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Introduction
Getting Grounded Gracefully is a series of 16 lessons specifically designed to help older people who may be at risk of falling, decrease their risk of falling and improve their balance. It also aims to help older people undertake more physical activity.
The program is very gentle and aims to increase a person’s awareness of how they organise themself to balance, to stand, to move and to walk. It is not necessarily an exercise program, although all the lessons explore movement, but a course in being more intelligent in how you move.
The Program
Getting Grounded Gracefully is a program which explores movement and balance in sitting, in the transition from sitting to standing, in standing, and then becomes an exploration of the possibility of walking with ease. Several themes are explored during the Program. These Include:
- Learning to find a strong sense of support in your contact with the ground.
- Learning about how important the pelvis is to balance and movement.
- Learning specifically about how to organise and control movement from the pelvis.
- Learning how balance is really about your ability to transfer weight over your base of support and how this can be made easier.
- Learning about how important the ankles are to a person's ability to balance.
- Learning how to improve ankle, knee, and hip mobility and flexibility.
- Learning to develop a fuller, more graceful walk.
Who Should do this Program
The program is very much targeted at those people who are beginning to experience a problem with their balance. This may be a problem that has already led to a fall, or even more than one fall, or it may be simply a lack of confidence in one’s balance and fear of falling. Sometimes such a lack of confidence can lead to a person restricting their movement and limiting what they attempt to do and so can have quite a large, negative impact on lifestyle and activity.
Getting Grounded Gracefully is designed to improve a person’s ability to move easily and gracefully and, over the course of the program, help older people have more confidence in their balance and in their walking.
Cautionary advice
This program is not designed for people who are very frail. To undertake this program you should be able to walk at least five metres without the aid of a walking stick and be able to stand without holding on to anything for at least one minute. Those people who normally use a walking stick occasionally, or to go outside, may still undertake the program as long as they can walk at least five metres without the aid of a walking stick and are able to stand without holding on to anything for at least one minute.
Free Trial of First Lesson
To listen to the Course Introduction and for a free trial of the first lesson of Getting Grounded Gracefully, please go to the download page. You will then be able to download two MP3 files, one for the Introduction and the other for Lesson 1 – Whole Body Turning.
Testimonials
There are many people who have completed the Program and have provided testimonials as to their improvements. These testimonials can be found at the Testimonials.
Robert Webb
Robert Webb is a Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and a member of the Australian Feldenkrais Guild. After many years experience working with older people as a Social Worker and Case Manager, he began to explore what the Feldenkrais Method could offer older people. In 2003, he was invited by the National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia to design a Feldenkrais program focussing on balance with the aim of preventing falls in the elderly. This Program was highly successful in improving the balance of the participants. He has continued to develop Getting Grounded Gracefully to the point where it is now available in its current format so that older people can do the program in their own home. |
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Ordering
Getting Grounded Gracefully comes as either a set of 16 Audio CDs or a single mp3 formatted CD. On the first track there is an introduction to the whole program which includes instructions on how to do the program and how to get the best out of it. Each lesson is between 40-60 minutes long. Also each lesson contains an individual introduction to each lesson. These introductions can be viewed at the Lesson Introduction.
Set of 16 audio CD’s
This set of 16 audio CD’s can be played on any CD player. The cost for the set of 16 audio CD’s is $119.95 plus $15 postage and handling.
Single mp3 formatted CD
This single CD contains the Introduction and all 16 lessons from the program and can only be played on CD players (including some DVD players) which can play the mp3 format. The cost for the single CD is $79.95 plus $7.50 postage and handling.
To order your copy of Getting Grounded Gracefully please go to the order page or click here Order. Payment can be made via PayPal using your credit card or via mail order.
Disclaimer
Getting Grounded Gracefully is targeted at helping older people whose balance is compromised, and who are at risk of a fall. Given the nature of this target group there is a risk involved undertaking such a program, including the possibility of a fall. Whilst every effort has been made to make sure this program is safe for older people to undertake no liability is accepted should a person injure themselves in attempting Getting Grounded Gracefully.
In purchasing Getting Grounded Gracefully you (The Purchaser) accept all risks and responsibility for losses, damages, costs and other consequences resulting directly or indirectly from the use of Getting Grounded Gracefully.
Feedback or Questions
Feedback from people who do the program is very much appreciated. Not only feedback regarding how the program effected balance, but I would particularly welcome feedback about the experience of individual lessons. Also, I would be happy to answer any questions regarding the program or questions about individual lessons. Feedback can be given to Robert Webb via email at info@gettinggroundedgracefully.com.au.
Contact us
For more information about the program contact details can be found at the Contact Us.
Acknowledgements & Links
Development of Getting Grounded Gracefully would not have been possible without the pioneering work of Dr Moshe Feldenkrais. As Dr Feldenkrais said, “the aim of the work is to make the impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy elegant.” This could be the motto of Getting Grounded Gracefully.
The lessons in the Program are taken from many different sources. I would particularly like to thank Feldenkrais Practitioners, Richard Yin & Annie Cosgrove, for the wonderful transcripts of their lessons in “The Balance Master Series for Elder Citizens”.
I would like to thank Moreland Community Health Service and, in particular, Mr Duane Bell. Without their support and encouragement the development of Getting Grounded Gracefully would not have been possible.
I would also like to thank the following Feldenkrais Trainers whose work has also contributed to the Program. They can be contacted at the addresses below. I would recommend their work as they have some wonderful lessons to draw upon.
Alan Questel ASQUESTEL@aol.com
Larry Goldfarb http://www.mindinmotion-online.com/
Dr Frank Wildman http://www.feldenkraisinstitute.org/
Mark Rees http://www.feldenkraislearning.com/