Coming Up in Part 3: Step by Step – The Art of Stairs

We are moving into Part 3 of the Feldenkrais Making it Relevant Series. For these five weeks, we are bringing our attention to a functional action most of us face every single day: walking up and down the stairs. Just like our previous series, we are using this specific, everyday challenge as a playground for your learning. Climbing stairs requires a brilliant symphony of balance, strength, and spatial awareness. Over the next five lessons, we will deconstruct this complex action into bite-sized, accessible movements, helping you discover a sense of lightness and predictability on every step.

Whether stairs are currently a struggle for you or you simply want to make them feel effortless, this series will shift how you transition between levels.

What We Will Explore:

• Finding Your True Alignment (On the Floor): Before we even head to a staircase, we will use a preparation lesson on the floor. The solid ground provides a strict, incredibly clear plane of feedback to help you align your knee precisely over your foot. From there, we will map out the exact location of the hip joint, integrating its vertical alignment directly over the knee so your bones can efficiently bear your weight.
• The Physics of the Ascent: We will start quite literally at the bottom of the stairs and progress carefully just a few steps up. The secret to an easy ascent isn't just about the leg lifting up—it’s about the timing of support from the back leg. By coordinating the back leg, the pelvis, and the spine, you will find a significant refinement of attention that transforms a heavy climb into an aesthetically smooth, continuous rise.
• Mastering the Descent (The Balance Secret): Lowering yourself down a step requires just as much muscular work as lifting yourself up, but it feels entirely different. Biomechanically, your thigh muscles must lengthen while contracting (eccentric contraction) rather than shortening. This unique action is intimately tied to your balance. Don't we want our descent to be just as smooth and confident as our ascent? We will explore how to decelerate with grace, taking the shock out of your joints.

The Bigger Picture: Refining One Action Improves Other Actions

Even if your home doesn't have stairs, the habits we refine over these five weeks ripple out into many aspects of your life. The precise coordination of the ankle, knee, and hip under weight is the exact same mechanics you use to:

• Step off a curb safely.
• Hike or walk on uneven trails and sloped ground.
• Single-leg balance while putting on clothes or navigating tight spaces.
• Move with a lighter, more shock-absorbent stride during daily walking.

MAKING IT RELEVANT - PART 3
Step by Step – The Art of Stairs (Feldenkrais®)

🔗 Making It Relevant - The Art of the Stairs​
​July 12th - August 12th​
Sundays 4pm CST & Wednesdays 6:30pm CST
​Full Calendar of Events​
Livestream classes will be taught over Zoom
​All classes are recorded for self-paced asynchronous learning options.

P.S. Did you miss Part 1 or Part 2?

Every single Feldenkrais course gets transformed into a self-paced online course that you can practice with asynchronously. Our previous recordings from Part 1 (Reaching and Ground Power) and Part 2 (Squatting and Garden Tasks) are still completely available for you to practice with anytime. Each layer of awareness you build supports the next.