Did you know that when you’re “holding yourself together,” you’re literally gripping in different, often unnoticed, parts of your body like your hips or ankles?
You might feel stiffness or tension stuck in your joints or muscles... maybe in your legs, your belly, or perhaps your neck or shoulders.
Many of us have been feeling like we’re “just getting through this” — and coupled with spending more time hunched over our computers and phones, the stress is mounting in our hips, lower backs, upper bodies... bringing up new discomforts or aggravating existing conditions.
Our eyes are strained from too much screen time, and everywhere in our bodies, we’re holding tightness and worry about what our “new normal” is going to be.
What’s fascinating about the tensed-up positions we find ourselves in — and the way we move (or don’t move for long periods) — is that how you move is how you move through life.
The way you move reflects your health, your emotions, your ability to maintain balance in a challenging world...
So, what if you could move with greater ease, flexibility, balance, and agility — with surprising ways to soothe your nervous system and break free from tension, pain, and restriction?
How would that affect the way you lead your life?
And how might it light your way now that it looks like we’ll soon start rebuilding our world?
Join us for a 12-module video course as Lavinia Plonka — celebrated body language expert and Guild-Certified Feldenkrais Teacher® — shows you how to adjust the way you move so you can find your way back home to a body you love that moves you through life with grace and comfort.
The Feldenkrais Method is a delightful, elegant, safe, and empowering practice that supports balance and resilience... by stimulating the intelligence you were born with.
This innate intelligence is the same brilliance that taught you how to walk as a baby, that allows you to drive your car without thinking about it.
Feldenkrais is known for its ability to relax your nervous system... improve your stress response... release tension and constriction... and open you up to a greater sense of well-being.
Crucially — especially now — it also helps you reorganize post-trauma without having to relive it... just release it.
In this restorative program with Lavinia, you’ll anchor in new habits to improve your posture and balance, sharpen your clarity of vision (both inner and outer), reduce pain, enhance the quality of your life, and step back into the world with calm.
You’ll reawaken a part of yourself that might have been feeling stuck in lockdown — from your eyes to your feet.
And in each session, you’ll:
You’ll receive movement lessons to relax your eyes... relieve back, shoulder, and neck discomfort... release the stress in your shoulder blades and hips... engage your core without strain... enjoy healthier walking, knees, and ankles...
... AND you’ll find out how to literally put your best foot forward as you open into a new world.
The calming movements, breathing practices, self-care strategies, and softening processes Lavinia will share are accessible to all levels of movement, opening up the interstitial spaces between your organs, and equipping you with surprising, effective ways to soothe your nervous system.
You’ll find the process very organic because with Feldenkrais, you take time to integrate, to release tension in both your body and your thoughts.
If you’re already familiar with Feldenkrais or have benefitted from Lavinia’s teachings before, you’ll build on the movements you know and love.
If you’re new to Feldenkrais, Lavinia will open you to the gentle power of the method, showing you how to restore your body with simple yet profound movements that make your before-and-after feel like night and day.
By the end of this training, you’ll have Feldenkrais practices to take with you and easily incorporate into your daily life forever — and Lavinia will show you how.
Lavinia has helped people improve their movement, behavior, relationships, and careers for over 35 years. Her unique expertise connects the dots between posture, movement, emotions, and the mind.
Her training has included theater, dance, yoga, and the martial arts — and she’s the only teacher to offer Feldenkrais through the lens of myth and archetypes. (You’re likely to explore the Atlas in your shoulders or the Persephone in your re-emergence in the world!)
Lavinia’s students consistently report feeling a renewed sense of hope, self-awareness, re-engagement with their bodies, and one of the most profound benefits they experience is — to use one participant’s words — leaving “chronic pain in the dust.”
If there are parts of you that want to be re-enlivened with simple, powerful movements for flexibility, balance, and calm, Lavinia designed this course for you. In her warm, compassionate style, she’ll integrate the principles and practices of the Feldenkrais Method in a timely way that’s unique for this training and these times, so you can break free from tension and emerge into a changing world with grace. She created this course both for those who already know and love Feldenkrais, and for those who are ready to experience its benefits for the first time.
In this 12-part transformational intensive, Lavinia will guide you through the fundamental Feldenkrais movements and practices you’ll need to release tension and restriction for flexibility, balance, and a calmer nervous system.
This course will feature step-by-step teachings and experiential practices with Lavinia. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to reawaken your body for resilience and calm.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up and start a new day?
Your eyes take in information and send it directly to your brain. They’re your information gatherers, the mental parts of your face, and they orient you in space.
When your eyes are stiff from focusing on screens, your peripheral vision suffers, and you can’t take in what’s around you — literally or figuratively. Not only that, because you need healthy eyes for balance, strained eyes signal to your body that you’re unbalanced, that you’re not safe... which increases your cortisol levels, placing you firmly on an anxiety loop.
In this opening session, Lavinia will guide you to see differently, feel more balanced, and have a new vision for when you go out into the world. You’ll explore your eyes’ connection to your sixth chakra, and:
Are your shoulders tensed up near your ears? Maybe one of your shoulders is a bit curled in a protective gesture? Perhaps it feels like your shoulders are hunching forward, creating a rounded posture. This can communicate sadness and fatigue — and you might feel sadness and fatigue too.
In these challenging times, we sometimes feel as if our shoulders are like those of Atlas, holding up the whole world.
In this module, you’ll identify your burdens and explore the story in your shoulders. You’ll discover how your shoulders relate to your fourth chakra (your heart center), and you’ll:
Your shoulder girdle literally hangs on top of your rib cage. It’s attached by muscles to your neck, your ribs, and your spine.
When these tighten — due to factors like stress, too much sitting, or fear — the entire girdle becomes less of a girdle and more like a vise. Your neck pulls forward, your head weighs a ton, and your ribs get stuck.
In this module, you’ll release the vise, expand your heart center, and:
We don’t think of our hips as being very emotional, yet they can hold stuck frustration and other emotions. In order to move ahead in life, you need to mobilize your hip joints and have a functional relationship with your hip flexors. In fact, your hip flexors are key in your fight/flight/freeze response.
Since you can’t beat up your irritating boss, or jump out of your car in traffic, you spend most of your time in freeze mode. This can create tension in your spine, which impacts your hip joints themselves. Add in cultural constraints that affect our sense of freedom and mobility in our lives, and you have a recipe for balance problems that can lead to falling, or to hip replacement surgery.
In this module, you’ll explore your hips’ connection to your second (sacral) chakra, and:
Stop holding yourself back and holding it in!
Your body’s powercenter lies right in the middle of you. Most of us hold this area in an iron grip, sucking in our bellies, gripping our abdominal muscles, squeezing our butts.
Yet in order to move freely, your ground force needs to flow like a ripple from your feet to your head. By tensing in the middle, that current is stopped, and so is your ability to step into your true power.
In this module, you’ll embolden your second chakra, and:
How many times during stressful situations have you been told, “just take a deep breath”?
Unfortunately, when we’re stressed, that deep breath is not nourishing in the way it should be, and could even make you more anxious.
Your breath patterns — whether relaxed, shallow, rapid, or held — communicate different messages to your nervous system about your safety and your environment. How you exhale can make a difference in your health.
In this module, you’ll explore your solar plexus/diaphragm/third-chakra area, and:
The physicist David Bohm once famously said that “the universe is frozen light.” In other words, everything is simply faster or slower vibrations — including you!
We know that sound can be very healing. It’s even more useful when you combine it with awareness of how you use a sound and where that sound travels through you.
In this module, you’ll explore your fifth chakra, and:
There’s an old Irish drinking song (some of us remember Chumbawamba’s version in the 90s) that goes, “I get knocked down, and I get up again...”
Resilience is becoming a prized quality these days, for good reason. When you become physically resilient, you’ll find yourself emotionally resilient as well, and you’ll be more able to “roll with it” when life tries to knock you down.
In this module, you’ll explore health as the ability of your system to recover from shock, and:
Who really thinks about the inside of their mouth? Unless you have a toothache or a blister, the inside of your mouth is just the place where food goes, right?
You’ll be surprised... the roof of your mouth can actually change its shape, your tongue has a life of its own, and everything inside your mouth — including your temporomandibular joint (TMJ) — is connected to all the other parts of you in myriad ways.
In this module, you’ll explore why the soft palate is like the connector between the fifth and sixth chakras, and:
Many times in life, what appears to be an obstacle can turn out to be just the thing we needed to let go of an old pattern, an old direction, a toxic habit.
Often, you can’t see what’s holding you until it releases — or, as is often said, “I don’t know what I don’t know.”
In this module, you’ll explore new sources of support connected with your sixth chakra, and:
Your feet follow your intention.
Or do they? Are you able to feel confident as you move ahead?
It’s amazing that nature has created us to balance our entire weight on those two tiny points on the ground. One slight shift in the direction of the foot and the entire skeleton is affected.
Could your sense of instability, your hesitation to move ahead, your fear of falling on your face, all be connected to where you put your feet?
In this module, you’ll explore the act of grounding in your first chakra, and:
Your bones are information conductors — communicating ground forces, gravity, and support.
When we don’t give information to our skeletons, our bones weaken because they like to be used!
This concluding module offers a whole new way to change your relationship to gravity... to let go, feel the vibe, and move to the beat of your own drum.
You’ll explore your sixth chakra’s guidance for the future, and:
In addition to Lavinia’s transformative 12-module virtual course, you’ll receive these powerful training sessions to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
Why do we fall? Clumsiness is not the only reason. Learn to recognize the danger signs and what you can do in the event of a fall.
This audio program offers you seven easy-to-understand movement lessons you can do in the comfort of your own home (some even on your bed). Thousands of people have learned how to prevent falls or recover more quickly using these simple techniques, which anyone can do.
Join us in the great journey of the amazing, encompassing vagus nerve system! Elinor offers valuable information about the interplay between the vagus nerve and our health and wellbeing. This interview includes several self-help strategies using touch and movement to increase the quality of your health, lessen anxiety, and reduce pain.
Elinor Silverstein is an internationally recognized Guild Certified Feldenkrais PractitionerCM who holds degrees in biology and zoology. Integrating nutrition and movement biology, she teaches her Gut-Brain and Vagus Nerve connection programs to medical professionals, Feldenkrais Practitioners, and the general public. She has over 35 years of experience using the Feldenkrais Method to assist people with their healing process as they deal with serious nervous system disorders.
What happens when you reach up? What happens when you reach down? Even more interesting is reaching in both directions at the same time. And what’s the relationship between the act of reaching, and your pelvis and ribs? This lesson is a whole-body experience, offering you options for movement in many different directions.
— Diane Amos: “I am incredibly impressed with Lavinia's knowledge and her ability to articulate it”
— Patricia Friedrichs: “Lavinia has really helped me gain a better understanding of my body”
— Hilary Chiz: “Lavinia Plonka is the best practitioner and teacher of Feldenkrais”
Over the weeks of the course, through the sessions and my daily practice, my body began to soften and find new patterns, and my awareness of its patterns increased. I stopped using the Posture Medic I’d needed to use while seated. I stopped sleeping on a massage ball. I could tolerate sitting for longer periods. The chains of tightness and burning began to subside and shift. A few months later, I’m doing Feldenkrais once or twice a week. In combination with posture work and shoulder strengthening work, I’m leaving five years of chronic pain in the dust. Thank you, Lavinia, and thank you, Shift Network, for finding such a brilliant teacher to work with this population!
— Wanda Pierce
Lavinia introduces the fun and depth of the Feldenkrais Method, which are equally important. I feel I don’t just like myself more, I’ve begun to love myself, which is one of the most precious achievements one can make in this world.
— Theresa Leung, Hong Kong
Learning about Feldenkrais has taught me about my body and how it’s adapted to my life without my choosing! The more I learn, the more I’m able to effect change in a positive way, for both my physical being and my mental and spiritual one. Lavinia is a wonderful teacher and she makes these teachings easy to understand. Thank you very much and I look forward to more sessions!
— Tressa Guth, San Jose, California
After being active my whole life and being a teacher of somatic-style yoga for 11 years, I have felt things I’d never felt before. I feel like I’m re-engaging with my body and I am grateful for this. I will continue to study the Feldenkrais Method and will eagerly await Lavinia’s next course.
— Anonymous
Before this course, I felt overwhelmed, misunderstood, and in extreme fatigue with chronic pain. By Module 3, I felt a renewed sense of hope! By Module 7, I have the ability to rise above my perceptions regarding my sensations. I finally found a teacher and tools that have brought quality to my movement AND quality to my life! I am so looking forward to another course with you, Lavinia — you are awesome! Thank you over and over!
— Linds, Seffner, Florida
This course connected in a deep, yet simple way with my self-awareness of my movement and my emotional state in the present time. I found this to be extremely effective and it encouraged me to explore more.
— Yvonne, Perth, Australia
I feel more empowered and more aware about my body and certain physical and emotional patterns. I have an additional tool to work on them with.
— Antonia, Milan, Italy
I’ve learnt so much about myself during the course. I’ve been going to Feldenkrais classes at home for a number of years and have integrated the ideas into the Pilates classes I teach. However, Lavinia Plonka has taken me into a much deeper level of self-awareness. Lavinia speaks so much wisdom, so eloquently and with so much knowledge of related topics.
— Anonymous
The biggest and most immediate benefit [from Lavinia’s course] is a renewed love, deep appreciation, and respect for my body, which right away seemed to indicate an unexpected willingness to “work with me.” It’s hard to describe in words, but something I strongly and gratefully felt in each and every class. Thanks also to Lavinia’s empathic presence and loving guidance.
— Anonymous
Experience a unique opportunity to be mentored by and learn from body language expert and Guild-Certified Feldenkrais Teacher Lavinia Plonka — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes a streaming video option and guides you to discover specific somatic skills and abilities to reawaken your body for flexibility, balance, and a calmer nervous system.
In addition to the high-quality videos and MP3 audios, you’ll also receive the entire class transcription in PDF format after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
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.
We feel honored that Lavinia Plonka has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive online training. This is a unique opportunity to learn from a body language expert and Guild-Certified Feldenkrais Teacher whose powerful insights and movement lessons are helping us calm our nervous systems and build flexibility, balance, and resilience.
If you’re serious about nourishing and reawakening your body with transformational somatic practices, then you owe it to yourself to take this one-of-a-kind training.
If you’re ready to take the next step in evolving yourself, click the register button below to reserve your space now.
Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed! If you don’t absolutely LOVE The Feldenkrais Method to Reawaken Your Body — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form 14 days from your date of purchase and and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
In practicing Feldenkrais, it looks and feels like you are doing next to nothing, yet the effects are profound. Taking Lavinia’s classes always leave me feeling taller, stronger, pain-free, and awakened to the potential of a better me. The power in the art of the subtle can’t be emphasized enough, and Livinia delivers it with fun, precision, and grace.
— Merina Ty-Kisera, LAc, DiplAc, Author of Acupressure with Essential Oils
Lavinia Plonka is one of the most engaging, brilliant, fun instructors I have ever experienced in any field. My students in the Florida Keys and I personally have benefited from Lavinia’s unique blend of somatic modalities that free up our bodies, relax our minds, and open our hearts. Lavinia’s profound understanding and easy-to-follow teaching of the Feldenkrais Method is refreshing, entertaining, and life-changing.
— Judy Greenman, Body Brain Freedom
Lavinia Plonka has an easy, understated teaching style that gracefully unwinds her vast formal and intuitive knowledge of the body and its metaphors, unlocking the power of the Feldenkrais Method to free attention and create greater ease — in our bodies and in our lives. If you have an opportunity to study with her, I recommend it.
— Mike Morrell, Co-founder of ReWilder and collaborating author with Richard Rohr of The Divine Dance
Lavinia is an engaging and expert movement teacher who helps you know your body in easy and accessible ways that lead to transformation. I’m consistently amazed at how small movements have huge effects.
— Leanne Cusumano Roque, President of Shine Like the Sun and author of the award-winning book Live Light: Simple Steps
Lately I’ve been appreciating the body awareness I’ve found in Feldenkrais. I feel more graceful, flexible, responsive, and creative in my movement. A few weeks ago on a VERY windy day I was just outside the grocery story when a gust blew a heavy portable sign right at me. I curved my body in a big arch and the sign zinged by, narrowly missing me. One observer said, “Wow, that was martial arts!” I said, “THAT was Feldenkrais!” Thanks, Lavinia, my Feldenkrais guide!
— Yvette Odell, Musician
Lavinia Plonka is a body language expert who has helped people improve their movement, behavior, relationships, and careers for over 35 years. Her unique expertise connects the dots between posture/movement, emotions, and the mind.
Lavinia’s training and professional career have included theater, dance, yoga, and the martial arts. She has taught the Feldenkrais Method for over 25 years and is also an Assistant Trainer. Lavinia is a level CL4 teacher of the Alba Method and an Emotional Body Instructor. She was an artist in residence for the Guggenheim Museum, and a movement consultant for theater and television companies around the world, from the Irish National Folk Theater to Nickelodeon.
From Esalen to the Council on Aging, from Beijing to Mexico, Lavinia’s popular workshops explore the intersection between movement, emotions, and the mind. She is currently the director of Asheville Movement Center in Asheville, North Carolina. Lavinia’s writing includes several books and audio programs.
Q: What’s a virtual course?
A: It’s a great way to engage live and pre-recorded teachings and each other from the comfort of your home! All you need is a computer, mobile device, or telephone. If there’s more than one person in your household taking the course, you’ll each need your own connection. We use Zoom videoconferencing to make it just like an in-person event, where you can ask questions and deepen your exploration of the course themes.
There’s no additional charge for connecting to Zoom with your computer or mobile device. Please note that dialing Zoom from your telephone is a toll call; your telephone service provider will charge you according to your existing long-distance calling plan. International access numbers are available.
“I’ve never seen a course so well put together ever...”
I had never participated before in an online course. The packaging, presentation, inclusion, and Facebook postings created a wonderful, safe cocoon within which to participate. I’ve never seen a course so well put together ever — not in all the years of taking college classes — and I had my doubts about doing an online course. The wealth of organization and ease of learning materials and support made this fun as well.
— Claudia F., Medford, Massachusetts
Q: Can I get benefit from the course if I miss the live classes?
A: Absolutely! You can download the recordings and transcripts of all course sessions from our online media archive, so you never need to worry about missing live calls. You can also engage the full community and leaders on our private online community group.
Q: Can you tell me about the private online community group?
A: We’ll have a private online community group for all course participants that will support you in making connections with others, sharing insights, engaging in discussions, and completing homework assignments that can supplement your transformational journey. You’ll have the ability to share your experiences, projects, and growth throughout the course.
Q: Are there scholarships available for this training?
A: Yes, we always make a certain percentage of spaces available for partial scholarships, giving preference to those in developing countries or doing important but underpaid work to which they can apply the training material immediately. If you’d like to apply for a scholarship, please review our guidelines, which include a link to our online application form.
Q: What’s your refund policy?
A: Your satisfaction with The Shift Network and this course is our highest priority! We offer a satisfaction guarantee so that you can sample the course risk-free. The deadline to receive a full refund is June 25, 2020. To request a refund, please click on this refund request form and submit your request. Your refund will be processed within five business days and we’ll send you an email confirming your refund. However, we’d love to have a chance to address and resolve your concerns first. If there’s something we can assist you with, please email us at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help! (No refund requests accepted after the above date or with scholarship awards.)
Q: What is your refund policy?
A: Your satisfaction with The Shift Network and this course is our highest priority! We offer a satisfaction guarantee for a full 14 days so that you can try out the course risk free. The deadline to receive a refund is 14 days from your date of purchase. To request a refund, please click here to submit your Refund Application Form. Your refund will be processed within five business days and we will send you an email confirmation when your refund has been completed. However, we’d love to have a chance to address and resolve your concerns first. If there’s something we can assist you with, please email us at [email protected], and we’ll be happy to help!
Q: How can I reach Customer Support?
A: Please visit our Customer Support Center, where you should be able to find the answer to your question or the solution to your problem. And if you can’t, you can submit an online request form and we’ll get right back to you.
