Mentoring & Advanced Trainings

Mentoring

Mentoring is close to my heart. When I finished my Feldenkrais training and started out as a practitioner, I wished I had had the opportunity to work with a Feldenkrais mentor who could help me bridge and navigate the transition from being a student to becoming a confident practitioner. I had many questions and insecurities and it would have been invaluable to talk these through with a more experienced practitioner. As there was a lack of Feldenkrais mentors at that time, I attended advanced trainings instead, but still missed that more individual guidance and support a mentoring relationship provides. 
 

Partly in response to my own experience, but also because I believe in supervision and mentoring for teaching professions, I attended a Feldenkrais Mentoring course with Larry Goldfarb in Amsterdam. Since completing the programme in 2006 I have been offering individual or small group mentoring either in person or online. 
 

If you would like to work with me we can discuss what you would like to focus on, whether it be your class/workshop teaching or your individual work. I am fairly flexible in my approach and happy to help you address any questions or concerns that have come up in your practice. Some mentees might look for guidance on working with a specific client or on how to frame and contextualise a Functional Integration lesson. Others might want more general guidance on clarifying ideas or on how to move forward.

 

Being part of a small mentoring group can also be a very valuable and supportive situation/experience. Together we can think through and find solutions to various questions. The themes can be diverse, from teaching ATM to clarifying or learning more FI technique to how to compose and structure a workshop etc.

 

We can discuss how often you would like to meet and in what form. For payment I usually ask my FI hourly rate but I am happy to offer a reduced fee if you have just qualified from a training. 

 

I enjoy mentoring relationships as the questions that arise often stimulate my own reflections and thinking. Please get in touch if you would like to work with me. 

"Sabine's mentoring has been invaluable since my Feldenkrais graduation. I've had a small flurry of FI students, and working with her to strategise my approach to each of them, as well as navigate the new learnings that come with being newly qualified, has given me real confidence. Whether addressing specific complex health concerns, managing the balance of hands-on time versus conversation, or framing how a tentative student can better receive a lesson, Sabine guides with clarity and warmth. Her style is simple, direct, and gets to the heart of things quickly. I would definitely recommend Sabine at whatever stage of your practitioner journey you are at. "

 

- Lorna Smith, Feldenkrais practitioner

 

Advanced Trainings

 

Since becoming a Feldenkrais Assistant Trainer in 2020 I have been teaching several advanced trainings for qualified Feldenkrais practitioners. The themes have varied and the emphasis has been on developing and improving our Functional Integration skills as well as on how to frame and contextualise a lesson to make it a more meaningful and longer lasting experience for our clients. Together we have explored how to set the scene in a lesson and how to communicate our work but also what we do with our hands. We have further reflected on how we choose what we do in a lesson and how this is relevant to the request a client might have at the beginning of a lesson and to their life. To further hone our FI skills I have been demonstrating particular FI techniques, which we then practiced in pairs.

 

My advanced trainings also typically include some ATM teaching, movement observations and small group discussions. And there is always ample room for experimentation and questions.

 

Teaching advanced trainings has become a valued part of my practice. I enjoy the exchange with colleagues and the mutual learning that happens. In preparing for an advanced training I have to delve deeper into the Feldenkrais material which in turn informs my own progress and teaching. 

 

Please have a look at forthcoming advanced trainings below.

Next Available Trainings

 

How early developmental movement explorations influence adult functioning

Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th April 2027

Brighton

 

In this Advanced Training we will focus on the relationship between early infant sensory-motor learning and the way we later move as adults. We will examine how early explorations at each developmental stage shape the way we move later on. How do these explorations support or hinder us? To what extent do they influence our coordination, balance, posture and confidence? Can we come back to these early experimentations and fill in some incomplete or missing elements and in doing so expand our abilities?

We will in particular look at the stages of crawling and moving in and out of sitting, which in undisturbed development happen around the same time, and address this in ATM and FI. We will use the positions lying prone and leaning the torso over the table to explore what belongs to these functions and how we can support them in ATM and FI.

 

This Advanced Training will give you the opportunity to:

• Gain a better understanding of crawling and the transition into and out sitting and how this influences how we later sit, stand and walk
• Reappraise your own personal experiences of these movements, functions
• Refine your movement observations skills
• Further your FI skills

 

Venue: Unit 4, 26 Round Hill Street, Brighton BN2 3RG

Time: 10.30-16.30

Cost: £150.00 (£50.00 deposit when booking)

Booking: Please email me to book your place

 

 

"I thought the recent Advanced Training I attended with Sabine was a great and balanced mix of theory and practice. I made lots of notes on ideas that I found really helpful, especially the model of how to think about framing an FI. In our training, it sometimes seemed like we didn’t want to “reduce” our thinking to models, but they are incredibly helpful at the beginning at least - which is why the day complemented our journey so far so well. I felt that I left with a good amount of learning without feeling overwhelmed, or like I didn’t know where to start."

 

- Lars F, Feldenkrais practitioner and Singer

 

 

"Since graduating in 2020 I have used material from Sabine’s Advanced Trainings confidently and frequently with my clients. Her Advanced Training around using props in FI has been particularly useful when working with people with neurological difficulties and those experiencing chronic pain. I find Sabine’s teaching extremely clear, encouraging and supportive. Sabine is skilled at delivering content both verbally, via demonstration and through her own very sensitive touch.

What I appreciate most about Sabine’s trainings is that, in line with Feldenkrais principles, she really does foster a non-judgemental learning environment that minimises anxiety in the participants and allows everyone to learn at their own pace. Thank you Sabine!"

 

- Lisa McRory, Feldenkrais and yoga practitioner