I teach online Feldenkrais workshops for the ribs and sternum regularly* – these are areas of the self that we do not always expect to exhibit much in the way of free and fluid motion. Our – very bony – chest is both sturdy and potentially very mobile; a ‘container’* that provides important protection for our lungs and heart – two of the most vital of our ‘vital organs’.When we consciously engage with these skeletal structures we are connecting up with our more wiggly ancestors, activating our inner snake, bending sideways along with our inner fish – finding internal nooks and crannies that can release more space for us to breath and more room for the heart to pulse. Between them the breath and the heart beat keep everything alive within us – come along on Sunday and experience for yourself the improvements that come with better internal connectivity and flow!* I do not really like rib “cage”, but I am not that keen on rib “basket” either – any alternative suggestions welcome!

Freeing & Coordinating Ribs, Spine & Breast Bone*

*I teach this workshop at regular intervals, so click here for my current workshop schedule. You can contact me directly if you would like to register your interest in this workshop, or you can join my mailing list for regular updates…

It is easy to overlook the essential role of a well-organised rib “cage” when you are exploring ways to improve your mobility, and easy to see how the persistence of the ‘cage’ metaphor is a natural result of just how rare it is to observe free and easy motion in every part of a particular human chest – unless of course we are watching a dance or gymnastic performance.

Our rib structure is an amazing example of complex evolutionary design. Our whole chest needs to be continuously active, making sure every part of our self is fully replenished with freshly oxygenated blood, from the moment we are born until our very last breath. Because of this constant motion, and because of the way our perceptual systems work, it is natural for us to “edit out” the kinaesthetic sensory feedback coming to us from our ribs and sternum, and despite the complex organisation of their many interconnecting joints we are fully capable of going through an entire day without giving a moment’s attention to how our ribs are moving. Once you are able to mobilise these structures in a more conscious and more functional way, every aspect of your organ function will also improve, making for a future life with more access to your natural vitality and joie de vivre!

This workshop will be beneficial for:

Singers, presenters, performers, and anyone interested in the voice, and issues around self-expression

Anyone dealing with chronic stress issues, or breathing problems/conditions

Anyone dealing with chronic tension in the spine, jaw, neck, and throat

Anyone interested in improving their physical stamina

Very best wishes,
Maggy

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A first Experience Of Feldenkrais

I did not know what to expect from, or after the first Feldenkrais workshop I attended. I found the sequences gentle and relaxing. It was liberating and exhilarating to feel different parts of my head, neck and shoulders moving independently – as they did so there was a sense that they were strengthening. During the course I learnt that these gentle movement lessons could heal pain experienced in the body. I was, at the time, experiencing discomfort in my knees when going downstairs. I was also experiencing pain in my right shoulder which had begun approximately three weeks before the workshop.

The day after I was completely free of pain, both in my shoulder and my knees. I walked downstairs in a way which would be considered usual as a way of descending stairs. I had not descended stairs in this way for approximately three years. I had either relied heavily on the handrail for support, or taken the steps one at a time – how wonderful it was to be pain free.

Marion Goldstraw (2008)

Embodied Voice – an attendee’s experience…

“Thanks very much for your wonderful voice course. I am still working through the material and have a much larger range at each end of the scale. It was really interesting to have speech contextualised into its effect on laryngeal movement and brought me a new awareness in that area and a sense of how voice production affects the diaphragm and its attachments to the spine, rather than just the other way round.

The untrammelled, quite deep (for me) voice that your workshop gave me at the end was gratifying but it changed into something different later. Your workshop also changed my listening. Yes it it true that I still sing out of tune (I can hear it now) but I had an experience towards the end of your workshop – I stepped out of the passageway from the studio into the street and all the cars and trucks and drills and birdsong were a symphony! It was so weird – I never usually listen much let alone savour such sounds and I certainly never realised they were all at different pitches. I must stress that I am not musical and this was not my usual perception of the world.

Rosalind Brown

Maggy Burrowes

Freeing & Coordinating Ribs, Spine & Breast Bone

Freeing & Coordinating Ribs, Spine & Breast Bone*

*I teach this workshop at regular intervals, so click here for my current workshop schedule. You can contact me directly if you would like to register your interest in this workshop, or you can join my mailing list for regular updates…

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