Building Better Balance

Strengthen Learning Capabilities. Improve Freedom of Movement. Reduce Pain, Stress, and Tension. Build Attention and Concentration.

Learn how to move with pleasure, ease and grace, breathe more easily, and enjoy the simple things in life again.

Awareness Through Movement® Classes
now in session.
Please join us.

Mondays 9:00- 10:00 AM

Patty Turner Senior Center
375 Elm Street, Deerfield, IL 60015
For Directions call: 847-940-4010

To make an appointment, please contact:

Phone: 847-748-8313

E-mail: Feldenkrais-northshore@comcast.net

HIghland Park Illinois
Fax: 847-831-1457

Joyce Ann OTR/L, GCFP

Feldenkrais Practitioner®
Occupational Therapist

Building Better Balance

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"Movement is life. Without movement, life is unthinkable..."
Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais DSc

Our habits, which are formed through life experiences, can either help us or hinder us. Unless we understand what our habits are, we are unable to change them. The Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education teaches students to become more self-aware, notice unhealthy and unnecessary movement patterns (habits) and learn more comfortable and efficient ways to move. With more evenly distributed movements of the skeleton, the individual learns to transmit force and generate powerful movements with less muscular effort and less wear and tear on all connective tissues.

Building Better Balance is a unique combination of the assessment and teaching principles of Occupational Therapy, the Feldenkrais Method®, and Vestibular Integration. The goal is to improve the client’s functional abilities by modifying and refining existing movement patterns. This is accomplished by increasing self-awareness and mobility, improving balance, rhythm and timing, strengthening multi-tasking skills, and enhancing visual-motor and sensory-motor integration skills. It is helpful for all ages including children with developmental delays, individuals with neurological difficulties, those recovering from injuries, those individuals who have been suffering from chronic pain and would like to get back into a healthy lifestyle, as well as those who want to refine their skills in the arts.

Chronic Pain:
Do you feel muscle and joint pain that keep you from doing the things you like to do? Are you hesitant to join movement classes for fear of hurting yourself? Have you found traditional therapies to be too painful or unproductive, leaving you feeling frustrated and defeated? (Read More.)

Awareness through Movement® is not stretching or vigorous exercise and is taught in a "less is more" attitude.

Playing a musical instrument: requires many repetitive movement patterns, which often can leave the musician in chronic pain or discomfort, often to a point when it is difficult to play the instrument. (Read More.)

Children and learning:
The Feldenkrais Method® and Vestibular Integration programs can help children move with more ease. When childrens' movement patterns are more fluid they can pay more attention to cognitive challenges.
(Read more.)

Breathing Difficulty:
Many individuals hold their breathe when they move. Shallow breathing or poorly distributed breathing is often not recognized as a contributing source for various difficulties, including muscle tightness, pain, inflexibility and poor coordination.
Even some children may not breathe as fully as they can. Not fully utilizing the true capacity of their lungs can impair balance, movement, and may cause speech impairments or delays.

Aging and Balance:
Walking and the risk of falling is just one of the many concerns for aging individuals and their family members. The Feldenkrais Method® is so gentle that even individuals who do not move very well, or are afraid to move can benefit and enjoy it. (Read more.)

Individuals with Dementia can benefit from the Feldenkrais Method® through their still intact ability to learn through their Procedural Memory. The Feldenkrais Method® can help individuals improve balance, coordination, alertness and awareness of his or her surroundings.
(Read More.)

Israeli scientist Moshe Feldenkrais DSc (1904-1984) was a nuclear physicist and engineer, and the first European to earn a black belt in judo. He received his doctorate in physics at the Sorbonne in Paris, and worked closely with Nobel Chemistry Laureate Joliot-Curie. During the 1940s, Dr. Feldenkrais was barely able to walk due to a serious knee injury and was given only a 50% chance of improving his condition with surgery, which he could not accept. He began exploring movement patterns, and observed how people form movement habits. He mastered the sciences of anatomy, kinesiology, and physiology, and combined these with his knowledge of physics, engineering, and judo. Eventually, he restored his ability to walk and began his life’s work of helping others improve their functional abilities and to move through life with grace and dignity.

The Feldenkrais Method can be learned in two modes. Awareness Through Movement® classes are taught to more than one individual at a time and the Functional Integration® (FI) lessons involve individual hands on interventions. The Feldenkrais Practitioner® or teacher helps the individuals learn. Therefore they are my "students" and the sessions are referred to as "lessons".