welcome

Deepen your awareness and connection between movement and feeling.

The FELDENKRAIS METHOD® is for anyone who wants to make the things they do easier, more efficient and pleasurable. Feldenkrais Method is a mind-body approach, which combines somatic movement and somatic awareness to help you live more comfortably and effectively.

Whether it is basic actions like sitting or walking, the daily demands of work and home, or your recreational activities – from painting and gardening to running or dance – the Feldenkrais Method offers enjoyable and effective ways to improve how you move.

FELDENKRAIS Classes

ATMClass
Awareness Through Movement®

Join us as you learn simple, yet effective movement sequences that reduce pain, free up your mind, ease your body, and give you new ideas on how to feel more potent and alive. Each class is different.
These online classes are Tuesdays at 7:30 (MST) and continue until OCTOBER 15th.

Pay per class (click here). or, if this fee is beyond your means, write to me! You can pay via Etransfer to rblack@somaticjourneys.com.

Somatic Classes

Awareness Through Movement® classes are effective, economical and enjoyable. Explore and improve, deal with pain and injury and other somatic challenges. Discover more about your movement and yourself.

Recorded Courses - Deepen Your Somatic Benefits

Deepen your benefits with pre-recorded courses which allow you to proceed at your own rate, pausing during a lesson and even repeating them. 

Private Sessions

These FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION® sessions in-person, or via Zoom. Uniquely tailored to your somatic needs. The touch is very gentle, yet it is deeply meaningful. Your stress and somatic challenges melts away and health and movement ease returns. 

ABOUT ROB

Rob Black

Rob Black, BA MSc, GCFP
GUILD CERTIFIED
FELDENKRAIS PRACTITIONER®
Calgary, Alberta

Academic studies opened a thirst for broader study, from massage, Reiki, energy systems, yoga and Tai Chi, all of which resonated with ideas of healing.  This drew me to training in biofeedback at the California Pain Control Centre in Long Beach, California.

Deeply drawn to the practice of mind-body integration, I found that the Feldenkrais Method® gave me the best grounding in this way of being in the world. I graduated from my four-year Feldenkrais training program in 1991 and have maintained a private practice since.

I love working collaboratively and have volunteered for many years. I enjoyed being President of the Feldenkrais Guild of North America and have also had the opportunity to contribute to the International Feldenkrais Federation (IFF).

My interest in all things digital have intertwined with my Feldenkrais interests. I was an early adopter and advocate of online teaching (even before the Covid-19 2020/21 pandemic. This has been an important combination of skills as co-organizer of the Kelowna Feldenkrais Teacher Training that began online in 2021.

The feldenkrais method

The method was developed by Moshe Feldenkrais — engineer, physicist, martial artist, and pioneer in human development.

Moshe Feldenkrais was an engineer, physicist, inventor, martial artist and student of human development. Born in the Ukraine, he emigrated to British Mandate Palestine as a young man.

Later he studied at the Sorbonne and worked in the Joliot Curie laboratory in Paris during the 1930s. His interest in Ju Jitsu brought him into contact with Professor Kano who developed the sport of Judo. Dr. Feldenkrais was a founder of the Ju Jitsu Club of Paris and was one of the first Europeans to earn a black belt in Judo.

MOVEMENT

Movement is fundamental
to our experience of ourselves
and our lives.
Feldenkrais lessons can help improve the quality of your movement: helping you move with greater ease and less effort. They can provide greater clarity of how the parts of your body relate to the whole. You'll learn to move in ways that are more harmonious, efficient, and effective. You can find less strain in all your actions
Discover What's Possible

AWARENESS

Moshe Feldenkrais said,
“If you know what you are doing,
you can do what you want”.
Being aware is key to so many things – how you can move more comfortably and efficiently, how you show up and present yourself in the world, what trips you up and how to move in the direction you want.
Discover What's Possible

UNDERSTANDING

We are moving beyond seeing your
bodies as merely biological machines
to move our minds around.
The Feldenkrais Method is a creative systematic approach to engage with your own sensory experience to become more aware of what you do, how you do it and your possibilities. It is a non-prescriptive process that allows you to explore the relationships between your mind and body, and your environment.
Discover What's Possible

Short, free bonus lessons guided by Rob

Get Pain while walking?

Pain while walking is experienced by many people. 

This may come from misuse. In this short video you learn a way to ease discomfort while walking. Of course you can take these ideas and expand and modify to enhance the benefit.

Other ideas are in the Articles section.

Neck and Shoulder Tension?

Sit comfortably — at the front of a chair, or on the floor. Sense the distance between the each shoulder and the ear lobe. Which side feels longer? Which side feels shorter? Choose the side that feels shorter. Raise the arm on that side overhead as close to the ear as is comfortable and let the forearm rest on the top of the head. 

Play Video

uncomfortable jaw TENSION?

In this short Feldenkrais® lesson with Rob Black, you learn some ways that you can ease tension in your jaw. You also learn to sense the difference between following a visual demonstration and following only audio directions (more common on Feldenkrais lessons). This is just one of many lessons that will help you relearn the habit of tightening the jaw.

Play Video
The Lower Back Pain From Standing Reliever – Guided by ROB BLACK
Pt 1: Neck Ease – Guided by ROB BLACK
Pt 2: Neck Ease – Guided by ROB BLACK