Feedback Letters

I really enjoy hearing from all of you and would like to share some of the letters you've written below. Please continue to send me questions or comments using our contact form, or by emailing Info@bonesforlife.com

Dear Ruthy,
 
Your manner of speaking somehow is very poetical to my ear,
the words you spoke (in Bones for Life at San Francisco)
were floating in the air and I gathered them here:
 
Conference of the Bones
 
Sitting in a chair year by year
bones succumb and become gravity’s slave.
Collapsing joints suffer sore stiffness
Despondent shuffling skeletons
Brittle bones began to break
Smart skulls soaked skeletons in mineral stews
even this did not seem to help
 
So one day a skeleton started to think for herself
And after a time called
A Conference of the Bones
 
A hum filled the air
vibrating the skeletons
of all who were there
Learn to listen from within a whisper said
bones were tapped and softly shaken awake
Spines one moment moving as a gentle ocean wave
and the next as straight and strong as any tree branch
 
Learning to sink, spiral, and roll
in one smooth uninterrupted flow
Unafraid to fall the bones started to rise
bit by bit they became biologically optimized
And thus called forth to grow
become more alive and dense
Just begin and do it
and it will make so much sense!
 
Skipping down stairs and melting to the floor
her image was sweetly stamped inside their skulls
Feeling the ground the souls of the feet
regained their strong supple religion by
reconnecting deep within the church of the earth
Crowns began to rise toward heaven
 
With a Sherpa’s smile
and a Water Carrier’s wave
they walk on learning how to teach
teaching others how to learn
to bring the bones back to Life!
 
Robert Hamilton

Dear Ruthy,
 
I hope you are well and enjoying your summer. I have been studying my Bones for Life transcripts and teacher’s manuals in preparation for the Didactic I am taking this August. I have been reading and practicing the sequences, and I am totally amazed at your mind. I find myself underlining so many of your statements and writing “critically important” after each of these points.
 
I have no ulterior motives in sending you this positive feedback. I just want you to know that you have devised an amazing system, and that it is indeed changing my life. I have 62 years of bad habits to reverse, and after only one course with you I already sense that BFL is helping me move with more rhythm and grace.
 
There are many things you have built into your program that I especially love. One, for example, is the fact that we often start by standing, and you ask us to rate how easy it is to assume that posture. As a researcher, I love that you ask us to assess our baseline before we do the process. Then after the process, you make sure that we again return to assessment.
 
There are many more things I have come to appreciate about BFL. I never before realized how I moved in bursts and spurts because I was letting sections of my spinal column collapse during axis movement, or that I tended to limit my range of motion during wave-like movement. I may not have corrected everything just yet, but at least I now know that my best chance to fix the inward curve of my neck is through my arms, and that I can increase my range and coordination by using rhythm and pressure.
 
You are helping me unlock my body piece by piece, Ruthy. There are so many wonderful concepts that you emphasize, and each one feels like a gift. Thanks to you, Moshe, and Bones for Life, I find myself continuing to grow: mentally, emotionally, and physically — as well as spiritually. You took what Moshe developed and you refined and condensed it brilliantly.
 
I felt so thankful after the New York course in May. Now, after reading all the Kentucky transcripts and studying the manuals, I can hear you saying the words as I read them; I can see you moving gracefully, and standing all day long with only a short midday rest. Thank heavens Denise encouraged me to start on the BFL journey. I don’t ever remember feeling the rhythm of life more profoundly.
 
And I am having so much fun learning!
 
With deep gratitude,
Shereen

Dear Ruthy,
 
A few recent success stories:
 
– A former Bones student of mine, for whom English is not her first language, excitedly told me that she had been to the doctor and had “grown up!” (A half-inch or so.)
 
– Another Bones student, who in spite of being quite tall, athletic and long-legged, could never keep up walking with her husband and son. They always told her she needs to step heel-toe and peel through her foot. She went walking with them last week (after only 4 Bones classes) and was amazed to find that she had no trouble keeping up!
 
– And me: I reduced the prescription in my glasses about 5 years ago, going from 100% prescription progressive lenses to 50% lenses for close-up and 80% lenses for night driving. I just went to the eye doctor and my L eye had improved 21% and my R eye 33%! I know for sure this had something to do with reducing my reliance on the crutch of glasses. But I felt in my gut — in my Bones! — that BFL definitely had something to do with it . . .
 
— Louise (Bones For Life teacher)

A New Beginsey

Barefoot was taboo at eighty years old,
’Till Nancy said I could. Now I am bold,
To wriggle my toes. I just had to be told.
 
Nancy said I was flexible enough
To spiral to the floor, and although it was tough,
I can, but my landing’s still a bit rough.
 
Crimson turned I when she brought out the wrap,
Swathed in it, I sure looked like a sap.
So delicious it felt, I jumped and I clapped.
 
And when I breathed deep on the beige carpet floor,
I grew so relaxed, I’m afraid I did snore,
Slept better that night than I ’ere did before.
 
So thanks to my teacher Nancy Linsley,
Who ferrets out pains from head to shinsey,
Movement awareness for me is just a beginsey.

— Marta Sarkissian

Dear Ruthy,
 
I taught another seminar 2 weeks ago.
 
Everyone left happy — especially a woman with MS who has walked with a cane for a long while. She twisted a harness into a crown, put it on her head and walked steadily without her cane for the first time in many years. It was a beautiful afternoon. I begin working with seniors at a local senior center this Wednesday. I taught a demo class there last month and we all had a lot of fun. Now they’ll register for a class that meets every week for 2 months.

Love,
Kim (Bones For Life teacher)

Dear Ruthy,
 
My name is Georg Feuerstein. I spent three days with you and “Bones for Life” in February in Vienna.
 
Since I am a Feldenkrais practitioner and live with a hemiplegia after a severe head/brain injury 30 years ago, you were interested in my feedback about your Bones for Life program. I apologize for my late answer. I would like to give my feedback on a personal and on a professional level.
 
As a handicapped person I personally found it very thrilling to feel my skeletal structures becoming very much clearer, and my upright organization against gravity improving in such a short time. Not only my being upright in a static sense, but also my movement patterns (altered through my handicap), e.g. walking, changed impressively:
 
The rolling of my handicapped foot on the floor while walking became much easier. The integration of my back while stepping stairs became clearer.
The position of the pelvis in connection to the spine changed, and found an improvement.
 
There are lots of other little changes that occurred, but the most remarkable thing is, that although this rather short workshop took place nearly three months ago, the process of remembering the experiences is still rather strong, and also the process of integrating the new patterns in daily life is continuing.

Now my professional view:
 
I am working a lot with elder people and the material from the workshop offered itself immediately to be tried out with several ATM-groups. For me, as a Feldenkrais practitioner, it was a strong experience and an interesting enrichment of my own “tools of work.” The elder people, aged between 70 and 85, enjoyed this way of working very much. Their feedback stated that they were feeling stronger and clearer, more flexible; the
blood flow in the extremities improved significantly, and this effect stayed on.

I am looking forward to continue the learning process with you, although it looks like I cannot take part in the next workshop in Vienna in October this year.
 
Could you tell me the dates of your seminars in the German-speaking area this summer, where I can make up for the second part of “ Bones for Life” (instead of October) ?

Best wishes!
 
Yours sincerely,

Georg Feuerstein

Hi Ruthy,
 
I took your Bones for Life I at the Feldenkrais Guild conference in San Francisco recently. I mentioned a significant change I noticed as a result of the ATM's, and you asked me to detail it to you in an email.
 
Here goes:
 
For about 20 years I have played the viola da gamba, a cello-like instrument that is used for baroque and renaissance music. Since it has no end-pin you support it by balancing the instrument between your knees. I have had a problem with chronic right shoulder tension. In difficult passages of the music or in stressful situations like performances the problem gets much worse.
 
After the “Roman Sandals” lesson I initially felt when I walked a wonderful connection to the ground, and springiness. What surprised and delighted me is that when I went home and began to practice I felt a very different relationship of my feet to the ground as I held the instrument. The right foot was much more connected to the floor, and I could feel the connection of the pressure of my foot through my leg and into my pelvis.
 
This new connection allowed me to move my weight more freely on the pelvis, and at the same time drop my right shoulder. Certain passages became much easier to play, I can tell you, with a more relaxed bowing arm and shoulder. I feel that previously I had not let my right foot support my weight. Because of that I think I was holding in the pelvis and right shoulder in an effort to ground myself, i.e. if the weight couldn’t be supported by the floor I had to create that support higher in my body.
 
Quite a lesson! Thank you.
 
Sincerely,
Karen Ande

Dear Ruthy —

Your workshop was quite superb. Thanks for your commitment. The evaluations are excellent and many people would like you to return. I am among them. We would be honored to have you come here again and offer a longer training. I will be working with Olivia to facilitate that happening. I am looking forward to working with her to offer a certificate training program, Bones for Life, beginning in the Fall 2004. The proposal should be organized with academic content and a particular format to request university option credit.
 
Wishing you a joyous and peaceful New Year!

Many blessing and appreciation —
 
Ken Zeno, Director
Institute for Body, Mind, and Spirituality

Dear Susan,

You asked me what’s new about Bones for Life developed by Ruthy Alon and why I’m so excited about it. Here are some of the reasons and then some explanations of how it relates to the Feldenkrais Method(R).

It’s a safe way to do weight-bearing exercise to stimulate healthy bone growth. All regimens for dealing with osteoporosis call for weight-bearing exercise. This type of exercise is pain free, brilliant and it works!

It adds a spring to your walk! Ankles and knees and hip joints spring you into action. You are light on your feet!

It makes you stand tall and gives you flexibility to walk, run, advance freely! Your head is held high, your neck and spine feel straight yet are flexible and your ribs move in such delightful new ways, that you breathe more fully — without huffing and puffing.

It’s empowering and energizing, giving you a “can do” feeling that Ruthy Alon calls “biological optimism!” The new energy adds a sparkle to your eyes — your whole being! Susan, all of these things happened to me when I study Bones for Life (tm) with its developer Ruthy Alon. Ruthy is an expert teacher of the Feldenkrais Method(r) that she learned from Moshe Feldenkrais (1904–1984).
She was among his first pupils.

Cheers,
Susan
Hedy Ohringer

I want to thank you for your “Bones” course at Kripalu. It is too soon to know whether it is possible for me to grow new bones, but I have already received at least one hugely appreciated benefit from those three days. As I drove my rented car back to the airport at Albany on my way home, I noticed that my head felt as if it were “floating” above my shoulders — in other words, the stiffness in my neck that had been bothering me for months had disappeared, and I could turn my head freely once again. Probably your lessons had helped me realign my body so that I was carrying myself more efficiently and more comfortably, a happy byproduct of the course.

When one takes into account that I am eighty-six years old, and have had a hip replacement that somewhat restricts my mobility, it makes me even more grateful.

Thank you!
Helen Weinrich (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

Hi Ruthy —

Just wanted to let you know how much I'm enjoying sharing the material from
your three part “Bones for Life” training in Los Angeles. I have offered several half day workshops since last year's training, which have been well appreciated. The room I use is small, so it is a small group each time, three to seven people. Last month I offered a three and a half hour Continuing workshop, for people who wanted more Bones for Life after the Introductory workshop. I always love to offer this material, and there is plenty of it, so I enjoy feeling generous with my students.

See you at the conference in San Francisco! I'm signed up for your Thursday workshop on Integrating Weight Bearing in FI Lessons. Really looking forward to seeing you and to absorbing all you have to share! The Bones for Life training has helped me develop my understanding and ability to work with clients in weight bearing movements.

Fondly,
Jean Elvin, MFA, GCFP

Hello Ruthy,

Thank you ever so much Ruthy for the nine days in Wellington. It has propelled me into another level of understanding Feldy work. I am having much better results in my classes and F.I. now.

As I stick to the principal thinking of what I learned from you, when I let the body come to the biological experience of the mechanisms of walking and gate, in all its various forms and complexities, things begin to shift. Ingrained patterns of gait change and another choice of how to be eventuates.

I am teaching three classes per week per term and four hours per week is Bones For Life material. I also add my stability work with the raband and balls and weights into two of the classes also. And the integration of this work is much more connected now. Since doing the nine days I can adlib, change, and adapt my lessons, which before doing B.F.L. I had always struggled with this in teaching A.T.M. The integration has been incredible. I am so glad that I had played with your material for the 18 months prior to doing your B.F.L. My students are relishing in the material that I am teaching them now. Some of them have been with me for years, and others are new to my teaching, the response has been really positive and exciting. Thank you Ruthy.

I am really interested in studying with you further, if that is at all possible. Is there an outline that you can give me of how I can achieve this? I live in country Australia which makes it quite isolated for me, however, the benefit is that it keeps me well motivated.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful experience with us, one that I truly treasure.

Yours sincerely,

Jenny