Note: Due to COVID-restrictions, my classes are offered online. For Fall 2020 classes, I will support in studio participation with appropriate social distancing/precautions for clients who prefer learning in person; I can accommodate up to 3 people per class in my studio. To register for in person, contact me 780.903.5519 or cheryl@kindpower.ca for details.
Upcoming series:
NEW! Weight of the World (Rests on my Shoulders)
The Weight of the World series will help you learn to:
- Unpack the ways your shoulders carry what is heavy in your life.
- Find support from the ground and your personal helpers (hips, legs) to lighten your load.
- Free your shoulders to move, swing and rotate.
- Use your whole self to lift so you can reduce shoulder pain caused by overwork.
Weight of the World Saturdays 11:30 – 12:30 (Online)
2020: Sep 12, 19, 26, Oct 3, 10, 17, 24
Register for the Series (7 sessions) $110 (with GST).
Register: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=16538138&appointmentType=16197503
Learn to Fall Well
The Fall Well series will help you learn to:
- increase your body awareness
- feel your personal movement habits
- improve your balance
- improve your ability to recover your balance when falling.
When we fall, our reflexes kick in. Through safe, careful movement study, we can change our reflexes to learn movement that will happen before we can think. This is fall prevention – you will learn to fall well and recover safely. Please note: you will not be falling in these lessons. Kind Movement is safe and gentle movement to re-train your reflexes – so no falling required!
Learn to Fall Well Saturdays 10:00 – 11:00 am (Online)
2020: Sep 12, 19, 26, Oct 3, 10, 17, 24
Register for the Series (7 sessions) $110 (with GST).
Register: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=16538138&appointmentType=14174429
Better Balance
The Better Balance series will help you learn to:
- increase your body awareness in movement
- increase your ability to find support in every movement
- improve your balance
- reduce the risk of falling through better balance
When we move, we shift in and out of balance. Through gentle, careful movement study, we can learn to use our natural support system – our skeleton, to improve our physical and emotional sense of balance. You will come to know the place within you that knows how to balance.
You will get:
- Awareness of habits that can lead to injury when you fall.
- Ways to improve your posture and movement.
- Increased ability to listen to your body – know when your balance is off.
- Ways to use your body to fall well and recover safely.
Better Balance Thursdays 6:30 – 7:30 pm (Online)
2020: Sep 10, 17, 24, Oct 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
Register for the Series (8 sessions) $126 (with GST)
Register: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=16538138&appointmentType=14174499
How it works: Each session is 45 minutes of guided movement.
You will:
- Stand, sit or lie on a mat or blanket.
- Participate in guided gentle movement in the way that is comfortable for you.
- Wear clothing you can move in.
- Learn ways to care for yourself through movement
I will:
- Give you verbal guidance to do movement.
- Watch your movements and offer suggestions to support your learning.
- Provide you with suggestions for props or supports to comfortably participate.
Who is this for?
Learn to Fall Well and Better Balance are series developed for people who:
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- Have fallen in the last 12 months and are worried about falling again.
- Are interested to learn how to prevent serious injury through better balance.
- Enjoy learning how to take care of themselves through kind movement.
- Enjoy learning in a supportive, fun environment with others.
What is it worth to you to know you can improve your balance and reduce your serious risk of injury from falls?
What would it be like to feel the confidence to walk without fear of falling?
I want to know more! In Kind Movement we explore:
- How do I move myself?
- Am I aware of my habits of movement?
- Kind Movement that keeps you safe.
- How we can move to reduce fear of falling.
Kind Movement is a learning process inspired by the approach created by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. Using non-habitual movements, this learning process guides learners to move. Within an ongoing practice, people learn what they have the potential to do, regardless of the body and the self they bring to their practice.
In a Kind Movement lesson, I will give you verbal guidance and suggestions to empower you to know yourself differently than you have before, to guide your curiosity, to discover what you can do.
In this series all lessons will be done standing, sitting or lying on a blanket or mat. You will be asked to explore options in movements and notice differences in yourself. While you are moving parts of you, I will also guide you to move your attention, to activate your natural capacity to learn. Lessons will be 40-45 minutes. I anchor each lesson in a practical way you can maintain and recover your balance. In processing your experience, we will talk about ways to integrate your learning into your daily life. Through your kind attention, you can develop your capacity to use yourself better – better quality movement, more purposeful living and more possibilities for you.
Here is a short (5 minute) video by Andrew Dawson produced by the Feldenkrais Guild (UK) showing what you can experience in a class. The lessons shown here take place with learners on mats. Lessons can also be completed sitting or standing. https://vimeo.com/39833095
About Cheryl
I am drawn to be a Feldenkrais practitioner because I love learning. I completed my teaching practicum in August 2019. I worked for many years in the education system, always drawn to learning methods that empower and transform the learner. And I know all about balance and falling well! In my aikido practice, I fall hundreds of times a week, safely. I find extraordinary purpose in working with people who believe that they can’t, learn how they can.
As a Feldenkrais practitioner trainee, I have given Kind Movement lessons to a woman who:
- fell on a walk and was able to fall lightly, without injury.
- regained her ability to train in a sport she loves and avoid repetitive injuries.
- found greater mobility and less pain after a shoulder injury.
- found greater stability and mobility as she prepares for a hip replacement; she recently avoided a fall and is finding ways to move with less pain.
I have a deep personal interest in learning to age well, to feel well enough to continue doing what I love and to keep learning and growing.
As someone who has lived with sciatica in my right hip, I experienced for years stiffness, pain and limited mobility after long car rides or marathon report writing sessions. In my own Feldenkrais practice, I no longer live with the limits of a stiff, painful hip. I have learned how to move in more flexible, freer ways. In my last drive back from Feldenkrais training – 15 hours from Seattle to Edmonton – I had so much less stiffness and pain that I kind of forgot about how road trips have been for me for years. I am not cured but I am finding ways to use myself better, so I move better and suffer less.
What my clients have said about working with me.
Fall mitigation has been my goal for the last 2 years. I haven’t made much progress with it. I do everything that people tell you to do, stay strong. But I still have issues with balance. We have addressed more in these few weeks in the class, than I have working the last couple of years with trainers and the walking process. You have to have balance when you’re moving. It is ok to work on balance when you are standing but that’s not when you fall. That was my goal.
I’ve learned what trips me up. I am learning to make that trip up less catastrophic. About half way through the series I fell while walking outside on some ice. Nothing I could do to keep from going down but I went down so softly. I had a really soft fall from something that could have been a much harder fall. I need to know when that happens, I will go down as lightly as possible. (Marlene, participant Learn to Fall Well class)
I fell a few times catastrophically after having chemo. Working on my journey to regain the muscle mass and a lot of strength I lost at that time. I had been inches away from disasters a couple of times now. And I take people with me which is worse.
What I was surprised with – the outcome was different than the goal. My goal was to be better balanced. I met my goal – but that became almost secondary. I needed to be more aware of how I was moving. I became more aware of the fact that I need to become more aware. As we age and have co-morbidities and run into trouble, joint pain, medications – it becomes even more important. This has become for me, some me-time, an hour just to focus on learning to slow down and move properly. I didn’t realize how important the me-time was until I started investing in myself. If you’re going to fall, fall well. (Dawn, BN, Participant, Learn to Fall Well Class)
I had stopped going to aikido because of pain in my both wrist joints near my thumbs. The surgeon said my thumbs were partly out of socket which I assumed were a result of the pulling in practice; arthritis had formed causing pain. Because of my love for aikido, I investigated other ways of healing other than the possible surgery. A highly skilled physical therapist had worked extensively with my shoulders and arms which greatly helped. The work with Cheryl (as part of her trainee practice) then helped me learn to move in a more conscious way with my arms and other parts of my body. Both facilitated my return to aikido, and I have found the Feldenkreis work with Cheryl to have continued impact on my practice. It has allowed more awareness of movement, and I experience more flow and groundedness in practice. I am grateful for the work. (Pamela)
Need support to decide? Contact Cheryl at cheryl@kindpower.ca or 780.903.5519. She can help you decide if Kind Movement is good for you.
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