Local Feldenkrais Practitioner Gives Us the Low-Down

mtwadmin - Fri, November 12, 2010

Tiffany Sankary is a Feldenkrais practitioner based in Somerville, MA.  She recently contacted me because she happened upon The Boston Healing Blog.  After speaking to her over email, I suggested we do a feature on her and the Feldenkrais Method.

Tiffany came to Feldenkrais after her mother’s recommendation led her to try a session for herself.  The experience was life-changing.  “I felt like I was walking really differently, and I felt beautiful for the first time in a long time.”  She soon signed up for the four-year training program. 

“At the time I was searching for a way to have a more loving relationship with my body.” Tiffany says.  “I have spent a lot of time in my head.  Being a visual artist, I have always identified myself with my eyes, hands, and mind.  I never felt comfortable playing sports.  Feldenkrais gave me access to experiencing my my body in a whole new way.  I was able to experience the different parts of my skeleton in movement, whereas before I was not even aware that I had a skeleton. My posture has radically changed. So many aspects of my life are totally different now.”

From feldenkrais.com: “The Feldenkrais Method is for anyone who wants to reconnect with their natural abilities to move, think and feel. Whether you want to be more comfortable sitting at your computer, playing with your children and grandchildren, or performing a favorite pastime, these gentle lessons can improve your overall well being.”

For an easy-to-understand breakdown, check this out.

Even though she sent me some information about Feldenkrais beforehand, I went in to see Tiffany still not really knowing what to expect.  I was wearing loose-fitting clothing as she requested.  Once in her office, she spent some time speaking to me about my issues (main complaint: chronic hip and leg pain stemming from an old knee injury) and evaluating the way I walk, stand, and sit.  Then she asked me to lie down on the table and relax. 

Our session was gentler and quieter than the bodywork sessions I was used to.  She didn’t actually massage me at all, by which I mean she didn’t apply any deep pressure to my muscles or fascia.  The session mostly focused on deliberate, gentle movements of my skeleton and joints, but she was the one moving my body; I was mostly completely relaxed.  She positioned me in very specific positions, and I was told not to engage my muscles at all.

If you’re not used to it, this is the type of work that you might not get at first.  I was lying supine on a table, and Tiffany was moving my leg back and forth, back and forth, then after eight or nine repeats, she placed my leg back down and asked me what I noticed.  For someone without much bodily awareness, it may be hard to see the “point.”  But in reality, the tiniest, subtle movements and connections of the body are what form the patterns that determine how we function and move on the grander scale. 

A major benefit of my treatment was a deepened understanding of the connectivity within the body.  We tend to think of our bodies as “parts.”  If my leg hurts, then that “part” is the problem, but in reality every time I move my leg, my back moves too, and vice versa. 

That’s an easy thing to talk about, but when you’re lying there with no job to do but to notice what’s happening in your body as someone else moves it, you can actually feel the muscles in your neck shift as your hip bends.  It’s a very enlightening experience.

We spent a lot of time looking at how I walk, and figuring out different ways that I could move to reduce the pain that accumulates in my hip.  I can honestly say that I’ve noticed a substantial difference.  I used to be in a good amount of pain after walking for more than five minutes pretty much no matter what.  Now, when I pay attention to my movements, the pain from walking is less and goes away much quicker.  And that’s just after one session!

Tiffany did mention that since I’ve been practicing yoga and receiving bodywork treatments, I was already pretty aware of my bodily connections.  She described what she did to me as “fine tuning.”  I would imagine for someone new to the idea of bodily awareness, the results would be even more dramatic. 

Tiffany offers individual hands-on Functional Integration lessons  and group Awareness Through Movement classses/workshops in Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, and Watertown. 

For more information, see her website: www.tiffanysankary.com