I celebrated my 58th birthday a few months ago. Since I am now living on the South Side of 50, and the big 6-0 is right around the corner, I decided it was time to start engaging in more age appropriate activities. So, I started pole dancing. When I took my first Level 1 class, my arms were so sore I couldn’t lift them over my head for four days. After the second class, my arms felt stronger, and they only hurt for three days, so I knew I was making progress. Indeed, I was making progress, and after only four classes, I was promoted to the next level. I was now officially a Level 2 pole dancer. Ha! How many middle-aged ladies can put that on their resumé? I was really excited to learn more advanced moves. At least, I was until I experienced my first Level 2 class. Our first exercise...

This beautiful video demonstrates the effortless and elegant movement of the skeleton in motion. moving from our skeleton and finding the connections and relationships through our structure is one of the basic principles of The Feldenkrais Method(R). Feldenkrais….it makes everything easier. You just have to try it to believe it!  

As a proud member of several different professional groups, I am fascinated by the rituals that develop among the troops. As a respiratory therapist, my colleagues and I started and ended each shift by passing around a tube of heavy duty hand cream to soothe our chapped hands. As a physical therapist, my co-workers and I would palpate each other during breaks. My dancer friends and I still prepare for class by comparing foot deformities. My fellow ninjas…well, I’m not sure about that one, because we’re either hiding, disappearing, or playing tricks on each other. In my Feldenkrais training we bonded through chocolate. Every day, new and different types of chocolate bars would appear on the lunch table. There was one common denominator; it was always dark chocolate. I watched...

I love coffee. I don’t think I have a true coffee addiction, since I only drink it it the morning. However, I sure do love my coffee. I love the sound of the beans grinding, and I love the smell of it brewing. I love pouring my first cup. And my second. And my third. I love the taste, the smell, the heat, and even the feel of my coffee mug in my hands. Face it, I love my coffee. But, during my second week of Feldenkrais Training, I decided to give up coffee. Like I said, I don’t have an addiction to coffee, and for some strange reason I started trying new things once I began my training. The day I gave up coffee was grey, cold, and snowing. Coffee would sure warm me up on such a cold morning, but I was full of determination instead of coffee. I had a cup of green tea instead,...

Family vacations. You got to love them. They truly are the best of times and the worst of times. My husband and I went on a family vacation last week with my sister and her family. We rented a beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, just like we did last year. We had such a great vacation experience last time, we spent the entire year looking forward to going back. To make our vacation even more special, my sister and her fiance were going to get married on the beach in a small, private ceremony. The first three days were great, even though it rained. Not the cleansing, refreshing kind of rain, but torrential, unrelenting sheets of rain. That was okay, because we were together, enjoying each others’ company. When we weren’t getting on each others’ nerves, that...

Two weeks ago I delivered my last donation of shoes for The Mountain Peace Shoe Drive. After two months of collecting shoes and offering discounts to my students for donating shoes, the final tally was 302 pairs of shoes! Mountain Peace is a domestic violence shelter and counseling center in Bailey, Colorado. Once the shoes were collected, they were to be sent to third world countries to help families get out of poverty and start their own businesses. Wow. Wanting to contribute as much as I possibly could, and in an effort to spread the word, I offered $1 off the cost of my Feldenkrais classes for each pair of shoes a student donated. I expected a fairly good response, but nothing like the one I got. Everyone dug deep into their closets, and I gave a lot of deep discounts for Feldenkrais...

My husband and I both love old movies, and there are some that we never get tired of watching. My husband especially likes watching old Westerns, which I do get tired of watching. Some of them make me silently groan and roll my eyes. Well, maybe I groan out loud while I roll my eyes. Last week my husband was channel surfing when he came upon one of his favorite movies of all time, “The Outlaw Josie Wales.” He almost squealed with delight as he settled back to watch it. I groaned silently and rolled my eyes. Okay, maybe I groaned out loud. I asked him why did we have to watch it again? He replied, “Because it has some great lines in it.” He would know, because he recited every single line out loud, in perfect harmony with the actors. Who knew his memory was that good?...