“Feldenkrais is the best method I know for the prevention or reversal of deterioration of function due to aging” according to anthropologist Margaret Mead.

Imagine what it would be like to age gracefully! You can learn to move and live differently, with more comfort, freedom and confidence. Stand taller, stop falling, breath easier, and feel lighter in your body. Maybe there is still a youthful person inside you waiting to get out and live. You can learn/re-learn to move in a more harmonious way within your whole body structure. This (often surprisingly) makes a big difference in alleviating what you thought were simply localized, specific, intractable pains and rigidities.

I offer a safe, gentle approach to physical and movement therapy and re-education formulated especially for seniors (but appropriate for everyone). You learn to go beyond dysfunctional habits of how you may be using your body. You discover healthier ways of enacting your daily life activities: sitting, standing, walking, and even sleeping. My sensitive, empathetic approach supports you in reversing ingrained habits which may be causing you needless pain and frustration. The work is very practical–you learn to make the best of what you have got, to use you body in a more natural, graceful, and youthful way.

In private session you experience gentle Feldenkrais hands-on work to relieve pain and stress, heal injuries, and evoke more comfortable movements and postures. The process is safe, gentle, and non-invasive yet surprisingly effective. In addition you can learn easy customized Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement sequences to be repeated at home. Rehab and conditioning are accomplished through work with user-friendly Pilates apparatus in a non-stressful manner adapted for seniors. Sensitive Somato-Emotional education is available for people who wish to explore the emotional attitudes within their postures.

Richard Adelman has an M. A. in Psychology and 50 year´s experience with Feldenkrais and Somatic Psychology. He is also certified in Pilates for Rehab. His over 70 year´s experience as an AfroCuban percussionist has attuned him to rhythmic aspects of embodiment, enabling him to help his clients deepen contact with their own rhythmic vitality.

Although body mechanics are important in his work, he always tries to remember that we are not machines– and we are not victims. We are always capable of learning and evolving. Each each person is seen as a living, struggling, and striving human being trying to make the best of his life in the world. This process can go beyond therapy to become self-discovery. You develop curiosity, empathy, and patience toward oneself as antidotes to fatalism, despair, and suffering which so often accompany aging and health problems. More flexibility in your body can mean a more flexible, compassionate attitude toward yourself and others.

This work is appropriate for neuro-muscular pain and stiffness from head to toe, for healing from old and recent injuries, for post-op rehab, and for neurological conditions such as Parkinson´s, strokes, and MS. Since the 1980s Richard has worked extensively with injured computer-users and musicians.

Appointments are available in my office in Centro or I can come to your home or office. On Saturdays I give hands-on therapy at the TOSMA Saturday Market in the garage at Mercado Sano. Group classes in Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement take place a various locations. Please contact me if you are interested.

I have been living in Mexico for 25 years and am bilingual.

Testimonials from Berkeley, California patients:

•  The poet Rilke says, “You must change your life.” Richard´s intuitive and respectful work has helped me to do this.
— Gail Shafarman, Poet and Psychotherapist

•  Richard´s hands-on work is great. Richard understands how a body makes music. He has helped my whole body become more musical.
–Bruce Loeb, Silent Film Pianist, Pacific Film Archives, UC Berkeley

•  In his hands-on work Richard creates a sense of spaciousness that allows me to deeply experience my own body.
–Corey Fischer, Founding Member, A Traveling Jewish Theatre

•  Each one-hour movement class is as refreshing as a week at the beach!
— Celina Chavarría, Costa Rican Psychologist and Fulbright Scholar

•  Richard´s hands-on work is pure and essential. Of the many forms of bodywork I´ve tried over the past several years, Richard´s has had the most immediate, painless, and lasting effect on my entire posture.
— Margo Leslie, Executive Secretary and Violinist

•  Working with Richard empowered me to cut through my chronic neck, back, shoulder, and arm pain and and the anxiety surrounding this pain.
–Jim Matthews, Court Reporter and Word Processor

•  In Richard´s classes I learned to slow down, sense my own rhythm, and savor life.
–Adrienne Bryant, Office Organizing Consultant