Awareness Through Movement

Awareness Through Movement®

A Brief Introduction

with Catrina Choate-Heretoiu

Lessons are uniquely designed to provide muscular release, skeletal alignment, and improved quality of movement.

The gentle approach allows people from all walks of life to participate and the meditative environment stimulates learning so body awareness and self-awareness can prosper.

Awaken to the inspired interaction of thought, feeling, sensation, and action.

In the meditative atmosphere of an ATM lesson, you will be verbally guided through a sequence of gentle movements intended to help develop greater sensitivity to how you move, sense, feel, and think. The lessons can be done in comfortable clothing while lying on the ground upon a yoga mat, sitting in a chair, or even standing.

Although you will be moving, this method is not a progression of technique but rather each lesson provides an opportunity to quietly listen to your body and observe your movement reactions and actions.

During an ATM class, we explore movement so you can improve your daily function and feel better in your body. We question how you can move with less effort, less stress, and with greater freedom. Because we examine your approach to movement – any lesson at any time can be used by people from all walks of life.

There are over 1,000 different Awareness Through Movement Lessons and I’ve chosen 8 essential lessons from which to start a fantastic movement exploration! Reset and Recover with these lessons that work with all the basic movement principles such as extension, flexion, rotation, and breathing. Improve how you feel within yourself and trust that feeling better is within everyone’s range of possibility.

Explore Reset & Recover Course

Movement is life, life is a process. Improve the quality of the process and you improve the quality of life itself."

Moshe Feldenkrais

Moshe Feldenkrais Bio

Moshe Feldenkrais

(1904-1984)

Founder of The Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais was a noted scientist and active Martial Artist. He received degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering, had a D.Sc. in Physics from the Sorbonne in Paris, and he worked in the French nuclear research program with Joliot-Curie.

Dr. Feldenkrais was a Martial Artist and studied with Jigoro Kano, the originator of Judo. In 1936 he was honored as one of the first Europeans to earn a black belt in Judo and began teaching. He published articles about Judo, a self-defense manual, and a book in 1952 entitled Higher Judo. His Martial Art knowledge greatly influenced the movement sequences and patterns of what would become Awareness Through Movement lessons. Movement, physics, neurology, learning from the perspective of human function all motivated Dr. Feldenkrais to investigate his own healing process when he was debilitated with chronic knee injuries.

Like many somatic innovators, Feldenkrais used himself to create a future method of learning and recovery. He was not satisfied with the medical options given to him so he investigated his movement so he could walk without pain and properly function. His Martial Art students took notice of his work and asked to be taught what he was doing which evolved into one of the great somatic methods of today.

Due to the great demand and interest in his modality, Dr. Feldenkrais conducted three professional training sessions during the last 13 years of his life. Feldenkrais published many books, some of them being; Body and Mature Behavior, The Potent Self, Awareness Through Movement, The Case of Nora, and The Elusive Obvious.

Dr. Feldenkrais was a brilliant forward thinker who left behind an outstanding body of work which continues to thrive today. There are thousands of Feldenkrais practitioners who have gone through extensive training so they too may pass along this dynamic learning modality called The Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education.

"Explore the Subtle World of You!"