by Lavinia Plonka | Oct 8, 2019 | Humor/CosmiComedy, Movement and The Spirit, The Creative Body, The Feldenkrais Method®
Photo by Ron Morecraft of an installation by Tomas Saracéno from a work by an anonymous spider. For weeks my carport was Charlotte’s lair. The classic orb spider had spun a glorious, monumental web that sometimes verged on over-ambition, attaching silken threads...
by Lavinia Plonka | Jul 13, 2019 | Movement and The Spirit, The Creative Body |
Over the years, one of the things that consistently calls me to contemplation is the relationship of movement, energy, presence and well-being. As more and more “studies” trumpet the importance of movement ( it seems any movement is better than no movement) I find...
by Lavinia Plonka | Jul 4, 2019 | Movement as Medicine, The Creative Body, The Feldenkrais Method®
I’m old enough to actually have had this kind of phone in my house. When it rang, the entire family would jump. We never knew if it was good news or bad news, but it was most certainly news. We didn’t know that that odd feeling we had when someone yelled...
by Lavinia Plonka | Feb 5, 2019 | Humor/CosmiComedy, The Creative Body
I’m feeling ridiculous, standing here, holding a sock filled with cornstarch, tied at the top. A new miracle cure, you ask? Perhaps an esoteric facial treatment endorsed by Gwyneth Paltrow? A fun way to whack your husband? I know I should throw it away, yet I stand...
by Lavinia Plonka | Jan 2, 2019 | Movement and The Spirit, The Creative Body, The Feldenkrais Method®
At the beginning of a year, most of us want to look ahead, resolutions, wishes and a bit of trepidation. Will I move into the unknown, or repeat myself, stuck in a loop? I have often found a good way to move forward is to actually go backward. Several spiritual...
by Lavinia Plonka | Sep 2, 2018 | Movement as Medicine, The Creative Body, The Feldenkrais Method®
If At First You Don’t Succeed… “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp Or what’s a heaven for?” Robert Browning How can I realize my dreams without trying? Feldenkrais often exhorted his students, “Try not to...
by Lavinia Plonka | Jul 28, 2018 | The Creative Body
Moshe Feldenkrais said, “I don’t teach movement, I teach learning.” His classes are called Awareness Through Movement. Not “of movement”, not “movement awareness.” I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Stephen...
by Lavinia Plonka | Feb 11, 2018 | Movement and The Spirit, Movement as Medicine, The Creative Body, The Feldenkrais Method®
I’m not a fan of what I call “Hallmark holidays” where industry has either manufactured a sentimental responsibility like Mother’s Day or hijacked a tradition. I’m speaking of Valentine’s Day. You can’t get a restaurant reservation. Flowers quadruple in price....
by Lavinia Plonka | Jan 13, 2018 | Movement as Medicine, The Creative Body, The Feldenkrais Method®
The first time I wrote 2018, I felt different. All year long, I’d been writing 7, across and down, always descending, never ascending. Then 2018 came around. Literally. Down, around and up, an infinite loop of movement. No matter where I started, it was able...
by Lavinia Plonka | May 11, 2017 | Movement as Medicine, The Creative Body, The Feldenkrais Method®
The other day in class, we were doing a lesson that involved tilting your legs one way, bending the chest the other way, rolling the head and whistling Dixie. OK, just kidding about the whistling. At one point a student exclaimed, “Wait! Wait! My brain is...
by Lavinia Plonka | Apr 21, 2017 | The Creative Body
A couple of years ago, I was privileged to write a short article for Parabola Magazine about the experience of an Awareness Through Movement class. I just learned that they have recorded my article for a podcast – which I am happy to share. My story begins...
by Lavinia Plonka | Mar 9, 2017 | The Creative Body, The Feldenkrais Method®
The other day, I was teaching a lesson that put the hand into what some people call “backbend” position, a term which is unfamiliar for many. So I suggested that people place the hand on the floor with the fingers pointing toward the shoulder. One woman...
