There are a lot of new and exciting changes in my life. Over the last 2 years I’ve gone out social dancing 6x nights a week, training gymnastics until 10 or 11pm some nights, and working early into the morning hours. It was a not uncommon occurrence for a flatmate to be getting up for breakfast and find me fixing myself a 5am pre-bedtime snack. Well, that’s changed…
I am currently organizing the biggest event I’ve ever put on. We are organizing a thousand person workshop in the San Francisco Bay Area for The Son-Rise Program®: Essentials workshop – a transformative three days workshop for parents and professionals with children with autism. There are some free upcoming talks, here.
Additionally, I’ve switched from dancing Blues/Fusion and Argentine Tango to ballet. I am currently taking ballet class at LINES ballet six times each week.
These changes make me harder to find than I was just a couple of months ago. I am used to seeing a lot of people regularly on dance floors around the Bay Area and won’t be, for the foreseeable future. So I’m instigating a new, weekly (free) event. I have been certified to practice the Anat Baniel Method, a modern variant of the Feldenkrais Method, and a gentle style of movement education that I’ve used to overcome some severe injuries. This is the same sort of thing I do with autistic kids. I’ve done a lot of movement in my life – from founding a dance company to trying a dozen martial arts in a week. I have studied with some amazing teachers. And I’ve never met someone with a more thorough applied understanding of human motor learning than Anat Baniel. I want to continue to learning with you…
About Anat Baniel Method lessons
If you are curious what our lessons might look like here are some examples:
I created this video a couple of years ago, show casing how children learn to roll. Try this movement for yourself. It is harder than it looks but well worth learning.
This is from a presentation I gave to 40+ professional runners, how to gain mobility without stretching. Try this exercise yourself and see what changes you notice.
Anat also gave a TEDx talk last year, if you’d like to understand more about the impact of this work.
Join Me
So here’s the invitation: I’d like to get together with friends once a week at my home in San Francisco and do movement lessons lessons together. I have dozens of videos like those above, most taught by Anat Baniel, that run between 40 and 60 minutes. Eventually I might teach the lessons but for now I’m wanting to do this movement as much as anything else and having friends to do lessons with would be a great motivator.
The lessons will be aimed at whomever joins. I will co-ordinate the first series of lessons specific to the group who expresses interest. If you are interested but concerned you are fit enough: don’t worry. These lessons are super gentle and slow. You don’t have to be a professional athlete. That said, as most professional athletes know, subtle training is as important as the more intense variety. I’ve used this material to learn to do Giants and handstands. This will be valuable for you, too.
Scheduling and Details
To better accommodate people I’m considering a couple of options. Leave a comment and let me know which you prefer.
- Friday late afternoon, 5pm or 6pm
- Saturday morning, 10am
- Sunday morning, 10am
- Sunday evening, 4pm
You don’t have to commit to coming every week. This is an optional thing. I’ll be holding lessons weekly (with a couple of exceptions, I’m sure). I suggest that you plan on being able to come most of the time, especially in the beginning, but you don’t have to commit to anything.
Come Out and Play!
I’m not around or accessible as I’ve been. It will be really easy to lose touch with a lot of the folks I’ve come to love over the last few years. And I’d still like to see you! If you want to join me taking ballet class or volunteer to work at www.sonrisesf.com – fantastic! And here’s another way – that I’ve personally found life changing – to spend time, learn something new, and improve your physical wellbeing.
Leave a comment on the blog and let me know if you’d be interested.