Feldenkrais & The Brain
The “Neuro-Logical, Concise and Practical Theory of the Feldenkrais Method® with Roger Russell.
Live online, once-a-month on Saturdays
Starting April 26, 2025 (dates and topics below)
Each session is 3.5 hours: 9:00 am — 12:30 pm PST
All sessions will be recorded and available asynchronously for participants.
Cost for non-members: $1,040
(For subscribing FF members: log in to receive your discounted price of $700.)
About the Course
Every day we read about new discoveries in brain science. We have been told that The Feldenkrais Method® takes advantage of neuroplasticity.
In this series of eight online workshops which fit together like puzzle pieces, Roger Russell will provide clear and practical answers, weaving experiential and conceptual insights into a creative cycle of discovery.
The series will be based on Roger’s explanation of the "Coordination Cascade".
We will follow each step of a Feldenkrais® lesson as it unfolds. To understand how imagination becomes action we will turn the Coordination Cascade on its head and begin with the most concrete experience: how your muscles contract. We will then follow the sensory feedback of moving which informs and guides the coordination planning centers of the brain. Those centers in turn control the spinal cord centers that manage muscle activity.
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An introduction will frame each seminar in a larger picture of biology and neuroscience.
An ATM® lesson provides you experiential insights.
A lecture clarifies conceptual insights of moving, sensing and learning.
An FI® demonstration shows how the ideas are directly applicable.
Reading suggestions, including popular science and professional literature.
Q + A
The series includes an online community discussion forum.
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Unify your experience and understanding.
Make complex ideas accessible and practical.
Sort, clarify and interpret the facts in a coherent framework.
Watch demonstrations of applications in Awareness through Movement® and Functional Integration®.
Learn concise reviews of neuroscience literature.
Discover the relevance for diverse professional fields relating to human health, development and performance
Understand how coordination is fundamentally different from strength and endurance training.
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Session 1: April 26
The evolution of our how our brain coordinates moving and sensing
Session 2: May 17
Muscles and how they contract
Session 3: June 14
How the spinal cord directs the muscles
Session 4: July 12
How the brain stem controls the spinal cord, muscle tone and balance
Session 5: Sept 13
How the basal ganglia help plan movement patterns
Session 6: Oct 18
How the limbic system anchors habits
Session 8: Nov 15
How the cerebral cortex refines sensing, moving and learning
Session 8: Dec 13
How the prefrontal cortex can modulate emotions, direct attention and quickly learn new ways of action
Meet the Teacher
Roger Russell, MA, PT
Roger studied directly with Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais from 1975–1984 in San Francisco, Amherst, MA and at the Feldenkrais Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel. He has been the educational director of the Feldenkrais Zentrum Heidelberg where he has led 12 Feldenkrais trainings since 1994. Roger is a founding member of the Feldenkrais Guild of North America (1977) and the Feldenkrais Verband Deutschland (1985). He has organized and presented in numerous scientific and Feldenkrais conferences in Europe and North America. A physical therapist, he has a master’s degree in movement science and movement education.
His passion is to look behind the curtain into the intellectual background of the Feldenkrais Method. His research includes the application of the Feldenkrais Method with people with Multiple Sclerosis, (1989-1993) and a research project in infant sensory-motor development (1988-1995).
