View all Feldenkrais classes at Triyoga
I can’t stress enough how useful Feldenkrais is for Yoga teachers and practitioners, so let me tell you about myself and my special journey with yoga…
My father Dr Tuvia Gelblum was a lecturer of Yoga philosophy and Sanskrit at SOAS University. He developed Parkinson’s disease, so I set about to explore what could help him. I learnt special massage techniques in India and in the UK including Shiatsu. I also became a Yoga teacher as well as a practitioner of martial art styles from China and Russia.
My father also told me about classes he used to go to back in Israel in the 1950s with a man called Moshe Feldenkrais. He demonstrated some movements and I was surprised he could do so well when frozen with Parkinson’s. So from Israel I got material on the method which I started to read up and practice with my father who benefited so much from it, more so than other techniques we had tried so far. I also began to use it with other clients with Parkinson’s, MS and impaired mobility.
The Feldenkrais method named after its originator Dr Moshe Feldenkrais, is a scientific way of learning movement. He developed over 1000 lessons normally with 12 or more movements, mapping out all areas of voluntary movement in the body.
With yoga we can sometimes work our way deep into postures, discovering how far we can go. Sometimes we use great skills in stretching and muscle control to align ourselves. In Feldenkrais we take advantage of the body’s amazing abilities to improve itself through gentle often meditative movements, allowing the brain to detect, reduce and sometimes remove unnecessary, counterproductive, muscular effort in your the body. Meaning that we can discover gentle movements that can take us into asanas with much less effort and this also gives us more possibilities within the asana.
All yoga postures can be improved with the Feldenkrais method – some very dramatically. It’s common for me to hear students (new students and experienced yogis) comment on how they’ve never been able to do a certain asana until doing a class or workshop with me, or feel how they can go further into asanas and with much more ease and pleasure.
With all my classes and workshops I want to really share this remarkable method and demonstrate how I have married yoga and Feldenkrais along with my other experiences. It’s truly amazing the transformation this method can induce is really truly amazing and as I edit this during a yoga holiday in lovely Sardinia, lots of people have come to join me as this method has been recommended by others who have been to my classes, workshops or yoga holidays.
My father even commented once that Feldenkrais is more Yoga than Yoga. This I leave for my students to decide as I just like the lessons to do the talking.
As a highly skilled Feldenkrais practitioner, Daniel Gelblum uses his method in combination with his experience of Yoga, Massage, Pilates, and Martial Arts to deliver exceptional results. He focuses on fine movements resulting in rapid progress in flexibility and strength.
He qualified to teach Yoga in London after living in India for six months where he learnt Osteotherapy massage at the Limaye Clinic, Pune. He has since trained in Shiatsu, Acupressure, and Sports Massage. He is a member of the Feldenkrais Guild. His caring nature and effective techniques mean that his classes are much loved and all students feel immediate and long-term benefits.
