Many times over the years I have done what I call "Feldenkrais Deep Dives" where I work intensively with the Alexander Yanai sessions and others such as the Esalen workshop and do 2-3 sessions per day, every day, for as long as I can handle it.
The changes that I have created for myself by doing so have been tremendous. Doing 3 sessions a day for about 28 days is what finally got me to leave the U.S. in 2010 and move to Mexico. Several years earlier, in about 2006, I recorded and did the first 25 of the AY sessions and it gave me the huge revelation that my experiences in Feldenkrais trainings and workshops were useful - but not as deeply transformational as going into Moshe's core teaching.
Keeping off drugs, going to grad school (and quitting grad school), expanding my business, and moving to Mexico are all changes in my life that I attribute to my intensive of Feldenkrais sessions.
There are dozens of rare and hard-to-find Alexander Yanai session on my Easy Feldenkrais membership site as well as downloadable AY sessions on my products page.
Update: I added an Alexander Yanai section to my growing Feldenkrais History page.
Conozco AY y tengo 2 vólumenes traducidos al italiano que hago a menudo.
Saludos Ryan, desde Barcelona!
I do not know Yanni’s work; pls tell me. Pauline
I have several voliumes, and there was a period in which I did many of them, like you, until I was “full to the brim”. A real treasure. Now I have the recordings in Hebrew, and it is much easier to do them just by listening. Haven’t touched the tip of the iceberg yet, as my body has serious limitations now, but there are enough lessons till the end of my life…
Ryan,
Yes, I have the entire collection of Alexander Yanai lessons. I was fortunate to experience them in my training and I continue to do and teach them regularly. Actually I have been working on the Lesson Locator project with Larry Goldfarb. The Lesson Locator is a digital card catalog of Moshe’s lessons. We decided to start with the Alexander Yanai lessons.
I do not know Yanal sessions where can I receive the suggested lessons Thanks Ryan
Hi Ryan
I am a beginning student of Feldenkrais and have come across the advice that one should leave an interval of 1-2 days between practising to allow the nervous system enough time to integrate the previous set of movement patterns. This somehow does not make sense to me and seems like a very simplistic understanding of the nervous system if only based on the fact that infants move and learn all the time, every day. The certainly do not have ‘resting’ days. So I was reassured to read your article detailing your daily practice of 2-3 sessions. Could you please comment further?
Hi Joanna, I suppose it COULD be useful to take a day between sessions if someone feels the need. But it is certainly not a requirement nor need. In his trainings Moshe would teach 3 session per day (I believe) so that should give us a clue that it is Ok. The nervous system can certainly handle it!
As an aside, I sometimes find it useful to day a lesson right before going to bed and give myself and body the whole night to process it. But again, not out of necessity, only because I want to.
I hope that helps!
Cheers! – Ryan
Hi Naffie – Great to hear from you! I heard recently that Larry integrates a lot of AY into his trainings. I did know that. I hope your integrations continue to bear fruit for you.
Ryan
Hi Michal – That is fantastic that you have the sessions in Hebrew. They would not do me much good, I suppose, thought at one time I had a basic Hebrew vocabulary. I have recently felt some of the limitations of my aging body. Not in regard to AY but in regard to taking hiking trips. Something that I have not done recently and feel the need to start again. I will keep doing AY to keep myself “in action.”
cheers! – Ryan
Que bien Esther! No sabia que las lecciones habian sido traducidas al italiano. Muy “cool.” Que estes bien. Espero que nos vemos alla un dia.
Un abrazo!
Thanks for letting me know Pauline. I will do a blog post on the soon. In brief, they are transcriptions and translations of sessions that Moshe taught in Israel in his studio on Alexander Yanai street. More to come! – Ryan
Hi Steven. Thanks for letting me know that you did not know about them. I will write a blog post on them soon. “Alexander Yanai” are transcriptions and translations of sessions that Moshe taught in Israel in his studio on Alexander Yanai street for several decades when he was developing his work. More information to come in a future blog post. – Ryan
The Yanai lessons are only available to people who have done the training, no? As a mere client, my contact with the Yanai lessons has only been second/third-hand, from practitioners who used them for lessons. Moshe’s lessons can be quite demanding, so I think many of them were at least slightly adapted – but I revisit one or two quite often because they can have startling effects.
I wish these lessons were available to the general public – while I don’t know if I would incorporate many into my daily practice, I think access to hundreds of lessons from Moshe himself would increase my intellectual appreciation and understanding of his practice. I don’t understand why access is restricted – whether it’s to protect people from something they might misuse without a proper training (which seems like nonsense), or because it helps convince people that investing in training is “worth it”, or what…
Thanks for that. I am in the process of creating a new resource called “Easy Feldenkrais” and I think I am going to include a monthly Alexander Yanai session. They have made a huge impact on my life. And you are right, they need to be more available.
Ryan