The Shoulder Program
Heal injury, embrace elegance.
A deep-dive Awareness Through Movement series with Andrew Gibbons
Stretches and strength can be useful,
But coordination is king.
The Shoulder Program provides a comprehensive foundation of Awareness Through Movement sessions to re-integrate your shoulders into the coordination of your head, neck, spine and arms, and your overall balance and posture. Each session is intelligently structured and compassionately paced, using specific constraints and patterns to focus and sharpen your self use.
Both the live workshop and studio sessions address foundational movement patterns, including: reaching, lifting, pulling, pushing, spiraling, and weight-bearing through the arms and hands. You’ll learn to time the movements of your scapula with your whole body in an integrated process of integration and skill.
Price: $175 US
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Sensing Muscle Recruitment (43:45)
The Arc of Hand to Shoulder (54:35)
Counterbalancing the Hand with the Shoulder (52:56)
Fortune Teller Spiral (1:01:32)
Stick + Rope (51:30)
Rolling the Fists (54:16)
Elbow on the Wall (53:56)
Circles on the Side (1:00:02)
Rolling Over Ribs (1:04:35)
Integrating the Rotation of the Torso with the Shoulders (1:00:39)
Weight Bearing on the Elbows for Better Reaching (1:03:22)
Lifting the Elbow, Hand to Shoulder (1:24:12)
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Introduction & Principles (22:50)
Sensing Muscle Tone in the Arm and Shoulder (51:37)
Counterbalance to Even the Tone (43:10)
Prone: Rolling the Head and Shoulders (21:04)
Lifting the Arm with the Help of the Pelvis (1:01:44)
Pushing with the Hand by the Head (57:50)
Sidelying, Hands Interlaced (36:42)
Breathing to Clarify the Shoulders and Torso (36:11)
Arms Behind the Back , Part 1 (44:42)
Arms Behind the Back , Part 2 (13:50)
Lifting the Pelivs, Arms Behind the Back (29:09)
The Sternum Becomes Flexible (1:16:31)
Arms Sliding into Rolling (1:20:11)
Educating the Extensor Muscles (1:22:55)
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Most of us have no “technique” for using our arms and shoulders in daily life. Instead, we live with what seems “good enough”—good enough to carry the groceries, good enough to play a little tennis, good enough to do a few pushups at the gym. Over time “good enough” simply isn’t adequate. We end up living with chronic pain, loss of flexibility, discomfort in bed, and a dwindling repertoire of activities we can enjoy unfettered.
The Shoulder Program sessions will teach you, step by step, the Feldenkrais® principles that ensure your arms and shoulders will not only function at their best, but actually improve with use. By working safely and intelligently with these principles, you will discover a superior way of coordinating your shoulders, spine, hips and neck for every kind of activity: from typing at a computer, to carry things in your hands and over your shoulders, to working out at the gym, to walking and running, and artistic activities like dance and musical performance.
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Free your neck, back, shoulders, arms and hands from unnecessary pain and stiffness.
Gain a clear, solid support from the ground in every movement you make.
Understand how to access power in the back, shoulders, arms and hands.
Study the 5 key skeletal relationships that connect the arm to the torso.
Use the sessions to train for precision instead of willpower.
Integrate your shoulders in better breathing and vice versa.
Clarify what “ball in socket” actually means for how you sense, support and coordinate your arm and shoulder.
Develop strong, responsive, posture that improves your balance and stamina.
Build a daily personal practice that will serve you in the activities and goals you pursue, be they physical fitness, daily chores, the performing arts, and simply learning how to live in comfort.
Instructor:
Andrew Gibbons
A classically trained pianist and Feldenkrais teacher of over two decades, Andrew Gibbons created The Shoulder Program to help you recover true elegance and safety in the coordination of one of the most common sources of discomfort, pain and injury.
Many of the sessions in the program were created to help clients he has worked with over the years, as well as his own rehabilitation from an over-use injury at the piano and a fall on the ice that tore some ligaments years ago.
Andrew has taught Feldenkrais for The Hospital for Special Surgery’s Integrative Care Center, The SUNY Stoneybrook doctoral PT program, as well as in a tech talk for Google’s NY offices (Avoiding the Black Hole of Computer Posture), and he has taught elite classical musicians at the Marlboro Music Festival for the past 16 years.
He is known for his specificity, compassion and intelligence in unpacking the details inside Awareness Through Movement lessons.
These lessons have profound effects on how I feel and move through my day. I simply feel sharper, more put-together and better attuned to how I am moving and holding myself in the rest of my life.
Glen Cramer, High School English Teacher, New York, NY
When I tore my rotator cuff in January the doctors, physical therapists, the acupuncturist, the masseuse, each told me recovery would require me to learn to use my shoulder blades and back muscles more. But none of them explained what that means or how I could learn it. So, thank you for this course, Andrew. It's clear, concise, experiential... and has provided such healing and progress for me!
Duke Vivian, YMCA coach, Seattle, WA
Andrew's teaching is uniquely rigorous. He has a way of creating a 'sacred space' without it being rarefied or new-agey. I would recommend his classes to anyone looking to honestly approach their life as a serious student, who wants to find truths that liberate even as they burn away our dirty lenses.
Brad Stoller, Contact Improv Teacher, Cumulus Dance, Associate Professor Theater Arts, Piedmont, VA Community College
Working with Andrew has since transformed my life. I've ditched the cane, avoided surgery, and the way I’m walking, moving, and supporting myself in sitting and standing has continued to improve as I continue to practice the principles, strategies, and understandings that Andrew teaches. This work led me to a profound physical and personal transformation.
Thank you, Andrew!
Greg Sam, professional poker player