At first glance, the room inside Options Through Movements could be mistaken for a yoga studio.

Soft light warms the cream walls, the floor is patched together with dark colored mats and music hums lightly in the background. The participants walk around in their socks and exercise clothes and eventually take their places on the mats.

The handful of women didn’t come for yoga, though. Instead, they made up a Feldenkrais Method Awareness Through Movement class. The Feldenkrais Method pushes each participant to explore his or her own body’s movements.

“It’s your own exploration of your own movement,” said Robin Dow, physical therapist, owner of Options Through Movements in Roseburg and Feldenkrais practitioner.

Each class examines how a person’s body moves during simple patterns. One recent Tuesday, three women who attended lay on their backs for the entire class.

Dow began by instructing the women to take note of how their bodies felt and what their breathing was like while on the floor. She then led the group through a series of simple movements — shifting their heads from one side to another, moving their eyes from left to right and lifting their outstretched arms across their bodies.

As the class progressed, the movement increased. Participants were then instructed to move their arms, legs and heads in different directions simultaneously. Throughout the class, the women were encouraged to explore their body’s movements and note how they felt, without straining or causing pain.

Most people experience pain and discomfort in their bodies and usually it’s because of how they move, Dow said. The pain could be minor, such as a pinch in the back, or more severe, like someone suffering from multiple sclerosis.

“A lot of us have limps and we’re not really aware of it,” she said.

For instance, Dow said she used to tilt her head slightly to one side. While she felt no immediate discomfort, throughout time she would have likely developed neck pain.

She would correct her posture when someone pointed it out to her, but ultimately, Dow’s body would return to the comfortable, tilted position. By using the Feldenkrais Method, she explored her body’s movement and was able to adjust her posture and correct the problem, she said.

“Until you feel it — until you know what you know — you can’t change it,” Dow said.

The method — which was named after Russian physicist, martial arts expert and mechanical engineer Moshe Feldenkrais — is effective for people of all ages and capabilities, Dow said. The movements have helped musicians, athletes, dancers, the elderly and children to move more effortlessly, she said.

Diane Burns has taken Feldenkrais Method classes for the past several years. The Roseburg woman suffers from scoliosis, but by applying the Feldenkrais Method and yoga techniques, she rarely needs to see a chiropractor. After just one class, she was hooked on the Feldenkrais Method.

“It was amazing how grounded I felt after one session,” she said. “I really was in tune with my body.”

While yoga and the Feldenkrais Method both involve movement, Dow said they are quite different. Yoga focuses on accomplishing a specific pose or move. The Feldenkrais Method provides minimal constraints and allows the person to explore movements within those constraints, she said.

Roseburg resident Nancy Spencer has attended the classes for about a year and said she’s learned more about her body through the slow pace class than she has in other types of classes.

“Doctors always say, ‘You know your body,’” Spencer said. “But I’m not so sure we do.”



• You can reach reporter Marissa Harshman at 957-4202 or by e-mail at mharshman@nrtoday.com.