à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Awareness
Road Trip as Awareness Through Movement
“We do not say at the start what the final stage will be.” – Moshe Feldenkrais After my first month of Feldenkrais training in Santa Fe, I surprised myself by embarking on a road trip…at the last minute. Several weeks before I received an announcement for an evening of storytelling about Moshe Feldenkrais to honor the … Continue reading
Felden-questing (or, Adventures in Functional Integration)
“The aim is a person that is organized to move with minimum effort and maximum efficiency, not through muscular strength, but through increased consciousness of how movement works.” -Moshe Feldenkrais On the penultimate day of my Feldenkrais Training in Santa Fe, I had a Functional Integration lesson with Alan Questel, the program’s director. A few weeks … Continue reading
Felden-fun with Philippe Leblond
“The object of this learning is to remove outside authority from your inner life. Eliminate the old habit of listening to others about your own comfort and convenience.” – Moshe Feldenkrais Before beginning my Feldenkrais Training Program in Santa Fe, I visited Montréal. Wanting to stay in the Feldenkrais flow, I contacted practitioners about group classes in … Continue reading
Feld-Zen-Krais: Doing and Not Doing
“Do it, and don’t do it.” Feldenkrais Trainer Aliza Stewart repeated this phrase, mantra like, as she directed us in a movement last week. Presiding at the front of the room, she reminded me of my compassionate and patient Zen teacher but with a compelling Israeli accent, a regal bearing and stylish red sandals. Perhaps I needed to hear “Do it, … Continue reading
Feldenkrais: Playing Footsie to Gain Footing
What does it really mean to stand on our own two feet? Until I sustained an injury walking El Camino de Santiago, I hadn’t given much attention to my feet, except to lament their rather large size. In our culture, we typically wrap our feet in shoes during autumn and winter and bare them, to various degrees, in … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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