Effortless Movement
by Lesley Manyweathers
Find new possibilities to help find comfort and lightness.
Effortless Movement
by Lesley Manyweathers
Find new possibilities to help find comfort and lightness.
“Movement is life. Life is a process. Improve the quality of the process and you improve the quality of life itself.”
- Moshe Feldenkrais
Hello I’m Lesley.
“Movement is life. Life is a process. Improve the quality of the process and you improve the quality of life itself.” - Moshe Feldenkrais
This statement has been the foundation of my clinical practice for over two decades of helping people find freedom from pain and life limiting restrictions.
After earning a degree in Chiropractic, as well as specialised qualifications in Myofascial Release, Neuromuscular Re-education, Manual Lymphatic Drainage and Kinesio Taping, I went on to study the Feldenkrais Method; an incredibly powerful self-exploration method which works with the neuroplasticity of the brain to reintegrate neurological pathways of movement that may never have been discovered as a baby or forgotten through injury, illness, operations and habitual patterns.
I work with professional athletes, performers, leaders, high achievers and thousands of everyday people of all ages, across the world, all with one thing in common: they are searching for real solutions to pain, mobility loss, stiffness, injury and reduction in everyday functions.
My formal education gave me the foundation, but the real learning has come from over twenty years of hands-on practice in my Clinic; Manyweathers Chiropractic Clinic, studying under movement pioneers and discovering what textbooks don’t teach you: how real bodies actually adapt or fail to adapt, in the real world.
My knowledge of anatomy, biomechanics and neuroscience along with my medical qualifications, keen interest in neuroplasticity and rehabilitation and the Feldenkrais Method training gave me the tools and vision to create ‘Effortless Movement’.
There are endless possibilities once you know how to unlock what’s been holding you back. I’m not here to show you what I can do. I’m here to guide you to rediscover what you CAN do!
You’re in safe hands!
Lesley
Dr L Manyweathers BSc(Hons)Chiro MMCA LRCC GCFP
Founder Effortless Movement, Registered Chiropractor, Movement Mentor, Feldenkrais Practitioner
“Make the impossible possible, the possible easy, the easy elegant”
Moshe Feldenkrais
What is The Feldenkrais Method®?
The Feldenkrais Method® offers a unique way of making lasting improvements to our lives through the medium of movement.
Developed by Dr Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984), the Feldenkrais Method® enhances the brains’ natural ability for Neuroplasticity, by combining a unique blend of human motor development, anatomy, physics, physiology and neuroscience. By applying awareness with gentle, slow, considered, mindful movements the brain is transported into its best environment to learn how to move through the world with greater ease, co-ordination, flexibility and grace.
What makes it so different from conventional movement programmes ?
What makes the Feldenkrais Method® so different is that it works directly with the nervous system using incredibly gentle, small mindful movements, with the least amount of effort, to bring attention to the areas of yourself where movements and function that you thought had gone for ever can be reclaimed in a safe way.
It is a somatic practice that harnesses mindful attention and gentle movement to heighten awareness of ourselves and our sensations. In doing so we learn from the inside out, making use of our brain’s plasticity – its ability to change for the better at any age.
In order to reset, your nervous system must feel safe, by scaling back without force helps your body adapt and discover new possibilities making progress progressive and sustainable instead of temporary.
"Feldenkreis Group Class - Astonishing! Achievable improvements in comfort and mobility by non or little doing. A revelation and very much appreciated!"
LL, Bedfordshire
LESSONS
Awareness Through Movement® Group Classes
Functional Integration® Individual LessonS
Both types are practical and accessible to people of all ages and a wide range of abilities.
They are referred to as lessons as your brain and body are taken through an invaluable learning process while you do them.
The Feldenkrais Method® can only be delivered by qualified Feldenkrais Practitioners certified to teach after completing a four year training.
Thank you again for Saturday - it was incredible! I've just done some more this morning; yesterday's movements and some freestyling - was also very powerful.
PC, Bedfordshire
What can The Feldenkrais Method® help?
Ageing with vitality
By improving physical comfort, posture, flexibility, coordination and balance. You would think we would get better at ageing as life goes on. But as we get older, we start to lose things, the ends of sentences, status as a working person, friends, relatives and confidence in our balance. Feldenkrais is wonderfully designed to help us age with vitality physically and mentally.
Read More
Awareness Through Movement® (ATM) classes do not involve stretching or effort and the intention is to avoid pain. The movements are done slowly, with curiosity and awareness, without the need for physical strength and power. Feldenkrais will help you break free of habitual, restrictive movement patterns and to move more easily.
We are all born with a natural capacity to learn through feedback from our sensory intelligence. Feldenkrais can be of benefit when the developmental process becomes interrupted or stuck. Our approach is gentle, playful and harnesses your child’s natural instinct to move, be curious and explore.
Read More
Through touch and movement, the method can help build connections between the body and brain to improve your child’s potential for learning and change.
Baby and child development
Sports Performance Improvements
You don’t have to be an elite athlete to enjoy sport and the feeling of improving and becoming more skilful or even learning a new skill. Sport often involves repetitious movement at higher speeds, with greater loading, stress and impact than in everyday movement.
Read More
No matter the application, the Feldenkrais Method® can help improve our skills and performance and reduce risk of injury.
During Feldenkrais lessons you will start to feel how you use your left foot or hip joint differently to your right, the ways in which you use your pelvis, what exactly you are doing with the ribs, how you breathe when you find something tricky.
We don’t just use our legs to run, but our back, our arms, even our head and eyes. In martial arts or football, kicking involves not just the hip joints but our ribs, shoulder blades, the other foot. We start to discover the ways in which we can use our whole selves in movement.
For a long and healthy working life a performing artist needs physical resilience, mental stamina, and well-organised and efficient self-use.
Musicians, actors, dancers and performers all over the world enjoy the rich benefits that the Feldenkrais Method® has to offer. Whatever your discipline, if you improve the quality of your movement, you can improve the quality of your performance.
Read More
Feldenkrais can help to overcome and prevent performance-related injuries; and provide relief from minor aches and pains. With Feldenkrais, performers learn to reduce tension and effort, leading to a sense of relaxation and wellbeing.
The Method can enhance coordination and improve the quality and range of movement. It can lead to effortless posture, greater ease and pleasure in playing and performing. Working with the Feldenkrais Method® helps to relieve stress and performance anxiety.
Performing Arts
Everyday life
Modern life means that we are very likely to be led by ideas of achieving, impressing and perfecting. It also means we can repeat the same old habits in terms of the way we move and think. Our nervous system thrives on variety and mindful attention, so it is little wonder we often feel stressed and anxious.
Read More
Feldenkrais can help unlock new possibilities in the way we move through the world, both physically and psychologically, by helping us to get to know ourselves better.
There is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows that developing the way we sense ourselves and the way we move can also enhance our sense of wellbeing and reduce stress. Honing these self-sensing abilities is central to the Feldenkrais Method®.
Awareness Through Movement® classes are ‘mindfulness-in-motion’. You learn to focus your attention and awareness on your whole self as you move, your mind and body functioning as one in the present moment.
You lie down, you let go of the effort and instead, for an hour or so, you explore, and experience, and discover, and refine, and evolve new strategies for expanding your movement possibilities, a process of discovery that is calming and beneficial to physical and mental health.
Whether you were born with a neurological issue or developed one later, the Feldenkrais Method® can help you improve your function. Learning through movement is possible even after a neurological diagnosis. We know this because of the phenomenon known as neuroplasticity.
Read More
A Feldenkrais practitioner will work with you as a whole person who has the capacity to learn and grow. They will not focus on what you may have lost, correct you, or tell you how you should be.
They will help you to map out a wider territory of yourself so that you can expand what we refer to as your ‘self-image’. You will be helped to move beyond your restrictions, discover new ideas and employ new strategies.
You will develop your curiosity and notice more about the way you do things. These abilities will help you improve whatever daily functions are important to you. That could be balance, breathing, walking, getting up from a chair, turning over in bed, bathing, running or swimming to name just a few.
With regular sessions you will develop resilience so you may recover faster, experience fewer troublesome symptoms such as pain, fatigue, spasticity, freezing or falling.
Feldenkrais practitioners work with those living with a wide range of neurological conditions. These include multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries, stroke and cerebral palsy.
Neurological issues
Pain, posture and injury
You will start to unlearn patterns that inhibit movement and perpetuate pain. The Feldenkrais Method® uses gentle guided movements that can help prevent injury, restore mobility and repair injuries.
Read More
Whether it comes from an injury, stiff joints, or shoulders seizing up after hours in front of a computer screen, we all know what it is to feel pain.
It can be hard to trust our bodies when we are hurting or are afraid of getting hurt. We tense our muscles and hold our skeleton together, rather than using it as a frame to support us. As we get stuck in these patterns, our movements become increasingly limited and the pain can become chronic.
Feldenkrais can help to interrupt these pain avoidance patterns and limiting habits. A teacher will guide you through gentle movement sequences and as a result, will help you to rediscover movements that you never thought you’d try again.
The method can relieve pain by waking up the central nervous system. You will start to unlearn patterns that inhibit movement and perpetuate pain.
Feldenkrais uses gentle guided movements that can help prevent injury, restore mobility and repair injuries.
We’ve all heard the phrase ‘No pain no gain’ often in relation to exercise and fitness regimes. Feldenkrais works on the opposite principle, that we can only learn to move more easily through reducing effort.
Pregnancy is a time of dynamic change and growth. From the moment of conception, your body is beautifully adapting to carry and nurture your growing baby. Each pregnancy is unique and has a rhythm, pace and story of its own, it is a rich time to get to know yourself in new and different ways.
Read More
The Feldenkrais Method® can support you through the changes and challenges of pregnancy making for a more comfortable, personal and empowering experience.
Feldenkrais practitioners can help pregnant people to find relief from aches or pain in back, pelvic girdle or ribs. The method helps you discover how to move with less strain on your joints and soft tissues so that movement feels easy and less effortful. You will explore new ways to move in harmony with your changing centre of gravity. As a result, you will feel less fatigue and more comfort even as your pregnancy progresses.
This inward, gentle movement approach helps to deepen your connection with your body, with yourself and with your baby. You become more in tune with your body’s innate wisdom. As the lessons give you an experience of profound relaxation, your nervous system becomes calmed and you gain in confidence. You feel present and grounded, able to journey towards birth and parenthood with greater ease and flexibility.
Pregnancy
What can The Feldenkrais Method® help?
Ageing with vitality
By improving physical comfort, posture, flexibility, coordination and balance. You would think we would get better at ageing as life goes on. But as we get older, we start to lose things, the ends of sentences, status as a working person, friends, relatives and confidence in our balance. Feldenkrais is wonderfully designed to help us age with vitality physically and mentally.
Read More
Awareness Through Movement® (ATM) classes do not involve stretching or effort and the intention is to avoid pain. The movements are done slowly, with curiosity and awareness, without the need for physical strength and power. Feldenkrais will help you break free of habitual, restrictive movement patterns and to move more easily.
Baby and child development
We are all born with a natural capacity to learn through feedback from our sensory intelligence. Feldenkrais can be of benefit when the developmental process becomes interrupted or stuck. Our approach is gentle, playful and harnesses your child’s natural instinct to move, be curious and explore.
Read More
Through touch and movement, the method can help build connections between the body and brain to improve your child’s potential for learning and change.
Sports Performance Improvements
You don’t have to be an elite athlete to enjoy sport and the feeling of improving and becoming more skilful or even learning a new skill. Sport often involves repetitious movement at higher speeds, with greater loading, stress and impact than in everyday movement.
Read More
No matter the application, the Feldenkrais Method® can help improve our skills and performance and reduce risk of injury.
During Feldenkrais lessons you will start to feel how you use your left foot or hip joint differently to your right, the ways in which you use your pelvis, what exactly you are doing with the ribs, how you breathe when you find something tricky.
We don’t just use our legs to run, but our back, our arms, even our head and eyes. In martial arts or football, kicking involves not just the hip joints but our ribs, shoulder blades, the other foot. We start to discover the ways in which we can use our whole selves in movement.
Performing Arts
For a long and healthy working life a performing artist needs physical resilience, mental stamina, and well-organised and efficient self-use.
Musicians, actors, dancers and performers all over the world enjoy the rich benefits that the Feldenkrais Method® has to offer. Whatever your discipline, if you improve the quality of your movement, you can improve the quality of your performance.
Read More
Feldenkrais can help to overcome and prevent performance-related injuries; and provide relief from minor aches and pains. With Feldenkrais, performers learn to reduce tension and effort, leading to a sense of relaxation and wellbeing.
The Method can enhance coordination and improve the quality and range of movement. It can lead to effortless posture, greater ease and pleasure in playing and performing. Working with the Feldenkrais Method® helps to relieve stress and performance anxiety.
Everyday life
Modern life means that we are very likely to be led by ideas of achieving, impressing and perfecting. It also means we can repeat the same old habits in terms of the way we move and think. Our nervous system thrives on variety and mindful attention, so it is little wonder we often feel stressed and anxious.
Read More
Feldenkrais can help unlock new possibilities in the way we move through the world, both physically and psychologically, by helping us to get to know ourselves better.
There is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows that developing the way we sense ourselves and the way we move can also enhance our sense of wellbeing and reduce stress. Honing these self-sensing abilities is central to the Feldenkrais Method®.
Awareness Through Movement® classes are ‘mindfulness-in-motion’. You learn to focus your attention and awareness on your whole self as you move, your mind and body functioning as one in the present moment.
You lie down, you let go of the effort and instead, for an hour or so, you explore, and experience, and discover, and refine, and evolve new strategies for expanding your movement possibilities, a process of discovery that is calming and beneficial to physical and mental health.
Neurological issues
Whether you were born with a neurological issue or developed one later, the Feldenkrais Method® can help you improve your function. Learning through movement is possible even after a neurological diagnosis. We know this because of the phenomenon known as neuroplasticity.
Read More
A Feldenkrais practitioner will work with you as a whole person who has the capacity to learn and grow. They will not focus on what you may have lost, correct you, or tell you how you should be.
They will help you to map out a wider territory of yourself so that you can expand what we refer to as your ‘self-image’. You will be helped to move beyond your restrictions, discover new ideas and employ new strategies.
You will develop your curiosity and notice more about the way you do things. These abilities will help you improve whatever daily functions are important to you. That could be balance, breathing, walking, getting up from a chair, turning over in bed, bathing, running or swimming to name just a few.
With regular sessions you will develop resilience so you may recover faster, experience fewer troublesome symptoms such as pain, fatigue, spasticity, freezing or falling.
Feldenkrais practitioners work with those living with a wide range of neurological conditions. These include multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries, stroke and cerebral palsy.
Pain, posture and injury
You will start to unlearn patterns that inhibit movement and perpetuate pain. The Feldenkrais Method® uses gentle guided movements that can help prevent injury, restore mobility and repair injuries.
Read More
Whether it comes from an injury, stiff joints, or shoulders seizing up after hours in front of a computer screen, we all know what it is to feel pain.
It can be hard to trust our bodies when we are hurting or are afraid of getting hurt. We tense our muscles and hold our skeleton together, rather than using it as a frame to support us. As we get stuck in these patterns, our movements become increasingly limited and the pain can become chronic.
Feldenkrais can help to interrupt these pain avoidance patterns and limiting habits. A teacher will guide you through gentle movement sequences and as a result, will help you to rediscover movements that you never thought you’d try again.
The method can relieve pain by waking up the central nervous system. You will start to unlearn patterns that inhibit movement and perpetuate pain.
Feldenkrais uses gentle guided movements that can help prevent injury, restore mobility and repair injuries.
We’ve all heard the phrase ‘No pain no gain’ often in relation to exercise and fitness regimes. Feldenkrais works on the opposite principle, that we can only learn to move more easily through reducing effort.
Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a time of dynamic change and growth. From the moment of conception, your body is beautifully adapting to carry and nurture your growing baby. Each pregnancy is unique and has a rhythm, pace and story of its own, it is a rich time to get to know yourself in new and different ways.
Read More
The Feldenkrais Method® can support you through the changes and challenges of pregnancy making for a more comfortable, personal and empowering experience.
Feldenkrais practitioners can help pregnant people to find relief from aches or pain in back, pelvic girdle or ribs. The method helps you discover how to move with less strain on your joints and soft tissues so that movement feels easy and less effortful. You will explore new ways to move in harmony with your changing centre of gravity. As a result, you will feel less fatigue and more comfort even as your pregnancy progresses.
This inward, gentle movement approach helps to deepen your connection with your body, with yourself and with your baby. You become more in tune with your body’s innate wisdom. As the lessons give you an experience of profound relaxation, your nervous system becomes calmed and you gain in confidence. You feel present and grounded, able to journey towards birth and parenthood with greater ease and flexibility.
“My purpose is to allow people to move closer to actually being creatures of free choice, to genuinely reflect individual creativity and emotion, freeing the body of habitual tensions and wired-patterns of behaviour so that it may respond without inhibition to do what the person wants”
Moshe Feldenkrais
Principles of the Feldenkrais Method®
The Feldenkrais Method® is built on three main principles:
Experiential learning through awareness of movement
Sensation focussed with gentle, slow, effort reduction
Neuroplasticity to improve function by using the brain’s ability to discover new movement patterns and break old inhibiting habits
WORK WITH ME
Whether you are a professional mover, performer, athlete, stressed out entrepreneur, young mum, retired hobbyist, have an injury or just curious how you can move through life effortlessly, there is something that will work for you.
Group ONLINE
ATM® CLASSES
Weekly Group Classes online via Zoom
IN PERSON
WORKSHOPS
Regular live Workshops in Bedfordshire
FUNCTIONAL
INTEGRATION® 1:1
Read More
You can work with me at my private practice in Bedfordshire or Via Zoom if you are unable to travel or are in another part of the world, we will work with something that is unique to you.
If you can’t find what you are looking for contact me directly via email [email protected]
AUDIO
PROGRAMMES
Work at your own pace in your own time.
WORK WITH ME
Whether you are a professional mover, performer, athlete, stressed out entrepreneur, young mum, retired hobbyist, have an injury or just curious how you can move through life effortlessly, there is something that will work for you.
Group ONLINE
ATM® CLASSES
Weekly Group Classes online via Zoom
IN PERSON WORKSHOPS
Regular live Workshops in Bedfordshire
FUNCTIONAL
INTEGRATION® 1:1
Read More
You can work with me at my private practice in Bedfordshire or Via Zoom if you are unable to travel or are in another part of the world, we will work with something that is unique to you.
If you can’t find what you are looking for contact me directly via email [email protected]
AUDIO
PROGRAMMES
Work at your own pace in your own time.
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AUDIO LIBRARY
FREE download
Curious to feel how Feldenkrais lessons work? Try a FREE ATM® lesson taught by Lesley Manyweathers and find out for yourself.
"I have been fortunate to have experienced many brilliant, great teachers and practitioners. Lesley is right up there with the best. I cannot recommend her highly enough. Pain-free improvements, what’s not to love! many many thanks!"
EL, Bedfordshire
About your teacher
Dr Lesley Manyweathers BSc(Hons)Chiro MMCA LRCC GCFP
Founder Effortless Movement, Registered Chiropractor, Movement Mentor, Feldenkrais Practitioner.
With her expert knowledge of Anatomy, Biomechanics and Neuroscience, together with her Chiropractic degree and Feldenkrais Practitioner training, Lesley has the perfect cocktail of knowledge to apply the principles of the Feldenkrais Method, physical bodywork and years of experience to guide you on an informed, embodied journey of self awareness.
Through engaging the brain’s plasticity using gentle movement puzzles and using very little effort, in these Audio Lessons Lesley will guide you on a voyage of discovery throughout yourself, drawing your awareness into territory that has until now, been unavailable for self use or never really discovered, unlocking the hidden patterns for effortless movement.
FAQ
What do I need to know before I start?
If you are new to Feldenkrais, here are some useful things you need to know before you start a lesson:
Get comfortable – find a quite, warm space where you have enough room to lay down and be able to roll without being confined by furniture. Wear soft clothing, remove your shoes, belt, glasses and anything that feels restricting.
For lying down lessons spread a mat or blanket on the floor. A folded towel can be placed under your head if you need additional support. A firm surface allows for more sensory feedback however if you find it too difficult to get to the floor then you can lay on your bed. Chair lessons are best done on a firm upright chair without armrests. The seat height should be such that your feet are able to be fully in contact with the floor.
Keep it easy - do the movements lightly not forcefully. With curiosity rather than trying to get it right. Rests are built into the lessons but feel free to pause the recording to rest at any time you need to Listen to yourself - this is very important, if you feel any discomfort you are trying too hard, stop rest and reset yourself Respect any limitations in your own movement and move only within your comfortable range. Moving small and slow focuses our attention and deepens our awareness.
At the end of the lesson, allow yourself a few moments to move around slowly and enjoy whatever feels new before returning to normal activities.
During pregnancy, with any of these lessons, please stay tuned to your needs and comfort. Rest any time or feel free to choose an alternative position. For example, you can choose to lie on your side, or sit, if lying on your back does not suit you. You can come onto your knees and forearms if the all-fours position is not comfortable. Use padding when it helps to cushion you on the floor. For example, pad under your knees if you are asked to kneel. Pad between your legs if you are lying on your side.
A word of warning to all: these explorations must be undertaken responsibly, which means you must take responsibility for yourself. Only you know your own comfort levels work within what is comfortable for you, even if that means doing the movement in your imagination. If you have a medical condition that might be implicated by doing these explorations, get the advice of your doctor before you start. If you do these explorations, at each moment, make sure that what you are doing is safe for you. No movement should cause pain, if it does, try making the movement slower and smaller, even so small that it is imaginary. If the movement still causes pain, you should not do it. Please take this warning to heart; it is all too easy to try to ‘work through’ pain, but this is not the arena in which to do that.
Above all have fun with them!
How do I download my product?
On making a purchase you will be sent an email with instructions on how to access your product
What is your returns policy?
Email [email protected] to request a refund. You have 30 days from the purchase to let us know if the product is not for you. A 100% refund will be granted within that time. After 30 days, no refunds will be offered.
What do I need to wear?
To get the most out of a lesson you need to be comfortable, it is advisable to wear soft clothing that is easy to move in, it is best to avoid wearing jeans or heavy fabrics with no stretch.
What equipment do I need?
You will need a space big enough to lay on the floor, preferably a mat or blanket to lay on. It is possible to do the lessons on a bed if you are unable to lay on the floor. In some lessons you will need a small cushion to put under your head, you may also find for your comfort having a blanket to hand is useful if you find yourself getting cold during a lesson. Some lessons are done sitting on a chair, a firm armless chair is best or a sturdy stool, one that you can put your feet comfortably on the ground.
How do I listen to lessons?
You can connect to your lessons via your phone, tablet or laptop, for group lessons to get the best out of it, it is advisable to have your camera operational and in a position suitable to allow Lesley to see you moving. Group lessons will be embellished according to the challenges Lesley observes across all participants that have their camera switched on.
Get in Touch
For physical One to One appointments please attend at the following address:
Effortless Movement
Burgoine Business Centre
117 Clophill Road
Maulden
Bedfordshire
MK45 2AE
