Expand Your Ability

On today's episode, we are examining the big picture, specifically focusing on awareness and choice, and how both are crucial for leadership.  We inherit our physical bodies and patterns from our families and culture at large, as well as from our direct experiences. Until we become aware of our patterns, they simply appear familiar and normal to us. It is only when we develop awareness and begin to question them that we can initiate change. Until we question them, our lives remain a reflection of our past experiences. Becoming fully aware and understanding the impact we have on others, including ourselves, enables us to exercise choice. How do I want to be in this situation? What do I need to change about what I'm doing in this situation. With choice comes responsibility, and this is essential for effective leadership.  Awareness practices can help us get closer to what is truly valuable to us—what we believe is good in this world. It's so easy to slip back into old habits, so we need to have an awareness practice.  In this episode, I offer a simple awareness practice. They can help you understand how you are doing and give you a choice to shift your physical experience and thus, your mental and emotional experience. There is actually a skill to awareness. We can get better at catching our habits and changing our behavior to meet the situation in front of us and it's so important that we practice awareness and we practice bring it in to our daily lives. 🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊 This is Episode 50! Thank you so much for your support, everyone!🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊 ___________ Hi, I'm Jeffrey. As a Feldenkrais and somatic movement practitioner I help you get in touch with your body so you can unravel old sticky patterns and make way for greater creativity, power and joyful play. Want to put the ideas in this podcast to work? You can book a free 20 minute consult call to find out if we're a good fit for 1:1 coaching. Learn more here. Join the newsletterto be the first to hear about future opportunities to work with me. Download my free lesson: Effortless Freedom in Moving Download my free guide: 9 Surprising Benefits of the Feldenkrais Method Get Your Questions Answered! Submit your questions! I will answer them on a future episode of the podcast. I'm directing a documentary film about Feldenkrais. Check out the Teaser Trailer.  Follow me on Instagram: @expandyourability Connect on LinkedIn Had an Aha? Let me know: [email protected] Stay connected and subscribe to the podcast. 

Today's episode is for you if you think you can do it alone, if you think you don't support, or you think being supported is a weakness. As my mentor Jesse Koren says, big work requires big support.  By big work, we're talking starting a business, fixing your relationship, and healing from old wounds just to name a few examples. We can't do it alone. This is one of those universal truths but our habits and unhealthy beliefs can blind us to this truth. The Feldenkrais Method of Awareness Through Movement is about uncovering these habits and beliefs that operate beneath the surface, but only if we ask the question. In Feldenkrais movement lessons we're always curious about our internal support (the skeleton in relation to the Earth and gravity) but it's important to take the question further. How am I supported socially? Do I even consider that a possibility? This episode is a must listen if you think you're better off going it alone. I have walked that path and it's a tough one. ***** Thank you for listening, dear listener! I am wonder if you would keep your eyes out for me? I worked in Filmmaking and Video production for 10 years and had to step back and do less because of debilitating back pain. This was a main reason that sent me on my Feldenkrais and embodiment journey, and now my back is more capable than ever before AND I am directing the biggest film of my life. That's why I am committed to helping filmmakers and videographers with back pain to help them restore their backs so they can work more jobs and move and feel better than ever. I wonder if you know anyone in film or video suffering from a bad back. Does anyone come to mind? Let me know [email protected] ***** Join the newsletter to be the first to hear about future opportunities to work with me. Download my free lesson: Effortless Freedom in Moving Download my free guide: 9 Surprising Benefits of the Feldenkrais Method Get Your Questions Answered! Submit your questions! I will answer them on a future episode of the podcast. I'm directing a documentary film about Feldenkrais. Check out the Teaser Trailer.  Follow me on Instagram: @expandyourability Had an Aha? Let me know: [email protected] Stay connected and subscribe to the podcast. 

On today's episode, we're exploring why movement is such a big deal according to Moshe Feldenkrais. We dive into his book, "Awareness Through Movement," and explore the ninth and final reason why movement is at the core of personal growth and self-awareness. (You can find the previous 8 reasons in previous episodes.) The Feldenkrais Method is about becoming aware of your habitual patterns in order to open up new possibilities.  Movement, according to Feldenkrais, lies at the heart of this process. He says that the habit patterns of thinking, feeling and sensing all hinge on movement. If you change the movement, the changes will cascade to how you think and feel. This is an essential idea, using movement to free your mind, if you find yourself asking how can I get make lasting change in my life? About the PodcastHi, I'm Jeffrey. As a Feldenkrais and somatic movement practitioner I help you get in touch with your body so you can unravel old sticky patterns and make way for greater creativity, power and joyful play. Want to put the ideas in this podcast to work? You can book a free 30 minute call to find out if we're a good fit for 1:1 coaching. Learn more here. Join the newsletter to be the first to hear about future opportunities to work with me. Download my free lesson: Effortless Freedom in Moving Download my free guide: 9 Surprising Benefits of the Feldenkrais Method Get Your Questions Answered! Submit your questions! I will answer them on a future episode of the podcast. I'm directing a documentary film about Feldenkrais. Check out the Teaser Trailer.  Follow me on Instagram: @expandyourability Had an Aha? Let me know: [email protected] Stay connected and subscribe to the podcast. 

"We are all emotional beings." I'm going to be a vulnerable here...even though I am feeling better overall than I have ever felt before, I have had a difficult history with my emotions. My frame before was that emotions happen to me. They drove the bus. What I have learned since is two primary things, 1) that emotions are information (not truth) and 2) we can influence our emotions through movement. Thankfully, I have a lot more say over my emotions today thanks to working with Laura Bond and her approach.   We can choose how we feel to a greater degree than we think. My guest today is Laura Bond, the creator of the Emotional Body Method. Her work has helped me to understand my emotions through a curious, compassionate and play approach that is a perfect complement to Feldenkrais and other embodiment work. The Emotional Body Method aims to help people understand their emotions, be more comfortable with themselves, and improve their expression and presentation skills. Insecurities and old habits can interfere with how we express ourselves. In fact, we often operate in a mix of emotions. When we don't have clear expressions of emotions, other people don't understand us as well, they get mixed messages or confused, and we can feel powerless. The method focuses on the 6 primary emotional patterns that we all are born with. The patterns are explored on all levels: posture, facial expression, breathing and vocalization. Through mixing within this simple palette of 6 comes the rich rainbow of all human expression.  Another thing I really like about the Emotional Body Method is that it doesn't go into difficult stories or psychological concepts. Instead it's physical explorations.  In this episode expect to hear: The scientific origins of the Emotional Body. What are the 6 emotional patterns. What is emotional regulation and the importance of calming the nervous system. On unlearning old habits through repetition and variation. Why is does the Emotional Body use a letter and number system? (1a,1b,2a,2b,3a,3b) The 7th pattern, zero, and it's use for finding emotional neutrality. How Feldenkrais Method inspired the Emotional Body. Entanglements with our emotions, where two or more emotions are unconsciously mixed. About Laura BondLaura Bond is an internationally recognized master instructor and teacher trainer in the emotional effector patterns, and the Emotional Body® courses. She is a master teacher of Alba Emoting™, having studied an intensive teacher-training path in Chile with its founder, Susana Bloch. Laura is a full professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville and a certified master teacher of the Estill Voice™ technique. She teaches physical emotion regulation methods in university classes, private lessons, and through national and international workshops. She is the author of two books: TEAM for Actors: A Holistic Approach to Embodied Acting, and The Emotional Body: A Method for Physical Self-Regulation. www.emotionalbodymethod.com Author Page on Amazon Routledge Press Book Chapter Contribution: "The Emotional Body: A Somatic and Trauma-Informed Practice for Cultivating Expressive Capabilities for the Actor and the Individual," in a new book titled, Trauma and Embodied Healing in Dramatherapy, Theatre and Performance published by Routledge Press. Available for pre-order Feb 19th and shipping by March 11th! About the PodcastHi, I'm Jeffrey. As a Feldenkrais and somatic movement practitioner I help you get in touch with your body so you can unravel old sticky patterns and make way for greater creativity, power and joyful play. Want to put the ideas in this podcast to work? You can book a free 30 minute call to find out if we're a good fit for 1:1 coaching. Learn more here. Join the newsletter to be the first to hear about future opportunities to work with me. Download my free lesson: Effortless Freedom in Moving Download my free guide: 9 Surprising Benefits of the Feldenkrais Method Get Your Questions Answered! Submit your questions! I will answer them on a future episode of the podcast. I'm directing a documentary film about Feldenkrais. Check out the Teaser Trailer.  Follow me on Instagram: @expandyourability Had an Aha? Let me know: [email protected] Stay connected and subscribe to the podcast. 

Feldenkrais Practitioner, musician and storyteller David Kaetz says that many of us get disembodied from our voice from a young age. It's common and normal for kids to make sounds as they explore and play, until they get the message that they should be quiet. Is this a message you've internalized? How playful with your voice are you One of my main motivators in exploring Feldenkrais and the bodymind connection comes from my own pain and tension surrounding my voice. I could tell it was related to self-use and anxiety and it was clearly manifesting as a physical issue. My voice troubles started in my teen years and followed me into my twenties. While I'm doing better than ever, I am still learning. I am learning how to be more expressive, more relaxed, and more full-bodied when I speak. On today's episode I reflect on my recent learnings around embodying the voice. I've had two profound mentors: One is a man named Nicholas that I met at the Minnesota Men's Conference. He helped me playful with singing. The other was David Kaetz and his Listening with the Whole Body workshop that I attended this past weekend. Learn more about the Minnesota Men's Conference here. Learn more about David Kaetz here. Hi, I'm Jeffrey. As a Feldenkrais and somatic movement practitioner I help you get in touch with your body so you can unravel old sticky patterns and make way for greater creativity, power and joyful play. Want to put the ideas in this podcast to work? You can book a free 20 minute consult call to find out if we're a good fit for 1:1 coaching. Learn more here. Join the newsletterto be the first to hear about future opportunities to work with me. Download my free lesson: Effortless Freedom in Moving Download my free guide: 9 Surprising Benefits of the Feldenkrais Method Get Your Questions Answered! Submit your questions! I will answer them on a future episode of the podcast. I'm directing a documentary film about Feldenkrais. Check out the Teaser Trailer.  Follow me on Instagram: @expandyourability Had an Aha? Let me know: [email protected] Stay connected and subscribe to the podcast. 

On today's episode, I take a question from a long time listener and student. She asks, Is it possible to have as much respect and concern for my body as I do for my mind? This is a great question. Does it resonate with you? Are you intellectually gifted or cognitively centered? It's hard not to have an emphasis on the mind over the body in our culture. Is your body a second class citizen in your thinking? Here's the thing, your body is the basis for your mind. A truly strong and sensitive body is a strong and sensitive mind too. In order to get more connected to our embodied experience, we need to get in touch to shift our habits and build new practices. In this episode I offer a possible reframe for the body/mind, we talk about what it means and looks like to be more respectful of your body, and we explore a short, easy somatic exploration to embody respect for ourselves. Hi, I'm Jeffrey. As a Feldenkrais and somatic movement practitioner I help you get in touch with your body so you can unravel old sticky patterns and make way for greater creativity, power and joyful play. Join the newsletterto be the first to hear about future opportunities to work with me. Download my free lesson: Effortless Freedom in Moving Download my free guide: 9 Surprising Benefits of the Feldenkrais Method Get Your Questions Answered! Submit your questions! I will answer them on a future episode of the podcast. I'm directing a documentary film about Feldenkrais. Check out the Teaser Trailer.  Follow me on Instagram: @expandyourability Had an Aha? Let me know: [email protected] Stay connected and subscribe to the podcast. 

When do you rest? Do you save rest for the end of the day? What does quality rest look like? Many of us are conditioned to work for hours on end with little rest. Rests are often seen as unproductive or a waste of time. Time is money as the adage goes. We're on the clock. Even if we don't believe these statements to be true ourselves, it's certainly easy to feel where our culture pressures us to disregard our needs. In the Feldenkrais work as well as the other somatic movement modalities I teach, rest is super important. This isn't rest to give our muscles a break. No. Instead, it's an opportunity for our bodies and nervous system to integrate what we are learning through movement. The rest is a necessary element in the process and will help you improve faster. In this episode, I talk about many benefits of rest in Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons. I bridge that into how we can think about resting in our daily life. I offer some practical tips for practicing rest. 

We are deeply formed by our experiences and those experiences create the lens in which we view the world. How well do we really know ourselves?  My guest Caroline Ritter talks with me today about how can gather useful and practical knowledge about ourselves. How we can be like scientists studying ourselves.  She emphasizes that we need to be curious and to cultivate a relationship with our selves and our knowledge. What we tend to and maintain can continue to grow. Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement offers a unique opportunity for us to learn about ourselves in ways in a multi-sensory way. Caroline and I talk about positive reinforcement, the self-image, noun versus verb thinking, how to change behavior, the power our social and physical context to influence our behavior, and being in the gradient between labels (or how words limit our experience). It's a rich conversation. Please enjoy. Caroline Ritter studied behavioral economics, philosophy and cognitive science. She is now in her 3rd year of the Feldenkrais education program with educational director Donna Ray in Vienna. Caroline is an animal trainer and animal training also brought her in contact with the Feldenkrais method.  You can see what Caroline does here: www.discocavallo.com Caroline lives in Vienna, Austria and started to teach Feldenkrais in person and online. You can find her at: www.feldenkrais.wien instagram: @florafauna_feldenkrais About the Show Hi, I'm Jeffrey. As a Feldenkrais and somatic movement practitioner I help you get in touch with your body so you can unravel old sticky patterns and make way for greater creativity, power and joyful play. Want to put the ideas in this podcast to work? You can book a free 20 minute consult call to find out if we're a good fit for 1:1 coaching. Learn more here. Join the newsletterto be the first to hear about future opportunities to work with me. Download my free lesson: Effortless Freedom in Moving Download my free guide: 9 Surprising Benefits of the Feldenkrais Method Get Your Questions Answered! Submit your questions! I will answer them on a future episode of the podcast. I'm directing a documentary film about Feldenkrais. Check out the Teaser Trailer.  Follow me on Instagram: @expandyourability Had an Aha? Let me know: [email protected] Stay connected and subscribe to the podcast. 

We breathe every every minute. Breath is essential to life. ​ How you breathe, whether through your nose or through your mouth, the volume of air that you take in, the shape of your breath in your body, where you breathe in your body the air goes, the temp and rhythm, reflects you. ​ Your breath reflects how you think, how you feel, what's going on beneath the hood. And how you choose to breathe can feed back into your system, changing your mood and your thoughts. Your breath is you. We'll explore some of Feldenkrais' thoughts on breathing today. We go back to his 1972 book, Awareness Through Movement.​ ​ In this book, he gives some reasons as for why movement as a way to understand yourself, to learn about yourself, and to improve your abilities. This is reason number eight out of nine. (It's okay to start with this episode. You can listen out of order. :) ) You can find the previous episodes in this series Why Movement: 5, 9, 13, 18, 24, 30, 36. They all have Why Movement? in the title. Hi, I'm Jeffrey. As a Feldenkrais and somatic movement practitioner I help you get in touch with your body so you can unravel old sticky patterns and make way for greater creativity, power and joyful play. Want to put the ideas in this podcast to work? You can book a free 20 minute consult call to find out if we're a good fit for 1:1 coaching. Learn more here. Join the newsletter to be the first to hear about future opportunities to work with me. Download my free lesson: Effortless Freedom in Moving Download my free guide: 9 Surprising Benefits of the Feldenkrais Method Get Your Questions Answered! Submit your questions! I will answer them on a future episode of the podcast. I'm directing a documentary film about Feldenkrais. Check out the Teaser Trailer.  Follow me on Instagram: @expandyourability Had an Aha? Let me know: [email protected] Stay connected and subscribe to the podcast. 

Sensuality is our birthright, says my guest Candia Raquel. Sensuality is pleasure derived from our sensation, free from inhibition and full of self-expression.  To be with the sensuous is to be connected to the present.  Our modern culture numbs us from our bodies. Pleasure is sold as a product (go get something nice at Starbucks). We're encouraged to hustle, work hard, and sacrifice. and defer the pleasures of life till retiring on the beach. Being numb is a big problem, because it disconnects us from what makes us really us. Instead of choosing what's good for us, we comply with society or fall back into autopilot.  If we have been numb, pursuing pleasure becomes dramatic. We need over-the-top experiences like big vacations, transformative ceremonies, or go bungee jumping to feel pleasure.  Through connecting with our felt-sense, and what's pleasurable helps us become more authentic, to mature, make better decisions and to better assert our boundaries.  Expect to hear about: the relationship between pain and pleasure. how our culture numbs us and commodifies pleasure.  people pleasing and internal authority. know thyself is more than having a story about ourselves. how compulsion is not sexy. how our vital animal state is alive and ready to act while also at rest. Candia Raquel is a Mexican sensualist, scientist, artist and woman that hosts The Sensual Sessions podcast and Founded Centro De Poder®, who enjoys contemplating trees and drinking tea. Dedicated to helping workaholics overcome numbness and embody sensuality through somatic movement. https://www.instagram.com/candiaraquel/ https://www.centrodepoder.com/ Hi, I'm Jeffrey. As a Feldenkrais and somatic movement practitioner I help you get in touch with your body so you can unravel old sticky patterns and make way for greater creativity, power and joyful play. Want to put the ideas in this podcast to work? You can book a free 20 minute consult call to find out if we're a good fit for 1:1 coaching. Learn more here. Join the newsletter to be the first to hear about future opportunities to work with me. Download my free lesson: Effortless Freedom in Moving Download my free guide: 9 Surprising Benefits of the Feldenkrais Method Get Your Questions Answered! Submit your questions! I will answer them on a future episode of the podcast. I'm directing a documentary film about Feldenkrais. Check out the Teaser Trailer.  Follow me on Instagram: @expandyourability Had an Aha? Let me know: [email protected] Stay connected and subscribe to the podcast.