A preliminary survey of the practice patterns of United States Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioners
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Buchanan, Patricia

doi:10.1186/1472-6882-10-12

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…This finding may also be reflected in our results that suggest Feldenkrais Teachers on average had part-time practices. Results from the preliminary survey were similar with means of 7.6 students per week for individual lessons, 8.4 students per week for group lessons, and 2.9 new students per month [23]. Reports for massage therapists ranged from 10 to 19.5 visits per week [25,28,31].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…As an initial step in reducing these barriers, the first author conducted a small survey in 2009 to begin to collect and distribute information about the characteristics and practice patterns of US Feldenkrais Teachers [23]. Teachers were more commonly located in the West and Northeast.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These knowledge gaps pose significant barriers to the assessment of safety and effectiveness by consumers, appropriate consideration of referrals by health care providers, and development of quality research studies. As an initial step in reducing these barriers, the first author conducted a small survey in 2009 to begin to collect and distribute information about the characteristics and practice patterns of US Feldenkrais Teachers [ 23 ]. Teachers were more commonly located in the West and Northeast.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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United States Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teachers®: a survey of characteristics and practice patterns

Buchanan

Nelsen²,

Geletta

2014

BMC Complement Altern Med

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BackgroundFeldenkrais Method® teachers help students improve function and quality of life through verbally and manually guided lessons. The reasons people seek Feldenkrais® lessons are poorly understood. Similarly, little is known about practice characteristics and patterns. To address these knowledge gaps, we conducted an extensive survey of United States Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teachers®.MethodsWe invited all Feldenkrais Teachers to participate in this survey delivered in web-based or print formats. We obtained overall and question-specific response rates, descriptive statistics, chi-square tests of response bias, and performed qualitative thematic review of comments.ResultsOverall response rate was 30.5% (392/1287). Ninety percent of responders had college degrees in diverse fields; 12.5% had credentials outside health care, 36.9% held conventional health care licenses, and 23.1% had complementary and alternative medicine credentials. Mean age was 55.7 years; most teachers were women (83%). California (n = 100) and New York (n = 34) had the most teachers. Forty-five percent of teachers earned ≤ 20% of their gross income from their practices, while 26% earned > 80%. Most saw < 10 students/week for individual lessons and < 10 students/week for group lessons. Students were mostly women (71.1%) and 45–64 years old. The primary reason students sought Feldenkrais lessons was pain. A quarter of students self-referred, a fifth were referred by conventional health care providers, and two-thirds paid for services directly. Themes from comments included: beliefs that Feldenkrais training had important personal and professional benefits for teachers; recognition of the challenges of operating small businesses and succinctly describing the Feldenkrais Method; the variety of practice approaches; and a deep commitment to the Feldenkrais Method.ConclusionsMost Feldenkrais Teachers were well educated, often held additional credentials, were located in the West, were women, were older than 50 years, and had part-time practices. Most students were women, were adults, came from various referral sources, and paid directly for services. Teachers and students utilized the Feldenkrais Method in diverse settings and applications. These findings may foster practice development by Feldenkrais Teachers, improve communication between health care consumers and providers and assist decision-making, and stimulate more research concerning the Feldenkrais Method.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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United States Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teachers®: a survey of characteristics and practice patterns

Buchanan

Nelsen²,

Geletta

2014

BMC Complement Altern Med

Self Cite

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“…Studies of the practice profiles of Feldenkrais practitioners are very limited. In a preliminary survey of United States practitioners, most responders did not have additional credentials as traditional health care providers or in other complementary and alternative medicine approaches (Buchanan, 2010). Among responders who did have traditional licenses, most (22.7%) were physical therapists.…”

Section: Practice Profile For United States Practitionersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education

Buchanan¹

2012

A Compendium of Essays on Alternative Therapy

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The Feldenkrais Method ® of somatic education is an integrative approach to learning and improving function among people of varying abilities across the lifespan. With an emphasis on increasing self-awareness through lessons that stimulate sensing, moving, feeling, and thinking, certified practitioners or teachers of the method propose to take advantage of the human capacity to self-organize behavior (Buchanan & Ulrich, 2001; Ginsburg, 2010). People have used the Feldenkrais Method to enhance their function in many aspects of life, including performance at work, in sports, or in the performing arts. However, estimates are that many more have used it to recover from injury, manage pain, reduce stress, or improve other health-related conditions, either as complementary or alternative approaches to traditional Western medicine. Because of this usage, some groups, such as the United States

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“…The Feldenkrais-method is named after its founder, the Israeli physicist and engineer Moshe Feldenkrais (1904–1984), and is described as a method of motion-related, somatic learning ( Buchanan, 2010 ). This method is widely applied in medical, athletic, pedagogic, and artistic fields ( Russell, 2004 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feldenkrais ‘Functional Integration’ Increases Body Contact Surface in the Supine Position: A Randomized-Controlled Experimental Study

Brummer¹,

Walach

Schmidt

2018

Front. Psychol.

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Feldenkrais ‘Functional Integration’ (FI) is a widely used type of body work with a focus on the continuous integration of body sensations and awareness with movement. The method is, amongst others, known for improving balance in aging populations, but also for its ability to relax muscles. With participants treated in the supine position FI is potentially changing the surface area of the body in contact with the surface on which a participant is lying. So far, no prior study has assessed this claim. We evaluated objectively and subjectively if a treatment with FI would induce changes in pressure and contact surface of the body on the mat. Thirty volunteers received an individual treatment with FI, in a randomized order on both sides of the body. Pressure and contact surface was documented with the Xsensor-Measurement-System. Subjective sensations were assessed with a self-report scale. Due to two parallel assessments alpha-level was adjusted to α = 0.025. We found that pressure and contact surface of the body on the mat significantly changed after the treatment (factor time: p < 0.0001, ηp2 = 0.90). We also found that pressure and contact surface increased significantly on the left side for the group that started with the left side first (time × group p = 0.016; ηp2 = 0.62), but less so on the right side for the group that started with the right side first (time × group: p = 0.056) although there was still a substantial effect size (ηp2 = 0.54). The subjective reports confirmed the physical measurements. In conclusion our results demonstrate for the first time that the treatment with the Feldenkrais method changes muscle tone leading to a more relaxed supine position with respect to pressure and contact surface on the mat.

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A preliminary survey of the practice patterns of United States Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioners CM

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

United States Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teachers®: a survey of characteristics and practice patterns

United States Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teachers®: a survey of characteristics and practice patterns

The Feldenkrais Method® of Somatic Education

Feldenkrais ‘Functional Integration’ Increases Body Contact Surface in the Supine Position: A Randomized-Controlled Experimental Study

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