What is movement intelligence? Movement Intelligence is a series of programs developed by Ruthy Alon, an early student of the Feldenkrais Method® with Moshe Feldenkrais himself. It takes the concept behind her Feldenkrais training and dives deeper into the idea of moving your body as nature designed it to move.
In Movement Intelligence classes, the focus is on fine-tuning the way you move into one which builds wear and repair instead of wear and tear. Expect your movements to be broken down to the subtlest of efforts while you’re learning about the way your body was designed to function. Using sensory motor feedback, you’ll pull together your movements and naturally organize in a way that is incredibly efficient, pleasurable, and sustainable. In short, by studying your movements you can modify and redefine them to work better for you with less pain, more flexibility, more strength, and with movement confidence.
Inspiration Behind Movement Intelligence
The women of West Africa framed a foundation of inspiration for Alon as she pondered their ability to carry incredibly heavy loads upon their heads while walking long distances. It seems that this back-breaking work would be just that – back breaking. Instead, these women were found by scientists to carry loads matching 20% of their body weight on top of their head with no increased output in energy. Scientists call this carrying a load for free. Their beauty and efficient gait was one of the inspirations that prompted Alon to create her program which addresses the issues of healthy bones, upright posture, and strength with the following classes.
Movement Intelligence Programs
There are five separate programs that are interwoven to form an umbrella of Movement Intelligence.
Bones for Life® – This program features easy-to-learn exercises challenge the strength of your bones while improving balance and coordination. It’s designed for prevention of bone and joint problems such as osteo arthritis and osteoporosis.
Walk for Life – Walk for life encourages you to engage the entire body in integrated action. Using trekking poles to walk, weight is redistributed as is force and participants notice improvements in walking speed, step length and balance.
Chairs – We live in a sedentary culture, the problem is that sitting can be bad for your health and most of us tend to sit in inefficient ways. This program uses concepts similar to Bones for Life to help you practice dynamic sitting.
Mindful Eating – Do you wolf down your food, or mindlessly eat while you watch TV or while working? Mindful eating takes the habitual nature out of eating and encourages you to focus on decreasing food intake, slowing down your eating, and a total body enjoyment from eating. This can lead to weight loss but, more importantly, it helps you relearn nourishing your body.
Solutions for Optimal Mobility – In this program you learn sensory-based, self-care strategies to restore movement with greater ease and less pain.
How can we help? Stop by our Future Life Now website to learn move about Bones for Life and visit our somatic blog regularly for more insight.
Cynthia Allen, a partner in Future Life Now, is one of North America’s most experienced Bones for Life Teachers. She has earned the Movement Intelligence Senior Trainer status awarded by Ruthy Alon.
