Smart Moves Orient Week Oct 26 FB/IN (SMOW Oct26)

DON’T JUST BUILD A STRONGER VERSION

OF YOUR CROOKED SELF.

Most exercise teaches us what to do:

Lift your arms.
Raise your leg.
Do a squat.
Hold a plank.

But two people can perform exactly the same exercise—and use themselves very differently.

One may distribute the work easily through the whole body. Another may grip their neck, compress their back or repeatedly load the same knee without even realizing it.

Before adding more weight, repetitions or effort, it’s worth discovering how you’re doing the movement in the first place.

That is what we’ll explore during Orientation Week.n this area

These are positions you probably already know.

But instead of rushing toward an exercise, we’ll use each one to discover something about how your body creates movement.

You’ll experiment with going slower. Making a movement smaller. Using the floor for support. Changing where you initiate a movement. Even imagining a movement before doing it.

Then notice: Did it get easier? Did your range change? Do you feel stronger or more stable?

That experience—not simply being told what is “correct”—is the point.
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WHY LEARN TO SENSE MOVEMENT?

You can’t change what you don’t notice.

We naturally develop movement habits. Some are useful. Others mean one part of the body repeatedly works harder while another contributes very little.

And then we take those same habits into exercise.

Becoming better at sensing what you are doing gives you another choice.

Instead of simply exercising harder, you can learn to exercise more intelligently.

This ability becomes particularly valuable as we get older, when adding more effort isn't always the best answer.

Curious about a smarter way to exercise?

Orientation Week is particularly useful if:

You want to get stronger but conventional exercise sometimes leaves you sore or uncomfortable.
You have an old injury or a part of your body you tend to protect.
You find yourself avoiding certain exercises because they just don't feel right.
You've been told to “engage your core,” “fix your posture” or “use better form,” but aren't quite sure what you're supposed to feel.
You're simply curious about whether paying more attention could change the way you exercise.

You don't need any experience with Feldenkrais or somatic movement.

In fact, that's exactly why I've created Orientation Week.s.

There’s a method behind this.

For more than 25 years, I’ve taught the Feldenkrais Method, an approach to movement that uses attention, sensation and experimentation to help people discover more efficient ways of moving.

Smart Moves brings these principles into strength and conditioning.

We don't replace strength training with awareness.

We use awareness to make strength training smarter.

And Safer.

Sonja Johansson
Feldenkrais Practitioner • Somatic Movement Educator
Strength & Conditioning Instructor

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Sonja Johansson