Lavinia Plonka – Experience the Feldenkrais Method

Courses Infomation

With Body Language Expert & Guild-Certified Feldenkrais Teacher® Lavinia Plonka

A 7-Module Online Course

Enjoy less pain, more confidence, and clear intentions by changing your physical posture — and rewiring your brain, musculoskeletal system & nervous system.
Release trapped trauma & anxiety that contribute to your physical pain and emotional suffering through the Feldenkrais Method.

What if you could transform negative emotions, improve your self-esteem, and heighten your wellbeing — mind, body, and spirit — by changing the way you move your body?
Can you imagine the possibility of expanding your sense of choice and freedom… and significantly altering the direction of your life… simply by heightening your awareness of the way you physically move through life?
The truth is, the way you move tells a story — to other people and to your own nervous system…
The way you carry yourself triggers hormonal responses that become part of the chemistry of your self-image.
For instance, slouching and hunching your shoulders signals to others that you’re tired or sad — but did you know it also causes your nervous system to produce the very hormones that then lead to you feeling depressed?
It can be surprising to learn that It’s NOT actually your muscles or joints that are causing your pain or discomfort — it’s the mixed messages your brain is giving and receiving as it tries to navigate old wounds and new fears as you move through the world…
What if, by simply changing the way you carry yourself, you could break free of chronic pain, self-sabotaging habits, unhealthy emotional patterns, and more?
In an exciting online course, celebrated body language expert and certified Feldenkrais Teacher Lavinia Plonka will introduce you to the Feldenkrais Method…
The revolutionary practices Lavinia teaches harness the power of safe, subtle, sophisticated movements to teach you how to reorganize yourself — resulting in improved range of motion, reduced pain, and an opportunity to live a fuller life.
As you’ll discover, your thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and movements are closely interrelated — and influence each other in powerful ways.
Lavinia will guide you to move with minimum effort and maximum efficiency — not through muscular effort, but through increased conscious awareness of how movement actually works.
You’ll become more aware of the link between your inner and outer worlds… and how your physical movements mirror your feelings about your sense of self-worth and your place in the world.
Gain a Whole New Understanding of Your Brain & Nervous System

We’re stepping into a new way of understanding the brain and nervous system — and it starts with awareness of the habitual postures and holding patterns in the body and the way you carry yourself…
Stories about patients who, for instance, underwent surgeries and thought they were in perfect health afterward continue to surface. They had been unintentionally harboring the trauma of the operation in their neural systems, which was the source of their inexplicable physical and emotional ailments.
Their bodies recalled the trauma even though they had been asleep during the procedure.
They were able to release that trauma and the anguish they had been carrying when they understood they were holding onto the fear or pain resulting from the trauma of the operation and worked through it using the Feldenkrais Method.
You may change YOUR tale by making little, subtle movements. This will increase your self-awareness, broaden your range of movement options, and enhance your functioning. Your life will then be in balance not only physically but also emotionally and spiritually.
You may unlock your abilities for creativity, intuition, healthy sexuality, and more when your entire body works together and when optimum efficiency is attained with the least amount of effort.
Welcome to your relationship with yourself, the one you’ve been waiting for.

You will learn the following in Lavinia Plonka’s innovative online course:

Learn how to use somatic therapies to address emotional patterns, traumatic experiences, and chronic pain.
Leave aside “emotional postures” that amplify suffering, self-doubt, and bodily and emotional discomfort
Learn how to reprogram your neurological system, musculoskeletal system, and brain to move through life with less discomfort and more assurance.
Learn effective movement and visualization techniques that can replace Kegel exercises.
Realize the connection between your inner and outer worlds, and how your physical movement reflects your sense of self-worth, your capacity for creativity, and your worldview.
Develop movement awareness to balance your heart, lungs, pelvis, and ribcage for optimum health and wholesome relationships.
Learn how repressed trauma and anxiety contribute to chronic pain, sleep problems, hypermobility, and restricted breathing.
Apply the Feldenkrais motto: Less Pain, More Gain; move effortlessly and with self-compassion.
Learn easy techniques for getting more rest and reducing stress to promote relaxation and healing.
Examine how accidents can cause back discomfort and how sedentary behavior compresses the spine.
Perform your first full body scan while exploring experiential anatomy, or your sense of who you are within.
Take on the bodily stances and breathing techniques associated with tenderness and compassion.
Also a lot more…

Get Advice From a Renowned Body Language Specialist

For more than 35 years, Lavinia Plonka has provided support to anyone looking to enhance their professions, relationships, and mobility. Her specialized knowledge links the dots between the mind, emotions, and posture/movement. Theater, dance, yoga, and martial arts have all been a part of Lavinia’s training and professional career.
Her well-liked seminars look at the relationship between the mind, emotions, and movement. Asheville Movement Center, which offers a comprehensive movement curriculum including seminars and private instruction, is presently run by her as its director.

What These 7 Modules Will Teach You
In this seven-module transformative intensive, Lavinia will impart her knowledge on the mind-body connection and lead you through Feldenkrais exercises to assist in the resolution of emotional issues as you alter your physical movement patterns. As a result, you’ll discover newfound creative and intuitive abilities as well as a healthy sexuality.
Module 1: Finding Freedom to Make New Decisions and Fully Engage in Life: Transform Trauma & Chronic Pain

Lavinia will welcome you to the relationship you’ve been waiting for: your relationship with yourself, in this first module.
She will explain why and how trauma, stress, and sickness frequently result in persistent pain that is unresponsive to medical treatment.
Lavinia will explain how the Feldenkrais Method communicates with your nervous system through movement using the language of feeling.
You’ll start by examining all the ways your body “keeps score” of all the many insults you’ve experienced, as well as the baggage that physically tightens your muscles, leading to cellular pain patterns.
Your breathing and sleep may frequently be hampered, which can increase inflammation and pain. Your cells are fed by your breath. Sleep really aids in the removal of pollutants…
In this first session on overcoming pain, you will learn how to:
Learn how repressed trauma and anxiety contribute to chronic pain, sleep problems, hypermobility, and restricted breathing.
Learn how to activate the parasympathetic nervous system to facilitate recovery and relaxation.
Start using the Feldenkrais credo: Less Pain, More Gain: moving with ease and compassion for oneself Acquire easy techniques for improved sleep and stress management to promote relaxation and healing
Use a visualization technique called “inner eyes” to numb pain
Experience a movement meditation to open up your inner space, let go of tension, and give your cells space to breathe.

Module 2: Stop Suffering From Back Pain and Travel Without Restraint

A multi-billion dollar business has emerged around back pain. The statistics on how many people have back discomfort are shocking.
What led to this?
Lavinia will describe how the combination of too much sitting — at computers, in automobiles, on couches, and other places — and the ongoing stress of modern life has effectively imprisoned our backs in this module. In fact, many now believe that sitting has replaced smoking.
Additionally, worry, fear, and stress go up and down our spines.
The expression “I’ve got your back” is used frequently for a purpose. It makes you feel like you’re being taken care of.
And when you don’t feel like somebody is watching out for you, it may spiral out of control: your back hurts from work, you protect it, your neurological system interprets it as an absence of safety, which makes the pain worse.
You’ll discover in this module:
Discover the metaphors and feelings associated with back pain’s underlying meaning.
Examine how accidents can cause back discomfort and how sedentary behavior compresses the spine.
Master your first full body scan and explore experiential anatomy to have a better understanding of your inner self.
Examine how the Feldenkrais Method improves mobility without needless effort by using soft, meticulous motions.
Get practical back pain relief advice that you may use whether you’re sitting or lying down.
Determine which areas of your back are causing you discomfort.
With a powerful but secure Awareness Through Movement® class, release your back.

Module 3: Find Dynamic Stability in Your Pelvis to Discover Your Power Center

The pelvis has received a poor name over the past 200 years despite the fact that the word sacrum, which refers to the lowest segment of your spine that links your pelvic bones, is derived from the Latin word meaning sacred.
Many of us experienced physical and mental inner struggle since we were (at least implicitly) reared with shame and constraint about this area of our bodies.
This session will show you how your geographic center is really your pelvis, which is moving along with your legs and spine.
Regaining your pelvic authority will anchor and strengthen you, allowing you to reclaim your sexuality and feel assured that you have control over your bladder.
You’ll discover in this module:
Establish a connection to your diaphragm, pelvic floor, and therefore, your breath and power.
Learn how to maintain inner and outward balance with your pelvic power core.
Learn about the unexpected link between your pelvis and TMJ discomfort in your jaw.
By comprehending the six planes of pelvic movement, you may increase your stability and balance.
Discover the sacred and holistic components of your pelvis, as well as how your organs, the first two chakras, and the root of the spinal energy (also known as collectively as Kundalini energy) impact the entirety of you. Learn how to preserve the mobility of your pelvic floor as you age.
Explore effective alternatives to Kegel exercises like as movement and visualization.

Standing Your Ground: Changing Bad Postures to Good Postures in Module 4

Both to other individuals and to your own neurological system, your posture conveys information. You’ll learn how to easily enhance your posture in this module so that it will encourage and even assist you.
Your posture sets off hormonal reactions that shape the chemistry of how you feel about yourself. For instance, showing signs of exhaustion or sadness, such as slouching or looking down, or simply turning down the corners of your lips, induce your neurological system to generate the hormones that make you feel weary and down.
Many of us have battled to “straighten up!” as our parents chided since we were little, but we have never been unable to maintain it. Lavinia will explain why it’s not your fault in this session.
This module will teach you:
The distinction between acting courageously and merely “power posturing”
Your vagus nerve, a cranial nerve that supports your heart, lungs, upper digestive system, and other chest and abdominal organs, influences your emotions—as well as your posture.
How your seventh cranial nerve regulates the face muscles
How your face’s expressions of stress and relaxation relate to your posture and feelings
Why hunching over, cocking your head forward, and arched shoulders prevent you from responding to life’s difficulties
Why holding a position that goes against the nature of the human body affects your capacity for breathing, the health of your heart, your feeling of balance, and even your vision.
How to use a posture body scan to assess your attitude at any time.
An ATM class that teaches you how to really straighten your back can help you posture.

Open Your Heart: Heal Anxiety, Give and Receive Love in Module 5

“I promise you,” you say while placing your right hand over your heart. Put your hand on your stomach now and repeat the same phrase. Different, you agree?
In this session, you’ll learn how your heart center is where your sincere emotions reside, which are frequently very unlike from your reflexive “gut” emotions.
For instance, you could have seen your propensity to try to shield your delicate heart after being wounded, rejected, or criticized.
You might have felt your thoracic spine stiffen, your ribs contract, or your breath become shallow. These symptoms can all cause feelings of sadness, anxiety, and tightness in your shoulders and heart.
You’ll discover in this module:
Identify which emotions are held in your heart center
Sense the difference between giving and receiving with an open heart, rather than a defended heart
Learn to embody the physical postures and breathing patterns of tenderness and compassion
Experience a breathing meditation to expand your lungs and release tension in your ribs
Enjoy a beautiful seated movement lesson that uses self-compassion to soften your ribs

Module 6: Clarify Who You Truly Are — Aligning Intention With Action

Many of us have a tendency to distract or even sabotage ourselves from achieving our goals. If your intention, for example, is to write a novel, you may find that you’re avoiding it by busying yourself with anything but working on it. Or, if you know you want to end a problematic relationship, you might instead stay in it, despite your unhappiness…
What does this avoidance have to do with the way you physically move?
In this module, you’ll learn how listening to the information from your nervous system creates both pleasure and pain in your life choices. By recognizing how you get in your own way and gaining clarity about the internal blind spots that sabotage your intentions, you’ll learn to hone in on what you really want — whether it’s pain-free movement, or the person of your dreams.
You’ll discover in this module:
Heighten your awareness of how you move, think, sense, and feel
Explore your personal blind spot
Experience a body scan that identifies physical patterns that may be holding you back
Practice a movement to help identify your “parasitic habits” — such as self-sabotage and self-criticism — and receive insights for improving your movements and your intentions

Module 7: Activating Your Visionary Capabilities — Intuition, Manifesting & Enacting Your Vision

By this time in the course, you know what your holding patterns are and what’s been in your way. You’ve unlocked innumerable possibilities. In this session, you’ll discover how to listen to yourself and envision what you want. Moshe Feldenkrais said that his method is intended to help people “realize their avowed and unavowed dreams, to restore each person to their human dignity.”
We tend to put our dreams aside for so long… we even forget we had them. It’s time, right now, to re-envision your dreams… to see what’s necessary to achieve them… and to understand how to elegantly overcome the obstacles in our path…
In this final module, you’ll:
See your goals, and the path to manifest them in a new light
Create your own mandala of intention, to help you towards clarifying your dreams
Receive a movement lesson — culminating all that you’ve learned in this course — linking joyful movement with your ability to see with your mind and heart
Interrupt your habitual way of “trying” by intentionally failing
Delight in the experience of “pandiculation” (imagine a cat waking up) (imagine a cat waking up)

The Experience the Feldenkrais Method\sBonus Collection
In addition to Lavinia’s transformative 7-module online course, you’ll receive these powerful training sessions with leading visionaries and teachers. These bonus sessions complement the course and promise to take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.

Self Hug\sAudio Lesson From Lavinia Plonka

We all need a hug sometimes. This hug will offer new insights into your scapulae and ribs, and will also teach you about the joys of rotation and differentiation — two crucial abilities that are easy to lose in our sedentary culture.

Less Pain More Gain\sVideo Dialogue With Cynthia Allen From FutureLife Now

In this information-packed discussion, Lavinia and Cynthia explore exactly what movement is — beyond the conscious ways we move our body and our being — and how the Feldenkrais Method offers us the opportunity to change our movement patterns on every level. There is, in fact, nothing we do that’s NOT movement — from the way we digest our food… to the way our cells bump up against each other… to our every breath. Though we can’t consciously control these inner workings, we can influence them more than we realize. Whether pain is coming from the holding and tension in our body… wear and tear on our joints, resulting in an inflammatory process… or emotional upset and the way we respond to life, Feldenkrais offers relief through the comprehensive examination and resetting of the way we move.
Cynthia Allen has deeply explored wellness and traditional health programs for nearly four decades. Twenty years ago she found the Feldenkrais Method — because of the profound personal benefits she experienced, she went on to train as a practitioner and has never looked back. She is a co-creator of Integral Human Gait theory, and founder of the virtual platforms, Your Learning Body and the Feldenkrais Awareness Summit. She is also a Senior Trainer in Ruthy Alon’s Bones for LIfe work and has been published in the Journal of Functional Neurology, Rehabilitation, and Ergonomics.

The Little Book of Falling & Getting Up\sEbook From Lavina Plonka

In this elegant work, you’ll find inspiring descriptions that unlock your mindbody abilities and get them producing for you. Gain an insider’s look at colorful case studies from the Feldenkrais Method® that flesh out the ingredients of balance and alleviate the fear of falling. Lavinia systematically explains how to apply your own skills to transform the fear of falling into greater confidence and ease.

What People Are Saying About Lavinia Plonka…

“It freed me from a decade of darkness.”
Thank you again for the life-changing three days. For the first time in many years, I drove without any pain in my shoulders. It freed me from a decade of darkness.
— John Carter, Rancher, environmentalist

“… encourage[s] us to begin to notice how our bodies hold and generate emotions.”
[Lavinia’s] succinct and straightforward survey… encourage[s] us to begin to notice how our bodies hold and generate emotions.
— Dragonfly Media

“… helped me do things I only dreamed about before!”
Working with Lavinia and the Feldenkrais Method® has helped me do things I only dreamed about before!
— Kathy Dee Zasloff

“… a huge difference in my walking.”
For the first time in years, I was able to walk up the stairs without having to hold on to the banister. Lavinia and the Feldenkrais Method have made a huge difference in my walking.
— Carole Porter, interior designer

“… my feet feel fantastic! …what a relief!”
I don’t know what you did yesterday, but I had to let you know, my feet feel fantastic! I had no pain all day, what a relief! I just wanted to confirm that I’m coming back again next week so we can do it again!
— Jimmy White, Owner, JW Builders

“… about 95% of the pains I developed could easily be averted with minor adjustments…”
As an avid tennis player over 50, I experienced what a lot of mature sports enthusiasts encounter, pain. Pain in the hip, knees, “tennis elbow,” sore ankles, and in the tennis-serving shoulder. I have been taking classes in Feldenkrais for about a year and a half and trying to integrate those lessons to my tennis game for recovery and prevention. I can happily report that about 95% of the pains I developed could easily be averted with minor adjustments and paying attention to my body when running around the tennis court and when hitting the ball. I now not only strike the ball with much more power but use much less effort, leaving me with a lot more energy after I play and not feeling physically depleted and sore. I now feel I have more choices on how I approach the sport. I still have trouble remembering the score.
— James Fendleman

“… an invaluable resource to get out of pain and get back to the ease that our body has capacity for…”
Lavinia’s online lessons are an invaluable resource to get out of pain and get back to the ease that our body has capacity for… but that we lost out of habit, stress, or injury. Lavinia’s clarity and excellent teaching makes it simple to do these lessons with her from the comfort of our own home. I am grateful Lavinia is committed to making this profound learning method available to as many people as possible through her online series. If you haven’t tried it… don’t wait!! You’ll be glad!
— Judy Greenman, Feldenkrais Center of the Florida Keys

“… one of the best Feldenkrais classes that I have attended…”
I love Lavinia’s online class. It is one of the best Feldenkrais classes that I have attended (and I have attended many) (and I have attended many).
— Hava Schaver

“I have so much more awareness of my body than I did before.”
Last summer, I started riding again. What I’m finding is that, even though my riding skills are rusty, I am able to integrate my instructors’ feedback much more quickly because I have so much more awareness of my body than I did before. And in particular, since I started doing your classes, my riding has started improving at an even faster pace… It seems like every lesson you’ve chosen has a direct (and positive!) application to my riding. I also enjoy hiking in the hilly forest around my current home in Corvallis, Oregon. I can now handle the hills more easily and can hike more distance. I believe this is due to using my body more efficiently and letting go of unproductive tension. The hikes are now more refreshing and less tiring.
— Lisa Stanley

“I felt taller today… and more easefully flexible…“
I felt taller today when the class ended, and more easefully flexible — which is saying something for me given the physical challenges I’ve been healing from/through. If you cannot do a movement as directed, Lavinia is great about reminding you to amend it and get creative, and often offers specific suggestions of how to try an alternative/modification. These classes are designed to meet you where you are — regardless of physical condition or ability.
— Julianne

Here’s What You’ll Receive

Seven 90-Minute Class Video Modules With Lavinia Plonka
Experience a rare opportunity to be mentored by body language expert and Certified Feldenkrais Method® teacher Lavinia Plonka — from the comfort of your own home. Each module includes an on-demand video and guides you to discover specific skills and abilities to transform habitual physical and emotional challenges, and experience a pain-free life of joy, purpose, and freedom. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can watch anytime and anywhere — on any connected device and at your convenience.

Seven Audio Recordings of Modules
An audio version of each module will be available for you to download in high-quality MP3 format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere — on any connected device and at your convenience.

Seven PDF Transcripts of Modules
In addition to the high-quality videos and MP3 audios, you’ll also receive the entire class transcription in PDF format. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.

Interactive Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
Between class sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each lesson.

The Experience the Feldenkrais Method Bonus Collection Self Hug Audio Lesson From Lavinia Plonka
Less Pain More Gain
Video Dialogue With Cynthia Allen From FutureLife Now
The Little Book of Falling & Getting Up\sEbook From Lavina Plonka

An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Experience the Feldenkrais Method Virtual Training

We feel honored that Lavinia Plonka has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive online course. This is a rare opportunity to learn directly from a body language expert and Certified Feldenkrais Method® teacher whose powerful insights and movement lessons are helping us heal while empowering our intentions.
If you’re serious about emotional and physical relationship with yourself, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world to take this one-of-a-kind course.
If you’re ready to take the next step in evolving yourself, click the register button below to reserve your space now.

Salepage : Lavinia Plonka – Experience the Feldenkrais Method