Darien Pritchard

Feldenkrais  Flexibility Classes with Darien Pritchard

‘Awareness Through Movement’

Weekly classes    Wednesdays 6.30-7.30 pm
(Beginning wednesday 1st July)

You are always welcome to come and try out a class

 £8 per class (£6 conc)

ACT (Associated  Contemporary  Therapists)  -   53 The Parade, Roath, CF2 3AB
(corner of Richmond Rd and The Parade, one street off Newport Rd)

Call: 029 2045 4506 for more details             E-mail: darien.p@ACTCardiff.co.uk
Web: www.dynamicmassage.co.uk

The Feldenkrais Method® was put together by Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-84), a physicist and judo teacher, who developed this approach to flexibility following major knee injuries. Each class (called ‘Awareness Through Movement’) focuses on a particular movement theme - such as freeing your shoulders, releasing your neck or back, or gaining suppleness in your trunk. You are guided through a series of related movements that help you to become simultaneously both stronger and more supple in action.

The themes that are covered include:

1. simple actions such as turning to look over your shoulder, bending to the side or reaching up without strain;
2. postural habits - relaxing tense shoulders, increasing spinal suppleness and uprightness;
3. or focus on mobilising parts of the body such as the hips and the lower back.

These classes can help people to regain and maintain suppleness in everyday activities. The principles can also be effectively applied in sporting activities, exercises, dance, gardening, playing musical instruments, and desk work.

Many Feldenkrais classes are done on the floor (on mats); some are done in sitting or in standing. Please wear loose comfortable clothing that enables you to move easily. Classes combine easy and comfortable actions with manageable challenges that are designed to gently extend each participant’s abilities. The classes are small (no more than 10 people), so that they can be geared to the needs and abilities of the individual participants. Although there is cumulative effect developed over time, each class is self-contained and will give you some benefit. People are therefore welcome to attend on a drop-in basis. And newcomers are always welcome to come and try a class.

About the teacher: Darien Pritchard has thirty years of experience as a bodyworker, including twenty five training massage professionals and two decades of teaching professional development courses for  qualified massage practitioners. He coauthored the student text Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology for the Massage Therapist (Corpus Publishing, 2001); and wrote the career-maintenance reference book Dynamic Bodyuse for Effective Strain-Free Massage (Lotus Publishing, UK; North Atlantic Books, USA, 2007). Darien has taught regular Feldenkrais classes and workshops since graduating from training (California, 1987).

In individual treatment sessions, Darien combines elements of the Feldenkrais Method® and RhythmMobility® (rhythmical techniques for release, flexibility and energising) with massage (ranging from SubtleStretch to deep tissue massage), for release, relaxation, and rebalancing the body.