Feldenkrais® | Maria Nurmela, Feldenkrais® practitioner

MARIA AS FELDENKRAIS® PRACTITIONER

The Feldenkrais® method is a holistic somatic learning approach developed by Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984), where gentle movement serves as a pathway to learning.

The method offers participants the opportunity to fine-tune their senses, improve their bodily awareness and their relationship with their environment, learn new fine motor skills, and discover ease in everyday activities. Additionally, the method also provides participants with a chance to explore new creative ways of doing things and problem-solving skills through movement.

For Maria, Feldenkrais has paved the way for a personal transformation:

"Although Moshe Feldenkrais was not a professional dancer or performer, and was not directly involved in the performing arts, he has had a tremendous impact on the performing arts and many artists, including myself. When I first time met Feldenkrais® practice the experience it evoked created like a personal paradigm shift in me. First of all I began to question the tradition of effort I had grown up with and carried during my dance career. I began to ponder:

How could I dance without strain, organically, and functionally? How could I use force only when I need it? How could I find skeletal support so I could move as efficiently as possible?

Feldenkrais® opened up a new way of approaching movement with a focus on gravity, vitality, using strength and effort coherently. It also changed my understanding of learning and body awareness. Plus, it helped with my dyslexia!

Through Feldenkrais® I was able to understand how I had adapted to the physical and social environment, as well as the kinds of bodily patterns (such as posture, muscle tensions, and movement chains) I've learned. Some of those patterns were no longer functional, so Feldenkrais® allowed me to detect, understand, examine, and ultimately change these dysfunctional internal mechanisms. As my awareness of my internal state and movement expanded, it also affected my external spatial movement and connection to the others.

I began also to question the externally directed and learned contemporary dance language: what if I moved differently, choreographed differently, or paid attention to completely different movement details. That effected as well to the way I was creating dances.

I am deeply immersed in a process and on a journey to the unknown, and extremely thankful for all the wonderful things I am finding through this adventure."