Transform the Way You Move with Communiversity

“We offer ‘transform the way you move through life’ classes,” said Cynthia Allen, a practitioner of exercise therapy called the Feldenkrais method at Future Life Now, a holistic practice in Northside that Allen owns with her husband, Larry Wells.

“We use the word ‘move’ in its largest sense. Cells bumping around. Breathing in and out. Our shifting emotions. And, yes, what many of us call physical movement is in that mix. But in the end, it is all movement,” Allen said.

Future Life Now kicked off its summer series at Communiversity at the University of Cincinnati on June 5 with its

Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement

course.

Despite its yoga-esque name, you don’t learn asanas in Feldenkrais. Instead, it continually stimulates the nervous system in ways that connect to functional activities.

“Both the Feldenkrais Method and movement intelligence are ways of learning about oneself through curiosity, sensation and awareness,” Allen said. “It can be used effectively in rehabilitation, playing a better instrument, skateboarding or aging more elegantly. If it hurts every time you reach for a glass, that isn’t just an injury. It is also a poorly organized pattern of movement that needs an update in efficiency and ease.”

On June 22 and Aug. 5, Future Life Now will play host to a

Movement Intelligence: Tea and Learn

class at the couple’s Northside studio. Allen will lead students through discussion and demonstration on what it means to move intelligently. The classes are free but require registration. Each class is limited to five people.

For those experiencing jaw, neck or facial tension or pain, a four-week Feldenkrais series called

Relaxed Jaw, Face and Neck

starts on Aug. 7 and continues through Aug. 28. Allen will assist students in becoming aware of bad habits and offer new ways of being, sensing and moving.

Students can learn how to improve posture, balance and walking in a four-week course called

Movement Intelligence

, which begins on Aug. 10 and ends on Aug. 31.

“We will turn participants’ thinking about posture, balance and walking on its head. It is always surprising to me when someone asks why anyone would need to learn more about walking. But quality walking is quality medicine. Next to nutrition, the way we stand and walk is the most important food we can give our entire being,” Allen said.

Check out all of Future Life Now classes offered in partnership with Communiversity:

• Movement Intelligence: Tea and Learn (June 22, free)
  
• Movement Intelligence: Tea and Learn (Aug. 5, free)
• Movement Intelligence (Aug. 10 to 31 from 6 to 7:15 p.m., $80)
• Relaxed Jaw, Face and Neck: A Feldenkrais Series (Aug. 7 to 28 from 6 to 7:15 p.m., $80)

Register at

uc.edu/ce/commu

or call 513-556-6932.