8 presentations highlighting fundamental principles of play using photos and videos of children and 8 Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons. Access to videos & downloadable audio recordings and 6 recorded Q&A sessions.

Intro: Qualities Present in Play
- Talk: Qualities Present in Play
- Talk: Non-Striving in Learning
- Minimal Lifting on the Belly
- Talk: Subtlety, Reducing Force & Sensing Differences
- Opening on the Side

1. Reversibility in Play and Learning
- Talk: Reversibility In Play and Learning
- Reaching on the Back
- Q & A: Reversibility In Learning

2. Variation and Organic Learning
- Talk: Variation and Organic Learning
- Sliding the Arms While Lying on the Belly
- Q & A: Variation in Organic Learning

3. Mapping Primordial Relationships
- Talk: Mapping Primordial Relationships - Pelvis, Spine & Head
- Connecting Breath, Pelvis, Spine & Head
- Q & A: Paradoxical Breathing, Pelvis, Spine & Head

4. Mistakes, Curiosity & Learning
- Talk: Mistakes, Curiosity & Learning
- Reaching in Sitting and Cross Crawling
- Q & A: Mistakes, Curiosity & Learning

5. Emergence, Intention & Orientation
- Talk: Emergence, Intention & Orientation
- Lizard Movements on the Belly
- Q & A: Emergence, Intention & Orientation

6. Playfulness
- Talk: Playfulness
- Holding Foot on Back
- Q & A: Playfulness and Series Wrap-Up

“That was magical. A couple of times I felt almost moved to tears by the sense of discovery, like an explorer in a new land. And with the sense of groundedness, and supreme safety, and a sort of confidence to move, and act, and respond in this new world. Wow. These discoveries and feelings will be really useful in my every day life... very, very empowering” - Jacqueline

“Thank you for such an enlightening experience.. I feel so calm and whole after starting the class feeling hindered by tight places and habitual movements that do not use a soft, full open belly and chest...Thanks for sharing your personal experience, your family. Wonderful to see such patient and respectful parenting from a non-parent.” -Marcella Tancreti 

“I feel more interested and patient with my own growth and learning.” -Joey Freeman, Tutor

“The series helped me eliminate more striving from my movements and to allow for and invite more spontaneity -- and more laughter and high spirits.” - Michael Moon

“I found this...so powerful in its light, subtle, non-forceful, almost non-doing approach. It’s exactly the kind of inner attitude I want to cultivate. Matty offers just the right sweet vibe in his guidance” - RS

“I learned to be mindful and not disrupt the exploration of kids.”

“I have come away with a greater appreciation and experience of the potency of exploration and mistakes in learning and the relationship between the two. I loved the focus of the lessons on aspects of play and learning. It was brilliantly orchestrated.” - Dawne Roy, Reading/Learning Specialist and Feldenkrais Trainee

“With a child with CP, it is hard not to feel overwhelmed by all the things he can't do, all the catching up that he needs, all the ways his younger sister has already overtaken him. The course helped me to find ways of working with him where he is for part of each day, and trying to find the qualities of play in how we are”

7 Awareness Through Movement Lessons and 7 short Presentations highlighting fundamental principles of play. Access to videos & downloadable audio recordings.

Intro: Risk and Learning
- Talk: Risk and Learning
- Lifting Arms and Legs on All Fours

1. Patterns, Variation & Sensing Differences
- Talk: Patterns, Variation & Sensing Differences
- Reaching for Your Foot on Your Back

2. Flow and Movement
- Talk: Flow and Movement
- Tilting Knees, Spiraling from Sitting to Standing

3. Constraints in Play
- Talk: Constraints in Play
- Hooking the Big Toe

4. Balancing Weights
- Talk: Balancing Weights
- Shifting Weights on Hands and Feet- 4 Points

5. Imagination Play & Learning
- Talk: Imagination Play & Learning
- 5 Lines with Water

6. Play & Moving from Horizontal to Vertical
- Talk: Play & Moving from Horizontal to Vertical
- Playing with Elements of Standing with Legs Crossed

"I particularly enjoyed watching the videos of Matty's children demonstrating the theme of the week. It really made me look at early childhood development with a new perspective."

"I just imagine how much FUN school/life could have been with a teacher like Matty. It's almost absurd to think what a different person one can become if these ideas are actually applied. In any case, still very much rather have a lesson like this now than never.” - Alex

"I really took on how children learn how to do something and then challenge themselves by learning it in a different way or more complicated or risky. That changes how I look at learning." 

5 Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons.

1. Intro to Maturity & Embodied Poise
2. Finding Length: Tilting Legs on Back
3. Slow Lifting on the Stomach
4. 5 Lines with Rolling
5. 5 Lines with Tubes

"I found this a great bite sized reminder of key elements in Awareness Through Movement"

"As a music teacher of young children, this little talk has me so very much looking forward to learning more from Matty about his work with child development. So excited to check out his Carl Rogers course!"

"Going directly to what you were saying at the end of the class about uprightness, verticality: the difference at the end when just either standing or turning was amazing: such ease, suppleness, and such willingness to move and come along smoothly as the movement developed. What a sense of connection, communication that makes the movement pleasurable and endearing. Thanks loads, Matty!!!"

"So much richness for body, mind, and soul in this lesson. The invitation to look for ease and simplicity when approaching learning and change resonates with me on many levels of life and I could really feel it guiding me as I went through the lesson. It's valuable to hear again that "there's no need to compromise yourself." 💙💚💜 And the relationship between maturation and verticality - 100%. In standing at the end I felt my head go toward the ceiling as I shifted onto one leg (in the beginning I had felt myself shrink) - ready to respond to the lions!"

"Thank you for this wonderful lesson, so rich in its simplicity. I feel my spine very long and at ease, enjoyed the rhythm of the lesson"

"Thanks for the pace in this session Matty. It is the 3rd time doing this and ive not managed to complete it yet and go to the finish of the session. I find it is so profound each time i come to it, there is newness and delight. It is so intense my body reaches a point when i need to come away into an upright organisation. Umm as i write this im guessing there is some learning at this point!!"

"What a lovely lesson! I feel longer, more settled and at ease. Thanks Matty!"

"At the end, walking feels simpler. The round ball of my abdomen rests in the bowl of my pelvis. Also these words from Matty: "How we can let go of the ways that we interfere with ourselves.... How you can allow what wants to happen happen.""

"Super valuable exploration. Want to take that with me all day. So thankful. It’s like receiving my life back, parts that were not noticed. I pray that this personal peace can somehow be communicated in my massage work with others. Bless you so much for your sensitivity. It is a gift."

"In my experience this is a fluid and harmonious journey of being guided so delicately and pleasurably on the floor by your presence and your voice. By now I do appreciate more and more lessons on the stomach. I even started to sometimes sleep on my belly. My lower back is less painful after the lesson and in standing looking up is so light and easy. Thank you so much, Matty!"

"What an adventure. I was smiling by the end. It was fun to play with the image of being a stick figure with a paper body.:"

"I really appreciate how the simplicity of imagining/feeling the 5 lines could be so powerful in making the tilting/rolling so much easier, more functionally simple, and even elegant.
Whenever I remember, I check in with how that rectangular shape may be in my body at the moment - no trying to change or fix anything, but simply as a different and interesting parameter to notice the state of the body's alignment and position. It's really interesting!"

"I felt like a sci-fi goose flapping through the neon beams of the stratosphere. And at the very end breath was all there was. Thank you for this liberatory series."

"I really loved Matty's lesson. His voice is so soft and I could feel for the very first time the weight of my head in my hand.  Amazing.  I’ve been Feldenkraising for more than 20 years but I could never relax enough to really let my hand hold my head.  Really amazing."

10 Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons.

1. Talk: Exploring the Ideas of Carl Rogers & Moshe Feldenkrais
2. Unwinding Embodied Compulsion - Twisting with the Head fixed
3. Twisting the Pelvis with a Long Arm
4. Reaching on the Back
5. Simple Pelvic Clock
6. Lifting the Head, Soles Touching
7. Pelvis Backward on Hands & Knees
8. Holding Foot on Back
9. Tilting One Knee on Back Connecting to Arms Overhead
10. Tilting Knees on Stomach and Extending the Spine

“Really LOVE the quote you read 2/3 into the lesson. It opened up my awareness about the subtle attempt to hold fragments of the somatic experience together, and moved me to open up into letting self organization come in. Immediately more of my body became naturally involved that was previously unknowingly fixated.” - Rosanna

"Another surprising unwinding. Lifting my R elbow at the beginning was nearly impossible and quite easy at the end. My entire body evened out. It lifted my spirits as well, and I wasn’t feeling bad to begin with! Love hearing quotes from Rogers and Feldenkrais - they are supporting a workshop I’m teaching as a bonus!"

"suddenly could move my spine in the upper part in an amazing way...so freeing"

"This lesson gave me the opportunity to know my shoulder blades, arms, and ribs in new ways. I really appreciate this support to enhance intimacy with the self."

“I am astonished at how much there was in this lesson for me. Little seemed to be happening while I was doing it, although I was drinking the concepts. However, when I stood and walked, I felt the fluidity and the connections to parts of my body I had not imagined were involved. Looking forward to exploring the lesson more this week. Thank you for this very dense lesson.” - Peri McQuay

"What a fun lesson Matty! I feel completely longer and lighter and revitalized. Thank you!” - Mary

“My rib cage feels more settled downwards, and it feels like there is a bit more space between the ribs. Love the guidance of exploration.” - Rosanna

"I'm moving through this series for the second time and loving the solidity I feel in my entire back, shoulder blades, ribcage as the lesson progressed. I think Matty you have it right at the end when you talk about a sense of wholeness. My mind was so scattered and chaotic after a stressful day and that was mirrored in my parts that felt like they were all working extra hard to keep me going on their own. Once they all came together I feel an internal consistency. Now I'm wondering how to keep the fragmentation from happening during the day. Or how to bring myself back when things get hectic. Plenty to explore. I can't thank you enough."

"This was an absolutely lovely lesson, a surprisingly wonderful expanded awareness and emphasis on enjoyment that allowed me to unwind and connect all my parts into a cohesive whole. Thank you!"

"I experienced a lot of ease and pleasure in this lesson. The simplicity is great in order to really sense the inner landscape. It was cool to do the movements of the pelvis in mermaid position - that was new for me and really fun. I also felt a lot of openness and space in my collarbones."

"Much more ease and flow in my locked-up sacrum. I appreciate these lessons being linked with Rogers' thinking. An interesting introduction to these ideas.” - Peri McQuay"

"One of the best lessons for creating a huge change from scattered to connected and separate to whole bodiedness. In the end on the floor my head had a massive range that I wasn't anticipating, it wanted to turn versus being asked to turn at the beginning. In walking at the end my whole torso feels like warm honey and my diaphragm can plunge all the way down into the barrel of my belly. I am thinking how small movements and a just right amount of effort can also be applied to changes on a psychological level on my path of personal growth."

"It was so interesting to do this ATM that asked for more effort. It challenged me to look for ways to find ease and comfort within that. I discovered that it was actually easier to lift head and feet when I made my curl inward more pronounced - like when I really committed to the shape I found a stillness and lessening of effort."

“Matty your suggestions for using our imagination along with finding ease through this class was a catalyst for "finding something new". Your presentation and the wording/phrases have a very particular flavour which invited me to 'catch' or have insight of an old old mental habit. A delicious process thank you!!” - Janet Patricia Lewis

“That was lovely, Matty. I feel more balanced not only physically, but emotionally and mentally too. I feel very light and fluid too.” - Mary

"It has been a challenging day (and week) mental health-wise and this lesson brought me some peace. I appreciate being able to observe how that expresses itself somatically as in the beginning my left side was taking all the weight through my leg, pelvis, ribs, and even the left side of my head. At the end the sides of my body felt equalized. I suppose the same occurred in my brain, which provided relief from my anxiety. Thank you"

"Three cheers for, as Matty put it, coloring in all the different sides and angles of the hip joints! I noticed a lot, including asymmetries and partnerships, and it was cool to explore non-habitual configurations."

"I experienced a lot of pleasure in this lesson. It was good practice for sensing for what was easy and simple and gradually expanding my range, like water spreading slowly through sand. As the lesson went on, my belly started to feel like a long canister with my breathing filling in the whole length down into my pelvis."

"This was an awesome lesson for my ongoing exploration of the differences, connections, and variations between my right and left sides (this left/right theme is even showing up in my dreams so a real whole-self investigation). My movements were minute throughout much of the lesson and it was exquisite to be able to perceive and give myself that attention. I played with different imagery connecting the hips and shoulders - lines on the same side and lines crisscrossing and sometimes all at once going outward and then going inward. At one point in the middle of the lesson, lying long, I felt like the whole back of my body had been rolled onto the floor like ink with a brayer. Some of the flattest I've felt through my shoulder blades and midback, wow!"

"Calm, reconnected... The connection that I feel to my body's true nature after a lesson like this is the magic I look for with Feldenkrais. Feels good to be more in my body and sense its interconnection of movement."

"Thank you for this wonderful lesson!! I feel taller and so much more connected in my body, inner breathing spaces have clarified. I also appreciate your reference to Carl Rogers. I read his books and also Eugene Gendlin , whose method Focusing (The felt sense) I found very interesting. All the best for the New Year to you and your family! -Heike"

"What a nice lesson returning to a state of being more serene and yet more awakened! At the end of the lesson my breathing was quieter but deeper and more dynamic . My chest was wider, my gaze was higher, I felt taller, shoulders and arms as I walked freer all this while I kept feeling more present in the moment, quietly and confident. I also want to quote you. You said towards the end something I really liked : " The attunement to yourself is very central to the core of this work." (Redundancies happen...😉. ) I think it's important to remember this ! Thanks for the inspiration !"

"Doing this lesson felt like a real act of loving of my self today. In the last part I felt as light and strong as a goose flying high in the air. In the afterglow I am experiencing peace and support and freedom. Thank you, Matty."

"I feel more space in my chest, spine feels longer, neck feels more free. Also space around me feels different, more 3-dimensional. I feel more quiet after a challenging day, thank you! Heike"