Why we use movement variations ?

19/11/24

Highlights

1. Announcements:

• “Bones for Life®” Training in Brussels with Lara Liu

2. Thought of the Week:

• Exploring Beyond Perfection - The Role of Variation in ATM Lessons

3. Book of the Week

• Kindness is an action! Practice intentional acts of kindness

4. Quote of the Week

“Bones for Life®” Training in Brussels with Lara Liu

Do you experience joint pain, recurring injuries, or a lack of stability? The Bones for Life® program offers concrete solutions to strengthen your bones & muscles, and improve posture, balance and walking through movement processes and self-touch strategies.

This program will teach you how to organize your skeletal structure to safely support body weight while preventing injuries. This approach aims to:

• Improve your posture and mobility

• Stimulate bone strength through natural movements

• Gain stability and endurance

• Reduce fatigue and the risk of falls

• Increase confidence and well-being

This training is open to everyone: whether you are an athlete, in rehabilitation after a fracture, or simply looking for better body usage in daily life. It is also designed for health professionals, educators, Feldenkrais practitioners, as well as artists, musicians, and dancers.

The Basic Program consists of 2 modules of 5 days each, at the Forest Lighthouse in Brussels:

• May 7 to 11, 2025

• October 18 to 22, 2025

By completing this program, you will be eligible to enroll in the Bones for Life® certification training.

Bones for Life is under the umbrella of the Movement Intelligence program created by Ruthy Alon, Senior Feldenkrais® Trainer.

Thought of the week

Exploring Beyond Perfection - The Role of Variation in ATM Lessons

You have probably wondered several times doing Awareness Through Movement classes with your practitioner why every lesson can contain so many variations of the same movement.

Well, it is definitely not to make it more complicated !

The Feldenkrais Method uses variation in its ATM lessons. as a way to rekindle the absolute freedom and exploration we had as babies. Infants wiggle and squirm constantly, unencumbered by concerns of "doing it right". As adults, however, we often lose this freedom, striving instead for correctness and external validation. We hesitate to explore or play with movement, convinced there is a "right way" to move.

The truth is, there is no fixed endpoint or perfect movement—only endless variations and more differentiation. As dynamic, ever-changing beings, we constantly integrate new experiences, sensations, and possibilities. The movement sequences in the Feldenkrais Method are not about achieving perfection but about expanding our awareness, testing new options, and finding what feels best in the moment. It is about finding yourself in a process in which you can discover more about yourself.

The purpose of the Feldenkrais Method is to invite us to move beyond rigid ideas of how we should be. Through variations, it encourages us to wiggle, test, and sense, reconnecting with the natural curiosity we had as children. By exploring movement in this way, we let go of unnecessary effort, discover new ways to move with ease, and embrace the full richness of being alive.

Your practitioner probably also has a point of view on the question, maybe ask them what they think!

Book of the week

Alan Questel, a renowned Feldenkrais Trainer and educational director, recently wrote a really interesting book about kindness.

Are you kind? If you think about it, kindness is deeply fundamental to us all, to our wellbeing. Kindness towards others and kindness towards ourselves. Kindness may already be a big part of who you are, yet most of us would likely benefit in having more kindness in our lives. Kindness towards others is the first place many think about being kinder. Kindness towards ourselves is often a bit more challenging.

It’s an action!

While kindness may be experienced through our feelings, the real growth of kindness is in our actions. Kindness is a skill that you can develop…from now on. Starting in small ways, that slowly add up. It is an ability you can get better and better at by practicing it every day.

Practice when?

Practicing kindness can be elusive. When do we do it? The well-known bumper sticker ‘practice random acts of kindness’ can evoke warm feelings, even make us smile, yet since it is random, it also means it’s unpredictable. Somehow, we are in a moment when something just happens. It may feel great, but then what? What if we actively engaged in generating more kindness? It means intentionally finding an action that you encounter on a daily basis. Something easy and something that isn’t of huge importance. An action where you could, over time, measure your growth and success.

Practice how?

Think of some of the places where you could be kinder. I bet you think of doing for others. Okay, so how? I propose there are some basic places we all could develop to be kinder, again starting small, over time. Here are some suggestions: listening, giving, being courageous, giving your attention, seeing different points of view, being honest without being critical, tough love. All of these still need to be brought into your specific ways. Concrete practices that develop into something that makes sense to you.

And if you haven't thought of it yet, what about being kinder to yourself? As I said before this can be more challenging, yet for sure it is possible. How? Through listening, receiving, taking better care, moving with more pleasure, seeing different points of view, changing habits.

It is possible to understand kindness as a force that you can generate. Bringing about changes for the better, that you have so far only imagined. Through practice and patience, slowly over time, in small ways that add up, you can truly be a kinder person.

And what would the world be like if we all did that!

Quote of the week

“Make what is difficult habitual, what is habitual easy, and what is easy beautiful.”
— Konstantin Stanislavski