I began going to Kathy for individual treatments after sustaining an injury in a serious accident.  I was getting other therapies as well, but turned to Feldenkrais in desperation due to chronic pain and the slow pace of recovery.  Kathy’s work was a godsend!  Each week, I would lie on a table in a quiet room while Kathy communicated with my body through touch and gentle movement. Often, I would fall into a peaceful sleep.  After treatments, I could feel areas of my body lengthening and opening up.  In addition to healing, I finally got relief from the chronic pain!  Getting that relief restored hope, adding a critical emotional element.  Kathy gave me movements to do at home, which kept the progress going.  It was a long road, but Kathy’s work was instrumental in relieving pain, giving me hope, and speeding my recovery.

Later, when I became well enough to attend class, I was eager to learn how Feldenkrais worked.  To my surprise, I learned that much of the practice is done lying on the floor.  Kathy leads the group in repeating a series of small movements in a low-cardio and non-competitive environment.  After my first class, I was astonished to learn that doing a series of small movements can produce truly grand results!  Even better, I could feel the “magic” I had experienced after my individual treatments and delighted to discover I could be part of bringing it back.

Kathy is wonderfully enthusiastic about her work.  She is masterful at allowing each person to experience Feldenkrais on an individual level and practice at an individual pace.  I am eternally grateful to Kathy for bringing such an important practice to my life.  After two years, I continue to be committed to Feldenkrais and it continues to have a remarkable impact on my body and well being.

Kathy’s work is truly transformative.  I came to her for help with a shoulder injury.  In the process of healing my shoulder Kathy taught me how to be curious about my body, to notice where I hold tension, and to move in more useful ways.  My work with Kathy sparked an ongoing curiosity for me about my own body.  As a result of this curiosity I injure myself less and enjoy myself physically in the world more.  Kathy is a master at her craft.

The method and exercises have relieved the uncomfortable condition from my sciatica and I am back to running two days per week. I want to thank you for your intuitive knowledge of the Method and for enabling me to get back to my very active life.

The miracle of your work (and I use that word in its fullest meaning) is that it reawakens the physical, sensual curiosity of childhood. It reboots the exploration of how it feels to be in a body. It reminds you of how you like your body to feel and it teaches you how to get that feeling.

I’m an active sixty four year-old with a history that includes ten years of running followed by nineteen as a martial artist. I’ve had my share of injuries and sought relief from traditional medical practitioners and body-workers from many disciplines. Those include physical therapy, chiropractic, naturopathic, LOMI and a several types of massage. Each offered some relief, but none comes close to the felt sensations of delight and grace that your Feldenkrais work provides.

In each visit you brought awareness to some part of my body, some hinge that was rusted, stuck and forgotten years ago. You woke up a body that, despite its relative health and level of activity, had become habituated to a posture and repetitive movements that were only a fraction of its potential. One day I left feeling taller, another day my shoulders seemed wider. A knee injury that had caused pain for 25 years went away when I learned to coordinate the flexing of my knees and hips. For the first time in memory I feel like I have the body I always wanted.

If you’re a camper you know dread of getting up on a cold morning and the bliss of returning to a warm sleeping bag. Your work brought me in from the cold, back to the warm sleeping bag that is my body. Thank you for giving it back.

I stopped running because it was so painful. As I trained more in Aikido, parts of my body started to hurt: knees, ankles, back, and shoulders. Giving up Aikido wasn’t an option for me, so I needed to move differently.  Functional Integration sessions with Kathy and regular Awareness Through Movement classes taught me to find more effective, pain-free ways to use my self. Aikido seldom hurts any more and I’ve started running again. When I injure myself (like tripping on stairs, or lifting something awkward), Feldenkrais treatment is the most effective way to recover my full range of easy movement.  I’ll be doing Feldenkrais for the rest of my life, because I am always willing to be curious and learn.  I’m grateful to Kathy for sharing her depth of understanding in how our bodies work.

Kathy James and the Feldenkrais Method are a match made in heaven — a great teacher and a great method. Feldenkrais is founded on deep, essential principles of how we experience ourselves and expand our horizons through movement, and Kathy offers the attentive student access to this experience. Her genius is that she finds the words to catalyze the student’s process of discovery… suggestions that excite inquiry into the mystery of movement, subtle questions about what might be possible, zinger cues that come from eagle-eyed observation of her students, and little riffs on the wonder of this amazing vehicle we move around in. Kathy is a rare bird who gently invites us to learn to fly in these bodies.

The ‘body knows best’ should really be the ‘body does its best’.

As we grow and develop the body learns how to flex, twist, bend, etc. the best it can.  Though a good learner, the years of habits and strategies the body has developed may not have been the best.  On-going aches, an injury or movements that cause pain or discomfort are signals from the bodies structure that the old habits need to go.  Enter Feldenkrais and Kathy James.

Kathy has an eye for structure and alignment that few have.  She can locate the area that requires retraining and with skilled and gentle hands show the body and you how to move the way the body was designed to move.

Keeping active has meant some of my learned habits needed to be changed.  My low back pain from years of a forward waist are now gone.  Kathy has retrained my body to keep my hips underneath me.  And my knees got happier, too!  Walking has become effortless and joyful as my hips and legs are aligned and now work together.  More strenuous activities do not tax my body like they used to. I too have learned to pay attention to old postures and correct myself to ensure my body is relaxed and comfortable.

My body is happier…and that makes me happier.  There is nothing more freeing than enjoying to continue moving and playing with joy.

15 Day Challenge

I have taken Kathy’s 15 Day Challenge twice. I love the commitment of getting up and getting going every week day for three weeks.  Kathy’s class helped me bring my mind and body into a supportive and challenging practice that set me up for a wellness outlook all day long.  I moved with more ease and was more mindful of my actions in the process.  Thank you!

FROM A GRATEFUL STUDENT…

I have been taking classes with Kathy since October 2013 and cannot get over how happy I am. The Feldenkrais Method has improved my quality of life.

Here are a few of the improvements:

My posture is better and I have a better understanding of what good posture is. People always remarked that my posture was very good, yet I often had nagging aches and pains. Not so much any more.

My core muscles are stronger and I use them more efficiently. Kathy has helped me to develop flexibility that I did not know was available.

    The Feldenkrais Method is a structured means to learn how the body is entirely connected, from posture and motion to sight and breath. One of the goals is to move effortlessly and painlessly while maintaining an overall awareness of the body. The body awareness circles back to help me to move effortlessly and painlessly. It is an ingenious system and Kathy is a fantastic teacher. She is like a guide who gives direction yet who lets the students discover. And there are many things to discover!

Kathy is the miracle I allow myself to experience at least twice each month – Feldenkrais with Kathy James is the one practice I can guarantee will result in a profound mind/body/spirit connection every time. She has restored motion, balance, and healing on all three levels … and surpassed any and all expectations of why I initially started seeing her about 14 years ago. I haven’t stopped since.

I’d been diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff and had already ‘failed’ traditional physical therapy so surgery was recommended. I had used a Feldenkrais practitioner to recover from soft tissue injuries after a car accident almost a decade earlier and that practitioner was no longer local – she recommended Kathy.

Working with Kathy through her Feldenkrais ‘Functional Integration’ method began then and has never stopped. My rotator cuff healed on its own as I learned new ways to move while strengthening the muscles/tissue around it. I have fibromyalgia, arthritis and a leg that doesn’t mind and I am a chronic over doer with several autoimmune disorders and Kathy kept me in motion through various injuries and illnesses. 10 years ago, I was struck with the Epstein Barr virus and became so incapacitated that I had to quit working and spent the first 7 months in bed … except I never stopped seeing Kathy.

Her ability to keep me in motion explains my physical recovery but not how Feldenkrais ‘body’ work supports my spiritual and emotional healing as well. I have had a challenging life since birth and the release I receive from all suffering while under Kathy’s care is the true gift. With the relief from physical suffering also came relief from emotional pain which supports my spiritual growth. It is the only place I feel safe enough to fully experience myself as a whole being. That is the miracle of Feldenkrais in the hands of Kathy James.