Guild-Certified Feldenkrais Teacher®
Lavinia Plonka
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Deepen into advanced somatic movements, mind-body exercises, and meditations to create a more loving relationship with yourself — so you can move beyond limits you’ve unknowingly placed on yourself and become who you’re meant to be.
When you heighten your awareness of the way you physically move through life, you forever change the way you see yourself and your potential...
You expand your sense of moment-by-moment emotional choice, and unlock new freedom…
To put this potential into action, you’ll first need to overcome limits you’ve unknowingly placed upon yourself.
The Feldenkrais framework — a unique, holistic approach to physical and emotional healing — empowers you to access the full potential of your inner archetypes that are waiting to awaken and strengthen you.
As you know, you have aspects of each of these four archetypes within you...
- The Warrior’s energy evokes courage and power — helping you ground and show up as a leader
- The Teacher’s energy inspires compassion and wisdom — showing you how to listen deeply and respond from your heart
- The Healer’s energy offers you the ability to... well, heal — focusing your attention on the power in your hands to nourish yourself and others
- The Visionary’s energy gives you insight and forethought — allowing you to see beyond literal vision to the clarity you need to understand your needs and those of others
Which aspects of the Warrior, Healer, Teacher, or Visionary archetypes do you have trouble believing are living within you, waiting to be unleashed?
Join Lavinia Plonka, body language expert and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher, for an empowering 12-week advanced course that includes at least 10 Awareness Through Movement® lessons and two mentorship modules. You’ll discover new, gentle Feldenkrais movements to deeply understand the transformative archetypal energies within you.
Lavinia will guide you to ask yourself, What are my perceived limitations? (specifically in relationship to the archetypes).
She’ll help you reach a place of balance and uncover new possibilities for how these archetypes show up in your body and your life.
You’ll learn simple, yet sophisticated movements to alleviate pain, further improve your range of motion, build upon your resilience, and liberate essential parts of your personality.
You’ll discover how mindful movement can literally change your brain’s habitual patterns so you can move into the life you want.
With Lavinia as your guide and expert Feldenkrais teacher, you’ll refine your ability to move with minimum effort and maximum efficiency — not through muscular effort, but through increased consciousness.
You’ll look closely at the powerful emotions, as well as physical and mental blocks, that are cropping up in your life. As you’ll discover, these challenges are all related to each other...
As you put your inner archetypes into action, you’ll further explore the link between your inner and outer experiences — and discern how your physical movements reflect your feelings about your deepest potential and your place in this world.
In this transformational movement-based course, you’ll:
- Experience at least 10 of Lavinia’s Awareness Through Movement lessons to increase the flexibility of your body and mind, clarify your self-image, reimagine your possibilities, and more
- Learn how these Awareness Through Movement lessons will teach you to track and release your interfering habits (as well as your back pain!)
- Move through an ongoing meditative sculpting practice to envision your Warrior, Teacher, Healer, and Visionary self-images — and re-envision your life
- Release unnecessary tension in your hips, shoulders, and neck that interfere with your personal clarity
- Learn to work with your personal “kryptonite,” based on your archetypal characteristics
- Embrace yourself to free your ribs
- Improve your ability to breathe in ideas and breathe out compassion
- Create your wellbeing mantra/affirmation
- Move through an ancient meditative practice to reframe your relationship with physical and emotional suffering, heal your wounds (both visible and invisible), and more
- Re-examine your perceived limitations and understand how they impact your decisions
- Learn to turn your inner visions into outward creations with a powerful drawing exercise (no art experience required!)
- Rewrite your autobiography to reflect your new possibilities
What You’ll Discover in These 12 Weeks
In this 12-week transformational intensive, Lavinia will guide you through the somatic movements, mind-body exercises, and meditations you’ll need to create a more loving relationship with yourself — so you can move beyond limits you’ve unknowingly placed on yourself and become who you’re meant to be.
Meditative Sculpting for the Archetypes
During this 12-week training (which includes complete demonstrations and practice sessions), Lavinia will also introduce you to a fascinating practice, meditative sculpting for the archetypes.
She’ll show you how to create a clay sculpture that brings you a tangible experience of yourself… to bypass your thinking mind and lead you to a deeper understanding of who you are.
No art experience is needed — there’s no such thing as a “good” or “bad” sculpture. The felt experience and expression are what’s important.
You’ll only need some white modeling clay (the kind that doesn’t harden) so you can creatively express whatever you feel reflects you in that moment. Lavinia will guide you to create your sculpture, and to revisit it regularly throughout the course. As you work through each archetype, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of yourself — and glean more insight to add to your sculpture.
The Power of Live Streaming Video
You’ll connect with Lavinia and experience her teachings through live streaming video. This connection is easy to use and will enhance the impact of Lavinia’s transmissions. Or you can easily connect just via audio if you choose — through any connected device.
(Can’t make it live? No worries! After each class, the video and audio recordings will be available for you to download or stream in high-quality format at your convenience.)
Weekly Sessions Tuesdays at 9:00am Pacific
This course will feature live teachings (including two mentorship modules), interactive training sessions, Q&As, 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 explore the archetypes and new gentle Feldenkrais movements for personal empowerment and body-mind-spirit transformation.
Module 1: The Threshold of Possibility (March 30)
How do you perceive yourself, your possibilities, and your limitations? With every passing moment, you’re making choices according to the way you view yourself.
To see more options of who you really are, you need to have a clear self-image — a deep understanding of what you’re capable of and what you want most.
Your thoughts, emotions, and sensations all participate in every action you take.
In this opening module, you’ll:
- Tune in to your own body map
- Expand your attention to include your whole self
- Release unnecessary tensions in your hips, shoulders, and neck that interfere with your personal clarity
- Begin a process of meditatively sculpting your self-image
- Experience an Awareness Through Movement lesson to clarify your self-image
Module 2: Losing the Battle, Winning the War (April 6)
When your power has been shaken, when you’ve lost your center, how do you feel? What happens when the rug has been pulled out from under you?
This week, Lavinia will explain how the Warrior’s kryptonite destabilizes, weakens, and disempowers.
Fear comes in many guises. As you’ll discover, your first step is to say hello to fear and learn how your awareness can become your ally.
In this module, you’ll:
- Identify the many types of fear that diminish you
- Learn to work with your personal kryptonite
- Discover an alternative to feeling the fear but doing it anywa y
- Reconnect with “zero breath” and the “bell hand” to allay anxiety
- Experience an Awareness Through Movement lesson that grounds from the feet through the pelvic floor to the spine
Module 3: Intentions, Actions & Power (April 13)
A warrior acts with intent.
In this session, Lavinia will explain how in Carlos Castaneda’s books, his teacher, don Juan, taught the art of “stalking.” Not stalking others, but stalking oneself.
For your intentions to become the actions you want, you need to pay attention, stop getting lost in habitual reactions, or turn away from your experience...
As Lavnia will share, developing this superpower is also the secret to success.
In this module, you’ll:
- Receive a meditation for building your attention
- Enjoy a game for sharpening your ability to pay attention
- Learn to track and release your interfering habits (and your back pain) through an Awareness Through Movement lesson
- Clarify your own intentions
- Use your clay sculpture to envision your Warrior self-image
Module 4: Investing in Failure (April 20)
Ask any successful person to talk about their greatest learning experience, and it’s likely they’ll talk about their biggest mistakes.
Yet, so many of us are afraid to admit when we don’t know something. No one likes a know-it-all — and thinking we know everything prevents us from learning and growing.
This week, Lavnia will explain how the Teacher’s kryptonite is fear of being wrong, of looking bad, of failing. In contrast, in the Tarot, the Fool trusts the unknown.
Lavinia will guide you to give yourself permission to admit that you don’t know...
In this module, you’ll:
- Embrace the wisdom of the Fool and the importance of failure
- Experience an Awareness Through Movement lesson that increases flexibility of both mind and body
- Use movement to learn how YOU learn
- Turn your liabilities into assets
- Discover the core principles of learning
- Create your clay sculpture to envision your Teacher self-image
Module 5: Embracing Your Wisdom Self (April 27)
As you learn to listen to yourself, you’ll begin to distinguish between the wisdom of your higher self and the chatter of negative self-talk.
This week, you’ll discover the Teacher’s superpower — listening, discriminating between useful and toxic information, and responding with compassion.
As Lavinia will share, you teach in order to learn — and as you learn, you teach.
In this module, you’ll:
- Embrace yourself to free your ribs
- Improve your ability to breathe in ideas and breathe out compassion
- Experience how random words can inform your creative side
- Create your clay sculpture to bring your Wisdom Self to life
- Experience an Awareness Through Movement lesson that teaches both body and brain how to differentiate thoughts and actions
Module 6: Accessing Power & Wisdom (May 4)
As you move through this empowering work with Lavinia, it’s essential to take time to integrate, connect the dots, and find new “ahas” after a period of somatic learning.
This advanced course features two mentorship modules — opportunities to come together with Lavinia and your community for meaningful dialogue and deeper questions.
In this first mentorship module, Lavinia will respond to questions you submit in advance and anything that arises in the moment.
She’ll also guide you through a movement and/or meditation to expand the newfound wisdom that’s emerging from the first half of the course.
Module 7: Pain Is Inevitable, Suffering Is Optional (May 18)
The Healer’s kryptonite can lead to self-pity, despair, and an endless, often fruitless search for its opposite.
Your nervous system communicates with you through the power of sensation. Your brain then turns sensation into perception.
This week, Lavinia will share how you can turn what you perceive as pain into pleasure(!).
In this module, you’ll:
- Learn to distinguish between sensation and perception
- Create your wellbeing mantra/affirmation
- Experience how accessing your parasympathetic response can reduce pain
- Use an Awareness Through Movement lesson to reduce neck and shoulder pain
- Move through an ancient meditative process to reframe your relationship with suffering — whether it’s mental, physical, or emotional
Module 8: The Way of the Healer (May 25)
What are we made of, really?
A collection of atoms, energy, or as the great astrophysicist David Bohm once said, “crystallized light.”
This week, Lavinia will share how the Healer can access that energy, that light — and send it to self and others.
This light flows through your body and out of your hands. Lavinia will explain how it can empower us to heal the world, together.
In this module you’ll:
- Verify how emotions affect the healing power of your hands
- Release tension in your shoulders and ribs
- Discover the connection between healing and learning
- Use your hands to energize your healer self-image
- Add elements of the Healer to your clay sculpture
- Awaken the spiraling energy within with an Awareness Through Movement lesson that moves from your center out through your hands
- Receive a meditation for moving energy to heal your wounds — both visible and invisible
Module 9: Eyes Wide Shut (June 1)
O, wad some Power the giftie gie us/To see oursels as others see us!
— Robert Burns
Robert Burns penned this poem over 200 years ago, and we’re still blind to what we don’t want to see.
You may have heard that not being clear on how others view us is actually an evolutionary survival strategy. However, the Visionary’s kryptonite is tunnel vision, seeing only what you want to see, at the expense of possibility.
This week, Lavinia will explain how you can begin to see parts of yourself more clearly.
In this module, you’ll:
- Take a new look at your perceived limitations
- See how your perceptions impact your decisions
- Relax your whole body by using inner vision
- Learn to turn your inner visions into outward creations with a powerful drawing exercise (no art experience required!)
- Reimagine your possibilities with an Awareness Through Movement lesson
Module 10: I Can See Clearly Now (June 8)
Joseph Campbell once said, “If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.”
Yet, you have the power to see what’s necessary, to see the truth, to envision the future. This clarity is the Visionary’s great gift.
In this session, Lavinia will explain how to take action based on what you see — so you’re able to take what you see, enact your vision, and follow your path!
In this module, you’ll:
- Learn how your eyes receive information and create your reality
- Understand why the eyes are the “windows of the soul”
- Experience a powerful lesson that connects the movement of your eyes to action
- Connect the movements of your eyes with safety and danger
- Use your eyes to resculpt how you see yourself
Module 11: Giving & Receiving Energy (June 15)
During this second mentorship module, you’ll have the opportunity to investigate your relationship with the Healer and Visionary archetypes.
This is your integration time with Lavinia and your fellow participants — to ask questions and go deeper into somatic explorations based on your interaction and discoveries.
Module 12: You Are a Star (June 22)
When you access your superpowers, acknowledge your kryptonite, and travel down the path of your personal journey to wholeness, you come full circle.
In this closing session, Lavinia will guide you to celebrate your new power, insight, wisdom, and healing.
In this final module, you’ll:
- Rewrite your autobiography to reflect your new possibilities
- Experience the sublime connection among the 4 Archetypal centers
- Recognize your stellar relationships
- Enjoy an Awareness Through Movement lesson that ties everything together
- Create the sculpture that sums up your experience
The Archetypes Into Action Bonus Collection
In addition to Lavinia’s transformative 12-week virtual training, you’ll receive these powerful bonuses to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
Back Relief
5-Part Audio Teaching From Lavinia Plonka
By now you’ve heard the news. Surgery doesn’t help most back pain, and painkillers are addictive and destructive. And most back pain seems to benefit from exercise. But what most of these observations leave out is that your back is connected to the rest of you. Often, back pain is the result of something else, not the cause. It could be posture, an old injury, bad work habits, emotional trauma, or another factor. That said, it’s not always important to find the “smoking gun.” In this audio, Lavinia shares five Awareness Through Movement lessons to help you find a better relationship with your back — and a movement approach that leads you toward a pain-free life.
Going Deep
Video Dialogue With Lavinia Plonka and Francine Bonjour Carter
Explore a lush discussion on how myths, archetypes, and embodiment can help us develop our potential to lead grounded and creative lives. Francine is a Feldenkrais practitioner who has integrated her somatic practice with a study of the psyche — including Earth Medicine teachings and practice, ancestral connection and Family Constellations, and archetypes and Jungian psychotherapy. As you’ll discover, she helps people combine writing with somatic practices to reconnect with their mythic selves and create their own origin stories.
Breathe In, Breathe Out
PDF Article From Lavinia Plonka
The ability to breathe freely, comfortably, and fully is connected to a state of equanimity, organization, and wellbeing. In this fascinating article, Lavinia shares how her personal search for wellbeing led her to the revelation that her definition of “deep breathing” was actually compromising her oxygen/carbon dioxide ratio and contributing to her tension and back pain. As you’ll discover, Moshé Feldenkrais taught that while breathing is certainly automatic, by studying the function of the breath, you can improve everything.
What Graduates of Lavinia’s Courses Are Saying...
— Lisa Stanley: “I’m 60 Years Old, and I Feel Stronger and More Balanced and More Capable Than I Did in My Thirties”
— Brenna Wilcox: “I Can Stand Up Long Enough Now to Cook Dinner”
— Chrish Kregse: “Lavinia Is a Patient, Understanding, and Very Wise Witness to Your Process”
— Marianna Hodel: “Lavinia Is a Very Compassionate, Gentle, and Understanding Teacher”
— Marsha Novak: “Lavinia Is an Amazing Role Model”
— Hilary Chiz: “Lavinia Plonka Is the Best Practitioner and Teacher of Feldenkrais”
“I would take any course Lavinia is a part of, without question.”
I would take any course Lavinia is a part of, without question. She is a master at how she imparts information and is deeply respectful of the individuals she teaches. This course positively impacted me by bringing attention and awareness to deep inner sensing, and it allowed me to know my body in a way that was new and exciting. This knowing led to learning and choosing to make different responses with the awareness. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Additionally, the platform on The Shift Network was of such high quality that it made it very easy to participate in. Well done!
— Crystal Robbins, Lessac Master Teacher of voice, speech and bodywork, Los Angeles, California
“I can’t thank and recommend Lavinia and her course enough, it’s a life changer!”
I can’t thank and recommend Lavinia and her course enough — it’s a life changer! I feel and know myself and my body so much better. The information, instructions, pace, and guidance given are second to none. Lavinia is a star — you will be in the best of hands. I’m going to revisit every class again and again. Me and my body have so much to look forward to and have benefitted so much. I’ve driven my friends and family mad raving on about it so much! I can’t recommend the course and The Shift Network team who made it possible enough.
— Liz Thompson, London, United Kingdom
“Wonderful, accessible, experiential introduction to the Feldenkrais Method.”
Lavinia was terrific in every way. Articulate, experienced, light-hearted, paid great attention to detail, good listener, compassionate. Powerful subtle movements of great benefit, to continue to work with. Great breakout-group sharing. Good illustrations and handouts. Wonderful, accessible, experiential introduction to the Feldenkrais Method.
— Donja Jarrett, Ontario, Canada
“I feel more confidence in my ability to find my own path.”
Lavinia’s course helped me see the future with more hope and less fear of making a mistake. I feel more confidence in my ability to find my own path. Thank you, Lavinia.
— Lois Kohlmeyer, Mesa, Arizona
“It was a great introduction to the method, and I’m hooked now!”
This course has been especially useful for me as it gave me the opportunity to engage with my body on my own terms with guidance from a specialist but without having to follow a set routine. What worked for me was the priority so I could listen to my innermost, personal feelings. It was a great introduction to the method, and I’m hooked now!
— Gabriele Esser-Hall, Chester, England
“... I feel more awakened to who I am, what I am feeling, where I am going...”
This course was positively transformational for me. True to the title of the course, I feel more awakened to who I am, what I am feeling, where I am going ... Lavinia embodies the Feldenkrais Method. The beauty of her lessons is that every time I do the same lesson again, I discover something more about myself. In my day-to-day life, I notice more clarity and spontaneity, which I clearly (pun intended) attribute to this course!
— Manju, Cleveland, Ohio
Who knew such gentle, subtle movements could make such a measurable difference...”
This course was my first real introduction to Feldenkrais. I found Lavinia to be a wonderful teacher. Her instructions were clear and simple to follow, and her ability to share her knowledge of how our body parts relate to each other helped me better understand the workings of my body. Who knew such gentle, subtle movements could make such a measurable difference in range of motion? Thank you, Lavinia.
— Julia B., Calgary, Canada
“... I am thrilled to say that this class has given me such significant relief and flexibility...”
I was gifted the Feldenkrais course by a dear friend. What a gift! What a friend! I am a health and life coach who has been challenged with rheumatoid arthritis since early years. I am exposed to many health-related concepts that have given some measure of non-pharmaceutical relief over time. However, I am thrilled to say that this class has given me such significant relief and flexibility in a surprisingly brief and gentle manner like no other method or experience. I look forward to using it often for myself and including the concepts in my resource toolbox for others too.
— Cynthia Tetterton-Williams, Cleveland, Ohio
“This course has been such a worthwhile investment for my wellbeing on so many levels...”
Lavinia Plonka is a very gifted teacher whose warmth and enthusiasm is equalled by her knowledge and generosity in sharing. This course is so personal in that you learn to focus on your own body and what is right for you. Every session brings greater awareness and will continue to do so as you repeat them, integrate your learning, and bring your knowledge into your everyday life. This course has been such a worthwhile investment for my wellbeing on so many levels — not only physical but also mental, emotional, and spiritual, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone interested in taking responsibility for their own health.
— Mandy, Cornwall, United Kingdom
“Feldenkrais is a pain-free and loving way to learn awareness about your body...”
This course was at the perfect time! Not just my physical body benefited — there was so much more in this for me. Each session was like a meditation for me. There was Lavinia’s guidance and my movement. My mind was quiet. I feel so much better from each class. I practice the downloads daily. I teach yoga, and this has become “my yoga.” I have more energy and I feel lighter after some sessions. Feldenkrais is a pain-free and loving way to learn awareness about your body while releasing tension and pain. I have become aware of more compensatory habits, which I have been working on. I would recommend Feldenkrais for any “body.” Thank you, Lavinia and The Shift Network.
— Patti, Rocky Mountain House, Canada
“... experience a deeper and richer sense of embodiment…”
The elegant simplicity and the beautiful intelligence of the Feldenkrais Method come alive in the skillful hands of Lavinia Plonka. A Feldenkrais lesson directed by her is an invitation to experience a deeper and richer sense of embodiment while playfully exploring the body’s intelligent design. She will remind you often to stay curious, to find enjoyment in the movements, and to expand your awareness about your body’s experience. Above all, Lavinia is very personable, articulate, caring, and committed 100 percent to your benefitting from the inspired teachings of Moshe Feldenkrais.
— Telley Leimbach, Virginia Beach, Virginia
Join the Global Community
Put Your Inner Archetypes Into Action With the Feldenkrais Method offers some of the most advanced online teachings available, within a thriving, global community of learning and practice.
Join fellow students and practitioners to support and inspire each other as you integrate the teachings and practices Lavinia Plonka will share in this powerful training.
You’ll be part of an international community that’s on the leading edge of a global movement of people manifesting a world grounded in principles of cooperation, harmony, and reverence for all of life.
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Twelve 90-Minute Class Sessions With Lavinia Plonka
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 includes a live streaming video option and guides you to discover specific skills and abilities to create a more loving relationship with yourself. Course sessions are on Tuesdays at 9:00am Pacific.
Twelve Video Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the digital video will be available for you to download or stream in high-quality format. You will not receive anything in the mail. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can watch anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Twelve Audio Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the audio 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 at your convenience.
Twelve PDF Transcripts of Class Sessions
In addition to the high-quality videos and MP3 audios, you’ll also receive the entire class transcription after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Twelve 30-Minute Interactive Group Practice Sessions
With live class attendance, there will be a 30-minute optional interactive practice session directly following each class. You’ll be placed in an intimate group with several other participants on the conference call to interact, share, and do additional practices with to help further integrate the weekly lessons. Practice sessions are available for live attendance only, not recorded for playback. If you’re unable to attend the calls live, the Facebook online community group allows you to connect with each other and find alternative times to interact.
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 week’s lesson.
Online Community
Our exclusive Facebook online community is the perfect place to continue your discovery process after each class. Here, you can continue the discussion about your course materials and interact with your fellow students to take your exploration to an even deeper level.
The Archetypes Into Action Bonus Collection
- Back Relief
5-Part Audio Teaching From Lavinia Plonka - Going Deep
Video Dialogue With Lavinia Plonka and Francine Bonjour Carter - Breathe In, Breathe Out
PDF Article From Lavinia Plonka
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Put Your Inner Archetypes Into Action With the Feldenkrais Method Online Training
We feel honored that Lavinia Plonka has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive LIVE online training. This is a unique opportunity to interact directly with a body language expert and Guild-Certified Feldenkrais Teacher whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.
If you’re serious about creating a more loving relationship with yourself, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world 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.
Note: If you have NOT experienced Lavinia’s Unlock Your Archetypal Strengths With the Feldenkrais Method® teachings before (through her 7-module course), you’re welcome in this advanced training but we ask that you register at a different page. Please click here to learn more and register.
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed! If you don’t absolutely LOVE Put Your Inner Archetypes Into Action With the Feldenkrais Method — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form on or before April 13, 2021 and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
More Praise for Lavinia Plonka...
“... feeling taller, stronger, pain-free, and awakened...”
In practicing Feldenkrais, it looks and feels like you’re doing next to nothing, yet the effects are profound. Taking Lavinia’s classes always leaves 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
“... free up our bodies, relax our minds, and open our hearts.”
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
“... unlocking the power of the Feldenkrais Method to free attention and create greater ease...”
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 on The Divine Dance
“Lavinia... helps you know your body in easy and accessible ways that lead to transformation.”
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
About Lavinia Plonka
Body language expert Lavinia Plonka 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 a certified Assistant Trainer. She 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Note: If you have NOT experienced Lavinia’s Unlock Your Archetypal Strengths With the Feldenkrais Method® teachings before (through her 7-module course), you’re welcome in this advanced training but we ask that you register at a different page. Please click here to learn more and register.
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 video conferencing 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 on Facebook 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 April 13, 2021. To request a refund, please click on this refund request form and submit your request. Qualifying refunds will be processed within five business days and an email confirming the refund will be sent. 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 support@theshiftnetwork.com and we’ll be happy to help! (No refund requests accepted after the above date or with scholarship awards.)
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.
Note: If you have NOT experienced Lavinia’s Unlock Your Archetypal Strengths With the Feldenkrais Method® teachings before (through her 7-module course), you’re welcome in this advanced training but we ask that you register at a different page. Please click here to learn more and register.
