C7 as it relates to the rest of the neck and the chest mobility…
Advanced-training for Feldenkrais practitioners

Nürnberg : August 29th – September 2nd, 2015

During this advanced training, François Combeau will focus on verticality as it relates to the dynamic interaction between the head, neck and the 7th cervical vertebrae with gravitation. He will explore that very important part of our spine, C7/T1, as it relates to the upper cervical spine, atlas , axis and the head. When true verticality returns, the head, which bears the sensory organs, recovers total freedom of movement, broader visual and auditory fields and the perception of contrast.It swivels on the seventh cervical vertebra, which provides the « unstable stability » for it to remain upright without having to be held up by the neck muscles.

Through different explorations, we will also discover how much that vertebrae area (C7/T1) is one of the key for a good and functional larynx freedom and a real « bones resonance » for our voice.
The seventh cervical is also the link between the shoulder area and the spine, therefore its mobility is very important for a free, efficient and functional use of the arms and hands… We will also clarify how that vertebrae area can be part of what makes a fluid, dynamic walking, and how, when steps are initiated by C7 itself, the legs become very light and walking easy and enjoyable…

During this advance training, François Combeau will offer a number of structured and progressive practical situations. He will guide the practitioners into FI practices with always more clarity, detail, and precision. His very interactive way of teaching will give an opportunity to each participant to develop, in a personalized and intimate environment, necessary capacities for practicing the method efficiently, creatively and adapted to the student’s needs.

The main purpose will be to explore and work on « how we sense, feel, imagine, propose, invite and act » rather than on « what we do ». François is convinced that the professional training has given to practitioners a wide range of « know how » and ideas, and what everyone needs now is to develop more personal abilities and confidence in what one senses, sees and imagines.

Concretely, each participant will have a chance to develop the ability:

• To sense the person through their touch, to imagine him or her in movement, to observe him within the actions and to be able to feel the potential of movement in each joint, tri-dimensionally.
• To engage in a real sensory-motor dialog with the student and create dynamic conditions for him to learn, to develop dynamic observation and structure Fi’s organized as an interactive « back and forth » of questions: those we do ask to the students through our touch and movements invitations, those asked to us by the student responses and those we ask ourselves about what the person need and should learn.
• To become confident that our touch and our propositions or invitations for movement are more questions than statements and can stimulate the curiosity and interest of the students for the sake of their own evolution.
• To sense and follow the passing through of forces and the possible deviations linked to an habitual pattern and often compulsive movement.
• To clarify the directions of movements that are proposed during the lesson according to what we want to address, stimulate or awake. To be able to explore tri-dimensionally different orientations for a similar movement proposed, so to discover which one will « make more sense » to the nervous system of the student and will enable him to feel his full potential of movement.

Practitioners who have already experienced François’ advanced-training in Europe and in the US have found this style of training to be very efficient in helping them to develop their practice and move to a new level of understanding the work; underlying thinking, ways of acting and the working relationships with their students.

More information about where this seminar takes place, its cost and inscription process, please contact : Carola Torbahn-Drzmisek or Gabriel Torbahn, organizer – e-mail : torbahn-feldenkrais@web.de, or : Gabriel.Torbahn@hotmail.de