What I Do as a Functional Movement Educator

Please click here for a video introduction for "What I Do as a Functional Movement Educator"

Thank you for coming here to my blogspot.  :-)  Please let me start by saying that my background to become a Functional Movement Education Therapist, I completed a 4-year training in order to become a Practitioner of the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, he being the famed Israeli neuro-physiologist.  The curriculum included 1600 hours of course work, spread over 4 years, which is necessary before a student finally “gets it”.  In this light, let’s explore together what I as a Functional Movement Education Therapist do.  ...


Are you able to recognize an approaching acquaintance long before you can see his or her face?  The way we move is an identifiable part of who we are.

We, as human beings, enjoy movement.  We love to move.  Babies love to move.  They love to learn.  It’s within the innate desire and curiosity of a child (and adult) to learn about themselves and their environment.  They enjoy to learn how to, for instance, roll, turn, bend, walk, or run.  It’s within our being the natural desire for rotation or rotating, flexing, extending, twisting or other kinds of movements.

Functional Movement Education is about learning.  It’s a way to learn.  However, in order for someone to learn, it has to be fun and interesting to the individual, as well as comfortable.  Thus, trying to, say, abruptly do a somersault or roll on the ground, or to strain by forcing your hands to touch your toes with locked knees, if this is uncomfortable, your Self (your body) is not learning.

Clients originally come to me because of an injury … a back or neck injury, joint pain in the shoulder, wrist, elbow, knee or other orthopedic problem.

As a Functional Movement Education Therapist, I do not directly go in with the intention to “fix” the other person or to even change the other person.  However, I stay in tune with the “process”.  I do the “process”.  As part of the “process”, I am always staying observant, to be observant or aware, of the “process” that is happening or continues to occur between myself and the client before me.  By me, as the Functional Movement Educator, being engaged in this “process”, this ultimately has wonderful therapeutic results, such as eliminating pain or improving the quality of life function, actions, or activities for the client.

As I am working with a client before me, the following are questions that continue to reverberate in my thinking as I am engaged in the process, or "working" in my relation to the client.:

"How can we 'dance' together?  ...   How can we move together?  ...  How do we move together?  ...  What movement is it that we want to do together?  What is it (from preventing us) from moving together?  What do I put out?  What energy do I put out?  Where do they meet me?  ..."

"Where my hands currently are on this person, rather, from where I'm currently working, what else within this person moves?  ...  How much of them goes along with this movement?  Where along them does this movement stop?  How can I 'catch' the rest of themselves within this movement?  ...  Are we dancing together differently?  ..."  "As I push here, how much or how far does this movement or action trickle along them?  ..."

I may or may not get immediate answers, or, at least, no cognitive or articulate answers to my questions.  This is very typical.  As part of the process that I am engaged in, I continue to move or “dance” with the individual, or continue to see where I can dance or move with this person, continuing to re-circulate these kinds of questions.

A physical example of what I do would be the following.  A client comes to me complaining of back pain.  I ask the client to lie down on my table on their back with supporting rollers placed under their bent knees for further comfort.  I am having them lie down in order to give their body the opportunity to be taken out of their habitual pattern of holding or tension while upright, in order to make them more comfortable, so that they can be more open to Learning.

Questions that begin to pervade my thinking as I am engaged with this person are.:

"What am I attracted to or drawn to within this person?  ...  What catches my eye?  ...  What 'dance' do I wish to do?  What dance do we wish to do together?  Where does this person want me to touch them?  ...  to dance with them?  ...  to move with them?"

Sometimes, I might be drawn to the shoulder area.  Yes, the shoulder, even though the client complained of back pain.  As I "work" the shoulder, I allow myself to stay aware and observant of where does this shoulder wish to move?  Where does it want to go?  How much of the rest of the person comes along with this movement of the shoulder?

Where within them, how can I "catch" the rest of their body within this movement?  I may then move to another place that I am drawn to.  I decide to lift their leg.  As I lift, what else of this individual is connected to this movement?  I continue to move and dance with the individual and allow myself to remain aware and observant of the process.

After a session, a client will sometimes say how she was surprised that I never touched her back but her "back pain" is gone now.  Again, I don't "fix", or rather, I don't go in with the intention to fix.  However, this Functional Movement Education work, a.k.a. movement education, this cultivation of body awareness, brings therapeutic benefits.  Thus, it ultimately brings helpful results or fixes.

Another word we Functional Movement Education Therapists use is to refer to this session with a client as a session for improving "Functionality".  Note how I continue to use the words Functional, Functionality, or their derivatives.  We are working with a person's functionality, or how they function, how they move or act.  Functional Movement Education is functional work.  It is not structural work.  We Functional Movement Educators don't have the direct intention to change or manipulate a person’s structure, albeit, their physical anatomy.  This may happen ultimately, but it is not my direct intention.  The functional work is unlike other structural workers such as, for instance, rolfers, who's intention is to manipulate or work the fascia structure of an individual, or the chiropractor, who manipulates or adjusts bone placement.

Every single Functional Movement Education session is different.  Each session is customized to the individual.  Each individual, each individual's body, his or her needs, is unique, just as each snowflake.

As a Functional Movement Educator, using my hands-on tactical feedback, I help to expand a client's kinesthetic, or bodily, awareness of themselves. By a person encompassing more of themselves, rather, a greater self-image, pain or discomfort is eliminated.Conclusively, I have given this individual the sensory-motor experience of moving easily, rather, what it is like to move effortlessly without strain or discomfort.  Thus, they now have a better “organized” body for movement.  Having a better organization, they are now pain-free.  They have learned a new pattern for movement.

Some of the conditions I have successfully treated include:
Acute and chronic joint pain - including back, neck, shoulder, hip, and knee pain, arthritis, sciatica, fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel syndrome, balance issues, Stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, as well as other orthopedic or neurological conditions.

As a keyboardist, as well as former all-state trumpet player and all-county cross-country runner, I especially enjoy working with musicians and athletes, for enlarging their body and self-awareness to enhance performance.  I was previously honored to have presented Movement Education, twice, to the International Association of Fitness Professionals (IDEA) at their 1996 and 1997 World Fitness Expo & Conventions, as well as at the 1996 North American Feldenkrais Guild conference.

If you haven't already, you may be interested in viewing a short, 2-minute video of me (made within a full, 45-minute session) working with a client, by clicking on the link above.

Please feel free to contact me for any further questions you might have.



Your first Functional Movement Education session with me:

Functional Movement Education is a wonderful, body-centered method for self-exploration using movement.  I recommend to my clients to wear loose, comfortable clothes.  You will find that this special form of bodywork is very relaxing.  In fact, you’ll probably find that as a result of the pleasant unwinding experienced, your body begins to slow down.  Therefore, you may have a tendency to more easily feel cold during a session.  For this reason, you probably do not want to wear shorts.  Thus, I recommend you wear long pants.  Some clients like to wear sweats. 

Also, you may want to wear socks and possibly even a sweat shirt if you might need, otherwise, to avoid feeling cold.

After the session, you will be in a nice, calm, relaxed state.  Some clients after receiving my work desire some quiet time afterward to be by themselves to be alone.  This may be as little as 15 minutes, or substantially longer.  After your session, your body is still continuing to nicely process the “lesson” for some time afterward.  Therefore, you probably don’t want to do anything especially hectic or active, or any heavy lifting, after a session.  Preferably, you may want to wait until the next day before doing anything especially active as your body continues to process.  However, living in today’s fast times, within our fast, familial and societal obligatory world, this isn’t always possible.  Therefore, I usually tell clients to at least not do anything especially active for at least 3 hours after a session.

Clients ask me about "working out", or a "workout", afterward.  I tell them that it’s better if they work out before they see me, and then they have the nice, relaxing session with me to look forward to afterward.  This is more productive than the opposite, that is, to receive my work and then to immediately afterward go out and do a rigorous workout.

However, I should add that if you have decided for yourself that it is imperative that you work out, and there is no other time to schedule your workout than for after a session with me, then, fine.  Receiving my work before working out and then working out afterward, … this is probably better for you than only solely working out and never receiving any Functional Movement Education work at all.

Come on in and enjoy!

The best of health to all!
James

Guan Yin Acupuncture & Movement-Education Center
Dr. Lin Cheng Speer, LAc, OMD, PhD
James Speer, Injury Rehab Therapist
Functional Movement-Education Therapist
Practitioner of the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais
1003 Wilshire Blvd. Suites #203, #208
Santa Monica, CA 90401
tel. 310-395-1952www.drlinspeer.com
www.feldenkraisjamesspeer.com
"Health Is All that Matters!"

"If you’re in pain, or your body aches, I give you the sensory motor experience to be able to move freely, effortlessly, pleasantly, without strain or discomfort. Say 'Hello' to relaxing, and 'Goodbye' to stiffness and pain!"
To see my popular YouTube video of me demonstrating the wonderful "'2-Minute Movement-Education Miracle' to Free Up Your Stiff Neck", Click Here

Medical Animation Video, "Heal"

To my dear health enthusiasts,

Greetings to you all!  I thought that the following video, produced by Ghost Productions, was absolutely beautiful and fascinating.:


http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=xMYjfb_M9wM&vq=large (5 minutes, 21 seconds in length)

This superbly done medical animation film wonderfully accentuates the process of "Heal". This inspiring film marvelously displays the human anatomy and its wonderful supporting systems, as well as the great technology and recuperative powers of modern orthopedic medicine. I especially enjoyed seeing a close up of the hero's spine and the wonderful advances that modern medicine has apparently made in the realm of very functional disk replacements.

At the conclusion of the video, there is the final screen display:

Ghost Productions.com … Celebrating 15 Years of Excellence in Medical Animation


I have absolutely no affiliation with "Ghost Productions".  I just thought that they presented an extremely well done video.  I hope that you enjoy this short film as much as I did!

The best to all,
James

Guan Yin Acupuncture & Movement-Education Center
Dr. Lin Cheng Speer, LAc, OMD, PhD
James Speer, Injury Rehab Therapist
Functional Movement-Education Therapist
Practitioner of the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais
1003 Wilshire Blvd. Suites #203, #208
Santa Monica, CA 90401
tel. 310-395-1952www.drlinspeer.com
www.feldenkraisjamesspeer.com
"Health Is All that Matters!"

"If you’re in pain, or your body aches, I give you the sensory motor experience to be able to move freely, effortlessly, pleasantly, without strain or discomfort. Say 'Hello' to relaxing, and 'Goodbye' to stiffness and pain!"
To see my popular YouTube video of me demonstrating the wonderful "'2-Minute Movement-Education Miracle' to Free Up Your Stiff Neck", Click Here

Improving Your Quality of Walking through Body Awareness: Different Walking Patterns to Explore and Play with

Greetings again, friends!

The following routine is not meant to be a “training” or “conditioning” lesson.  It is not meant to be interpreted in the vein of “working out”, which usually infers for someone to apply or put forth substantial, sometimes even maximum, effort.  Neither is the following intended to be applied in the mindset of Cardiovascular Work, although that is also productive within its own right for its own intention or goal.

Having a background as a Practitioner of the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, rather, what I’ve provided below is a series of movement sequences intended for fostering greater bodily awareness. Functional Movement Education is a body-centered, self-discovery process, which utilizes movement. This form of Movement Reeducation operates under the principle that, in order for your Self (your body) to learn something, conditions have to be provided that are comfortable for it. Otherwise, once your “System” detects any form of discomfort, it just shuts itself off from any further learning.

Analogous to my preceding article, “How to Improve Your Jumping Ability through Body Awareness”, I again offer a short Body Awareness Movement Reeducation lesson to present to your Self (body) options for movement so that it can ultimately pick and choose the best relationship between various parts of your body for maximum efficiency.  This is movement repatterning work.

If none of the above makes any sense to you at this time, you’re fine.  :-)  Just do the routine below, always staying within your comfort level, and enjoy seeing where it takes you.

Please find below a series of movement sequences I have often used when working with anyone experiencing orthopedic or neurologic conditions, as well as with "healthy" individuals.  Again, if at any time doing one of the following steps, that is, walking in one of the described patterns, is uncomfortable, then walk more slowly or take much smaller steps.  Please always stay within your comfort range.  You may even elect to forego certain of these walking patterns described below.

The steps below should be done continuously. That is, one kind of walking pattern should blend into the next walking pattern, etc. You should not stop walking between steps, unless, of course, you’re tired.  Again, if you’re tired, then simply rest.  You certainly do not want to “force yourself to push through it”.  Then you defeat the purpose of Movement Reeducation.

If you are doing the following lesson within your own home, rather than in the spacious outdoors, choose a long hallway where you have the least amount of interruptions to have to repeatedly turn around.  Also remember to first clear a safe path for yourself for walking.

Here we go.  …

Walk forwards. [This is the initial “scan”, which we will use later in order to take a “Before and After Picture”.]  Notice how you're walking. Notice your arms, the hands, the way they are traveling through the air. Does one arm swing differently than the other? Does one arm swing further away from the body than the other? Does one leg step farther forward than the other?  Which shoulder is higher? Does your head move, e.g. turn, flex/extend, grow taller/grow shorter, side-bend?  Which foot seems to land harder on the ground?  There is no need “to correct” anything.  There are no right answers to the above.  These are just landmarks to help you queue in to your body … body awareness.  Simply observe.  Simply notice.

Notice how your right shoulder is moving. Notice how the right hip is moving. Are the hip and shoulder going in the same direction together? That is, when the hip moves forward, does the same side shoulder also move forward? In most individuals, they move in opposite directions together, i.e. a contralateral walk.  …  Now do just the opposite. That is, lock the hip to the shoulder, i.e. the homolateral walk.  This can be done more easily by placing your right palm on the outside of your right thigh and use the image that the palm is glued or somehow bonded to the thigh. Hence, when the right thigh moves forward and backward, so does the right arm at the same time, and, ultimately (usually), the right shoulder also.

While the right side of yourself continues to move non-differentiated, bond the left palm to your left thigh so now the left side is also walking non-differentiated. I call this the Wyatt Earp walk. Draw partner!

Now let that go and simply walk forward again as you would naturally, i.e. the (usual) contralateral walk. Scan again how your arms are moving now.  Walk backwards.

[All steps from here on in can be done, either, walking forwards only, backwards only, or both.  Again, only do what is comfortable for you.]

Walk while leaning backwards. [similar to the 1970’s "Keep on Truckin'" walk.  J ]

Walk while leaning forwards.

Walk while leaning forwards so that you're walking more on your toes.

Neither intentionally lean forward nor backward as you now begin to walk on the inside edges of your feet.

Walk on the outside edges of your feet.

Walk with the feet in.

Walk with the feet out. This is the Charlie Chaplan walk. Have fun with it.  Stick out your butt. Imagine you have a cane in your left hand.

Walk like jelly. That is, as you're walking, with each step you take, begin to allow yourself to collapse towards the floor. You'll maybe feel your head and upper body free-falling towards the ground. Catch yourself from falling completely at the very last instant that's still comfortable for you. After you've caught your equilibrium, again allow yourself to collapse towards the floor as you begin to take your next step, etc.

Do the "Indian walk". A Native American does not surrender his weight to the forward foot until he knows it's safe to do so. For example, let's imagine a Native American hunter is stalking a deer through the woods. As he begins to step forward onto his forward foot, he may feel a stick on the ground with that foot. So, rather than surrender his weight to that foot, this would regrettably break the stick and possibly ruin his cover, he is still in a position to retract his foot.

Bend over and place your hands on top of your feet - right hand on top of the right foot, left hand on top of the left foot. Grasp your feet so that your palms are resting on top of the feet, but your thumb and fingers are slightly underneath so that they're grasping the soles. Begin to walk in this position. Notice how your right arm and right leg come forward together, and your left arm and left leg come forward together. This is a homolateral walk while leaning forwards. Children love to do this.

Once more come upright and walk backwards.

Walk backwards on the outside edges of your feet.

Walk forwards again as you would naturally. Is your walking different now?  How so?

Does your walk maybe feel smoother, easier, or lighter?

Enjoy the feeling!

[End of Lesson]

If you're budgeted for time, two of the “most powerful walking moves in the world" are to:

Walk forwards. Walk backwards. Walk backwards on the outer edges of your feet. Walk forward again.

Voila!  You'll always notice a change.  Guaranteed!

Anecdote:I'll relay to you a case regarding "neurological walking (gait) problems” ... 

One client of mine, Joyce, late 30's, was diagnosed as having cerebral palsy.  Joyce was referred to me by her physician because her left knee "always ached".  I actually did very little hands-on work with her on my Movement Education bodywork table.  After briefly exploring with her in standing, by guiding her with my hands for turning, we then went into a large open space adjacent to my office.  I asked Joyce to walk on her crutches in several different walking patterns as described above.  In just one session, there was a visible difference in Joyce's walk on her crutches.  She reported to me how the pain had vanished and that she felt she was walking more “centered and balanced”.

Guan Yin Acupuncture & Movement-Education Center
Dr. Lin Cheng Speer, LAc, OMD, PhD
James Speer, Injury Rehab Therapist
Functional Movement-Education Therapist
Practitioner of the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais
1003 Wilshire Blvd. Suites #203, #208
Santa Monica, CA 90401
tel. 310-395-1952www.drlinspeer.com
"Health Is All that Matters!"

"If you’re in pain, or your body aches, I give you the sensory motor experience to be able to move freely, effortlessly, pleasantly, without strain or discomfort. Say 'Hello' to relaxing, and 'Goodbye' to stiffness and pain!"

To see my popular YouTube video of me demonstrating the wonderful "'2-Minute Movement-Education Miracle' to Free Up Your Stiff Neck", Click Here