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Emma Alter Feldenkrais, Hunter Street, London (2025)

29/11/2025

Would you like the turning power of an owl? | Musicians' Blog

I’ve always loved owls. And the way they can swivel their head to see behind them in a moment. It would be very useful in lots of scenarios!

As you probably know, an owl can turn its head 180 degrees because of the double jointed neck.

And we don't have one of those, which is sad. What we have instead is the ability to look behind using all the turnable vertebrae and lower limbs.

Using all the twisting

To do that, we need to use the whole skeleton in a well co-ordinated way. Not to divide and overuse, but to use all the vertebrae, and the limbs in proportion with their size.

Each position allows for different movements and awareness of yourself. It's that combination of awareness in movement that can make the difference.

Kinaesthetic Learning

Learning is about noticing differences. As our level goes up, the size of difference that we can notice gets more refined. In a Feldenkrais lesson, you're learning to feel yourself in space, in motion, internally. Each lesson helps improve both your interoception and proprioception.

Feldenkrais lessons can help you to regain the suppleness and flexibility of your neck (and spine). And feel your whole self holistically. Book your first session with me - visit my website (link in my bio) to learn more.

24/11/2025

The Myth of Muscle Memory | Blog

So often I hear people talking about muscle memory as if it's a thing. Something where the muscles remember movements, and pathways, or levels of contraction.

Muscle memory is a myth.

It's simply not true. There is no such thing as muscle memory. If it were people who had accidents and suffered injury to the spinal cord wouldn't be paralysed. Their "muscle memory " would take over, and they'd be able to move. But they can't and don't because it doesn't exist.

The brain holds all of the tools for movement. The nervous system is both signaller and receiver of information. It's the brain's ability for memory, spatial, physical, musculo-skeletal that form habits. These allow us to fast track patterns of movements that we do repeatedly. When we rest, the brain creates neural networks, or reinforces them, so that over time, we don't need to think about doing our shoelaces, but can have a conversation at the same time.

Why does it matter?

Because if you imagine the muscles have a co-ordinating role, that's where you'll focus when you want to improve your movement. If you know that it's all about the brain, all of the time, then you'll realise that to improve what you're doing, you need to include your brain in the picture.

Including your thinking to improve your physical self

This is where Feldenkrais comes in. You'll learn to co-ordinate yourself better in each lesson. You'll learn to feel yourself more clearly over time. This takes some of us longer than others, but including your brain in the picture of your body isn't a habit most of us have. Descartes and his followers have a lot to answer for!

Are you ready to see what Feldenkrais can do for you? With individual sessions, I can offer you a personalised help with pain or injury, and an intensive way of making fast progress. Send me a message for details, or visit my website, www.themovingbrain.com to learn more.

22/11/2025

How long is your neck?

Do you think of your neck as a separate, or as part of your whole spine?

This week's lesson is looking again at how you might stick out your neck, but from a different angle! We'll be doing the lesson in sitting. The position change means you'll explore different options of movement, gravity, and sensation.

Your posture can be best improved from the inside out.

Learning to stack the spinal vertebrae on top of each other needs you to be able to feel it. So that you support your head from the bottom (literally!). Then the muscles can do an efficient, and proportional amount of work. Learning requires your brain to feel differences that make a difference. So bringing you out of alignment and then back into it. Once you've felt that, your nervous system can choose the more effective version.

Working in movement allows your innate intelligence to shift in your unconscious. Conscious control takes too much brain space to maintain "good posture". If you try to alter where your head is without feeling the whole spine you'll likely not find it so useful.

Try it for yourself:

Sense if your head feels forward of your spine or chest, and if so, how much,

Then just push it back: imagine someone pushing your cheekbones backwards. Then hold the pose for a moment

It's probably not comfortable, even if your head is now over your spine. Perhaps you can feel extra tension in your upper back or the base of your head, or top of the neck. And as soon as you let go, your head will come forwards again. You might still feel a little ache. It's not sustainable way of making useful postural change.

So what should you do instead?

Exploring how you balance the head on top of the whole length of the spine is going to be more useful. Sensing the whole spine, from the bottom up. Working out what you're holding and where, and which isn't necessary. We can do this through movement exploration. So it's an organic way of learning. In a lesson, you strip back to the simplicity of movement, in the moment. This allows your nervous system to sense without ambition to achieve. To feel simplicity. To sense when your head stacks up on top of the vertebrae. When it feels easy.

Unconscious control:

Coming back to sensation, movement, and play allows your unconscious in on the act. It allows your nervous system and brain to do what it does best -changing autonomic control. Your unconscious brain simply gets on with it in the background. It'll choose the best option for the moment out of those available. Over time, this becomes internalised learning. Movement, Play, and sensing is how you learnt language and walking, on your own.

It's not hard, but it does need time to explore, to sense and feel, and to distinguish differences.

Join me for a class - visit my website (link in my bio) to learn more about what I offer, whether you are looking for in-person or online sessions.

15/11/2025

Are you sticking your neck out?

It's a phrase that has many meanings, of course, but I was thinking in the literal sense. Often when we spend a lot of time on computers, screens, or simply sightreading or reading, we take our head forwards in space, like a turtle.

But it's not designed to stay there! Our head is optimal when supported stacked up on top of the spine- when it's forwards of the chest we have to use our flexors right down to the p***c bone, and the neck muscles too! It's a very inefficient way of doing things.

Feel it for yourself.

Slowly, gently, slide your head forwards like a pigeon. Further than normal, but only as far as reasonable. At the same time, sense down to your p***c bone at the front, and down the back - where can you feel the extra work? Slide your head to return, and feel the difference!

Try it a few times, so you can build up a kinaesthetic picture for yourself of this movement. You might even find that at the end your head is resting differently, and you breathe a little freer! Your awareness on its own can be enough to make a change.

If trying this for yourself at home felt good, why not join me for a class? I offer individual and group classes, online and in person - visit my website (link in my bio) to learn more, or send me a message to discuss what could be right for you.

12/11/2025

Almut was a participant in one of my Reducing Anxiety courses. Through weekly lessons, he discovered the power and poise that Feldenkrais could bring to his life.

"The lessons have become an important part of my week and I love starting the week with you and the exercises! I notice changes in how I can feel myself in movement and that I move with more ease and grace. So wonderful."

Are you ready to begin your Feldenkrais journey? Why not register for my mailing list to learn more about your options for working with me, from individual sessions to courses. Visit my website (link in my bio) to sign up.

07/11/2025

Do you know how to find out if your neck is stiff or uncomfortable because your spine isn't helping it move?

Draw a tiny circle in the air with your nose. As you do it feel which parts of you move along with it?

For many people, the only thing that moves is the head and neck. If that's true for you, it's the signal that your neck is over isolated. You're not using the support of the whole spine, but making your neck do all the work on its own! But the neck is just a small part of the whole spine.

Do you think of the neck, head or pelvis as part of the spine?
You need a level of co-ordination through your whole spine, and ribs. When that's not there, you'll find your neck is over working, and may either be stiff, and/or painful.

The rest of the spine is the support structure for the neck. For the spine to be free, your ribs have to be able to move. And turn, the base of support for your spine is pelvis. From the sitting bones up to your sacrum, and above.

From a spinal point of view, you can also think of the pelvis as the bottom vertebra of the spine, albeit a rather large one. And the head, a bulky top vertebra!
When you include the head and pelvis in your view of the spine, it will also affect how you use it.

Whole spine co-ordination is necessary for a mobile neck
So being able to feel the pelvis, spine and head connected is crucial for your ability to support the neck. To keep the neck well oiled, you want a good quality of movement. Which in turn requires an amount of skill in sensation and awareness.

If trying the exercise at the beginning of this post in the comfort of your own home felt good, why not try Feldenkrais online? In addition to in-person classes and lessons, I also have online options - visit my website or contact me directly to learn more.

04/11/2025

Do you have a pain in the neck?

Very often when people come to see me, it’s around pain in the shoulders, neck or back.

Pains in the neck are a common problem!

The neck is one of the many areas where the cure is often in a different place to the problem.
What do I mean?
The neck has 7 cervical vertebrae, but it doesn’t stop there. The neck is a small proportion of the long line of your spine. And the spine continues all the way down to the tailbone, some distance away.
The stacking of the other vertebrae below the neck affects what’s going on with the neck itself. But many people don’t think about that. So it’s important to realise that the rest of the spine is the support structure for the neck.

The rest of the spine is the support structure for the neck

Improving the alignment, and awareness of the whole spine is going to make a difference to the top part! The neck has more delicate vertebrae than the rest of the spine. One of its roles is to help with the calibration of your teleceptors. (Those are the organs that help work out where you are in relation to gravity and orientation. And the majority are in your head: your ears, eyes, nose). So your neck is designed for strength (supporting the head), and for delicacy.
But often part of the problem is that people think of and use the neck in an isolated way. Look around behind you? How much of your spine do you use? Many people will look around yourself only with the neck. Even though there’s a lot of spine, great for turning, lower down!

How you think about the neck affects how you use it

Imagine you had 26 members of your family, and only 7 were doing the washing up. The smallest ones. OK for a while, but after some time, they’re going to start complaining. Why aren’t the big ones helping? They’re stronger and chunkier. That’s just like your spine. And the vertebrae that are on holiday tend to create even more of a problem as they stiffen up with lack of use. Then you feel them less, and in turn use them less. So the spiral goes!
It’s partly because we tend to separate out areas with different names in our thinking. And often the spine at the back is harder to feel. If you don’t use the whole of the spine in a supportive enough way then the neck has to do more work than it should.
If we’re not moving part of ourselves regularly, we don’t feel it as clearly. And then we can’t co-ordinate movement as successfully. And this happens, whether you’re aware of it or not.

Proportional use

So we need a communistic spine, whatever your political outlook where every vertebra is doing its part, and none of them are on holiday! A proportional amount of work depending on the strength of each spiny segment.

Join me in a live class to explore it for yourself. Find details about individual lessons and group classes on my website (link in my bio), or message me to learn more.

31/10/2025

What's different for you when you're on stage, compared to in the practice room?

One thing that often changes is the breathing.

I was performing a concert this evening. The sensation of playing on stage was very different from the rehearsal in the afternoon. I wasn't particularly nervous myself, so I was asking myself what feels different and why?

I did a self scan: a technique I've learnt in Feldenkrais lessons. I noticed that my breath wasn't full, my breathing was shallow. Emotions are physical body states. So they come out in a physical way. But it wasn't my fear. It was from the group.

Mirror Neurons

We all have mirror neurons, which help us connect with others. They allows us to mimic patterns of other people, and then feel their emotions. It helps teach us empathy. My sister Andrea has Downs Syndrome, so some of her behaviours have remained very childlike. Some years ago, when she was living with my parents, my Mum hurt her knee. And Andrea started limping too. There was nothing wrong with her, she was copying Mum, unconsciously. Similar to how children walk exactly the same way as their parents.

Pretty useful for ensuring your adults connect with you and keep you safe. But it's the same thing that creates group fear or hysteria! It happens unconsciously, unless you look for it. It can happen on stage too. People around you stop breathing, and you might copy their patterns, without knowing.

Unconscious Copying

It happens in my Feldenkrais studio too. Someone will come in, and I'll get back pain in a weird place. It's not my pain, it's theirs. I've unconsciously mimicked their physical holding pattern. Perhaps that sounds a little strange. It took a while to get used to. But now it helps inform me how I can help people who come in - where I should focus my work. If I can feel it, I can locate it for them.

Why is this a topic I'm sharing? If we don't know what's happening, we think it's us. This unconscious response to your breathing patterns can happen with any strong emotion. But if we're aware of it, we can change it.

If you can change your breathing in the moment to a more diaphragmatic or holistic breathing pattern we can calm down the room. As you get more skill in this, you can shift the dynamic, without anyone knowing what you're doing. You can be the regulator in the room.

It can help yourself stay calm, (or the emotional state you want to be in) and able to enjoy performing. Or to stay calm in the face of someone else's overwhelming emotions.

It requires that you can sense your patterns, your own breathing habits. That you become more aware of what you're doing, when, and how.

Where can you learn this?

Breathing regulation requires a level of physical self-knowledge most of us don't learn in school or music college.

I've found that Feldenkrais lessons are a very useful way to do this! I teach it on my Reducing Anxiety courses. But every Feldenkrais lesson can help. Each lesson you explore different habits and patterns. And ways of breaking the habits which aren't useful. And whilst it takes concentration, it's not difficult. Anyone can learn it with some dedication and patience.

Would you like to hear more from me about Feldenkrais for musicians? Sign up from my mailing list at https://themovingbrain.com/ to receive regular insights, information, and more.

27/10/2025

How can you keep the feeling alive after a Feldenkrais Lesson?

After a Feldenkrais lesson, you might feel different. Some of you report having more sense of groundedness, breathing more freely, of moving with greater ease, or relaxation. Other people feel their balance or co-ordination has changed. Or something about the way they move or feel about themselves has shifted.

Students often ask how can I make the sensation last?
It’s tricky, as there’s not a one fits all answer. But some things can help in keeping your sense of change.

Give yourself some time and space after a lesson to sense what’s happened, or changed, or just to enjoy the new sensations.
If you have time to go for a little walk. Walking can help integrate the work you’ve been doing in the lesson. It gives time for your nervous system to take on board the new patterns of movement, with new awareness.

If you were doing something in the lesson that made a daily function feel easier then practice the movement. If turning to look behind you as you drive improved, then see if you can remember the feeling when you’re in the car. Then your sensory-motor system can bring it back from a memory into the present moment.

Repeating some movements of the lesson helps you recall the sensation. In the same way you can hear just a few bars of a piece to remember an attached event or emotion. So play with something you remember from the lesson through the week. Some people like to do this in bed before they get up or go to sleep. Or when doing the washing up (depending on the lesson of course!)

Other people like to revisit a lesson they found powerful. If you're signed up to membership you have access to each weekly lesson.

Learning is culumative.

There might be moments where you question what you've learnt. But the next week, you can feel you’re in a different place. One stage is feeling your habitual holding patterns. The next is to be able to let them go when you sense yourself in the habit. You might notice that you no longer unconsciously raise a shoulder, or push part of your back forward.

It’s a bit like playing an instrument. Sometimes you have to go back to an old piece you learnt before to realise how far you’ve come. You might notice when you're practicing Feldenkrais regularly you don't feel pain. That's the reason I kept coming back, before I decided to become a teacher myself. Or that if you stop for a length of time you feel rusty again. That you don’t connect together so well, or that you feel stiff when before you felt supple. I realised I didn't get pain whilst playing the viola when I was regular in my class attendance, and I did when I stopped.

Often it’s only when we look back we can see where we started.
For many students, as you get to know yourself in this kinaesthetic way, it becomes part of your thinking. How you move through life.

You can work with me 1-to-1, or in a group class. Drop me a line or message for more information.

Join me to move smarter, and discover more ease in moving through life.

18/10/2025

Ribs and the Intercostals: A team in the movement of breathing and moving

Since becoming a Feldenkrais teacher, now a decade ago. I've become more and more fascinated with our anatomy. We're so fortunate to have access in our digital world to teachers all around the world. I've been particularly taken with the dissection work of Gill Hedley. And took some time in the preparation of these lessons to look at the anatomy of the ribs.

The Intercostals muscles get talked about a lot, but what are they and what do they do?

The Intercostals are flat layers of muscles that attach one rib to the one below (or above). The muscles attach directly to bone. (Some muscles don't do this- they attach to tendons, which then attach to the bone)

They come in 3 layers - external, internal and innermost. The internal layer starts next to the sternum, the external layer at the costochondrial joints. This is where the cartilagenous rib becomes bony rib. It's about 4 fingers width from the breastbone. The intercostals are in very thin layers, and criss-cross over each other. The external goes on one diagonal, and the internal another. The innermost is at the very back, a strip of muscle, where the spine and ribs meet.

Bone, muscle and fascia.

The ribs are moved by the muscle, and the complexity of movement is allowed by the fascia.

The intercostals and the ribs are sandwiched in two layers of fascia. Each encompassing both the bone and the muscle inside and out- a little vaccuum pack for the ribcage, if you will. The fascial layers allow connection without getting stuck so there can be movement. The different muscles layers slide over each other in a sheering motion.

You might imagine the ribs are evenly spread.
The spaces between our ribs aren't uniform, or predictable. They get shaped over a lifetime of postural, breathing and moving habits or patterns.

My career as a professional musician has allowed me to develop a deep understanding of the unique demands placed on musicians’ bodies. I work with musicians of all levels in my role as a Feldenkrais practitioner - learn more about this side of my work by visiting the musician page of my website (link in the comments below).

15/10/2025

Ali is a saxophonist who came to me to learn how she could integrate Feldenkrais practices into her life as a performer. Her testimony speaks to the incredible power that Feldenkrais has to enable people to develop real tools for awareness, freedom in their movement, and integration:

"I had to stop playing to tell you! I can actually dance while playing!!!

I've seen so many sax players doing this before and it's something I've never been able to do. I guess my ankles are actually moving and I can roll onto the balls of my feet to give me a bounce and movement in my legs to dance.

To be honest, I'm gob-smacked! Thank-you so much for all the sessions you've been giving us, it's incredible the difference exploring movement in different parts of the body can make!"

I have over twenty years' professional experience as a performer myself, so am perfectly poised to work with musicians at all levels. To learn more about this area of my practice, please visit my website - link in the comments below.

11/10/2025

Why should you care about freedom in your ribs?

Some of you may aware of tension in their torso, (which is made of the many bones of the ribcage). but many have forgotten what having a comfortable, supple ribcage feels like.

A flexible chest allows healthy movement through your whole body, and improves your ability to breathe.

Your ribs are designed for flexibility.

With 12 pairs, there are 24 places where your ribs articulate with your thoracic spine. It’s what allows your chest to move multi-dimensionally.

Habits of moving, thinking and emoting can lead to physical tension.

Some of your postural, playing, and emotional habits can result in carrying extra tension in your chest and ribs, distorting your musculoskeletal organisation. It can impact all your movements and everything we do. It can affect your ability to organise the airflow, and breathe optimally.

The ribs are central to your physical self

Tension around your ribs and chest affects the freedom of movement of your head and neck, the comfort of your shoulders and back. Along with affecting your posture, and the way you walk. Perhaps most importantly, it affects your breathing and the ability to move your diaphragm. Stiffness around the ribs is part of the universal pattern of fear, and can produce feelings of anxiety.

With over twenty years of professional performing experience, I deeply understand the ways in which musicians are impacted by the demands on their bodies. I work with musicians from students to seasoned professionals to help them gain real-life tools that enable them to develop greater awareness and understanding of the links between their bodies, minds and performance.

Learn more about Feldenkrais for musicians by visiting my website (link in my bio), or message me with your enquiry.

Emma Alter Feldenkrais

29/11/2025

24/11/2025

22/11/2025

15/11/2025

12/11/2025

07/11/2025

04/11/2025

31/10/2025

27/10/2025

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