophysical & physical performance conditions. However, through ‘yet to be discovered’ comparisons, is it really adequate?
To answer this question, this workshop will sample & explore three related components:
- Coherent Breathing & Autonomic Balance: Discover how self-regulation of respiration is subject to continuous perturbations & nuanced adjustment - not just a function of rate and depth.
- Shapeshifting Skeletal Proportions within Thoracic Synergy: Experience how torso configurations can developmentally co-opt a selection for lateralizing the motion of lung segments – and thereby serve as an anatomical correlate for the facilitation
of coherent breathing - via Awareness through Movement™.
- Diffusing Parasitic Tension at Neck + Shoulders & Restoring Gesture: Partake in lifting the yoke of tension from neck & shoulders by invoking the intrinsic role of ‘pneumatic support’ during a side-lying demonstration practice of Functional
Integration™.
Daniel Schmidt | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm PT
Breath, Trauma, and Resilience
"Trauma is overwhelming." Paul Linden
We can learn simple tools to restore ease. The capacity to breathe, inspire, exhale and release, support our movement and expression, and speak and sing can all be improved.
Breathing is fundamental to Feldenkrais work. But certain lessons are more focused on how we breathe. I will teach classic ATM lessons and some very new ones.
We will consider how to:
- lighten the ‘overwhelm’
- work with the ‘window of tolerance’
- access more resources,
- and make it fun!
Friday, October 18, 2024
Frederick Schjang | 8:00 am - 9:00 am PT
Ungluing the Lungs from a New Perspective
Join Frederick Schjang for a morning series of ATM lessons based on “Ungluing the Lungs.” Lessons will be done in both a seated and standing position with options for exploring the lessons lying down.
Equipment needed: a chair with a hard bottom surface or the floor—cushions (optional) for comfort.
Mariamne Wulfsohn | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm PT
Expanding Spatial Experience through Breath
Exploration of our breath as a unified vision of inner and outer space. We will learn how to slow down and deeply expand our lung capacity, utilizing our whole being and spatial reality as a unified experience. Yogic breath retention patterns will
be offered as gentle challenges. Benefits include oxygenation of cells, breathing with greater ease, reduction of stress, improved mindfulness, and a greater awareness of being.
Kim Lawler-Coyle | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm PT
Rejuvenate Yourself from The Inside Out
Kim will show how utilizing Feldenkrais-based movements facilitates our organs' mobility and motility of our organs. Through years of research, Kim has established which specific movements mobilize particular organs. She is close to completing her
book on explaining the Feldenkrais Method, Visceral Manipulation, and instruction in the Organ Mobility Exercises. She has developed Recipes for common digestive challenges, such as reflux and constipation, as well as hormonal-based issues such
as PMS and Infertility. Specifically, for this presentation, Kim will focus on the effect on the lungs. Kim will show through her research and testimonials from patients how these particular Feldenkrais-based movements have consistently and repeatedly
assisted certain physical challenges.
Nicolette De Saint Amour | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm PT
Breathing Has a Rhythm Like the Sea
Your breath is the breath that is the movement itself - In this expanded workshop you will learn that when tensions are released, the breath is free, when the breath is free it moves through the body like tides. With full and deep breathing these
wave-like movements give a feeling of being alive through and through.
Roger Russell & Jeff Haller | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm PT
Breathing: A Fundamental Movement of Life
Metabolism is a core process that was present at the dawn of life. Evolving first in the oceans, then almost 400 million years ago, on land, breathing connected the oxygen-rich atmosphere with the circulation that fed the core metabolism of living.
Written history shows that breathing has been a source of quieting one’s emotions and mind, searching for wisdom. Moshe Feldenkrais’ insight concerning how breathing is grounded in our biology is unique. This means that there are many opportunities to
explore breathing that can contribute to our daily well-being.
We will offer three pathways for enhancing this fundamental movement of life: an ATM lesson, an FI demonstration, and a short tour through evolution and the development of breathing over the life span. Understanding how fundamental breathing is offers
unexpected insights into how our awareness of breathing has such a far-reaching impact on our health and personal development.
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