Stop being a prisoner of your past,
become the architect of your future.
— Robin Sharma
Neither conventional nor alternative therapies proved helpful for the chronic pain, limitations, and loss of body awareness Cindy Allison experienced due to fibromyalgia and repetitive stress injury. Only after she began to work with the Feldenkrais Method of neurophysical learning did Cindy experience relief and improve her mobility. Inspired by this experience, she became a Feldenkrais teacher.
Cindy contacted me more than ten years ago. She was doing doctoral research on how Moshe’s method could help individuals with spinal cord injuries. She asked me to help her design the Awareness Through Movement classes that would form the crux of her program. After I agreed to help, we worked together over the phone and via email to create the series of lessons.
In 2019, she completed her doctoral dissertation, The Development of a Feldenkrais ® Postural Programme for People with Spinal Cord Injury: An Action Research Study. She received a Ph.D. in Health Sciences from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
On July 15th, 2023, Cindy died peacefully at home in the presence of her family after a long struggle with cancer. She wanted her work to continue, hoping her project could serve as a model for working with folks with spinal cord injuries. To be part of making that happen, we have added her dissertation, along with an introduction to the project, the class outlines, ATM lessons, and homework assignments, to the Mind in Motion Online Library.
To find these invaluable resources, please log into your MIMO account and click on the Library section in the main menu. After selecting SCI Control in the dropdown menu in the left search box & Programme in the one on the right, click on Search Now.
The image at the top of today’s post is from Cindy’s Facebook account. If you’re interested in hearing her teach, you can find some of her lessons on the Bandcamp website, including a free clip.
Your thoughts?
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Responses:
Larry Goldfarb -July 24, 2023
Thanks, Ann. It was a pleasure and a delight to work with Cindy. I'm so glad that I can help carry her work on, too.
carolyn-palmer -July 24, 2023
Thanks, Larry, for providing your and Cindy Allison's SCI program materials. So helpful to me as a practitioner, researcher, and as someone still improving after an SCI. Your wisdom and perspective keep us moving onward!
Larry Goldfarb -July 25, 2023
Exactly, Peggi. Thanks for helping Cindy's calling and commmitment live on.
Larry Goldfarb -July 25, 2023
Thanks, Marg. Cindy was a most generous and encouraging person. As i wrote in the blog, the lesson transcripts from her project are now available on the MIMO website. The recordings of her scans are still available, at least for the time being, via the Bandcamp website: <a href="https://cindyallison.bandcamp.com/album/relax-reduce-pain-improve-your-body-position-sense" rel="nofollow ugc">https://cindyallison.bandcamp.com/album/relax-reduce-pain-improve-your-body-position-sens</a>
Larry Goldfarb -July 24, 2023
Dear Valerie - Thank you for your personal acknowledgment and appreciation. It was a joy for me as well to work with, support, and encourage Cindy in developing the Awareness Through Movement lessons and completing her doctoral project. I appreciate how you and other members of the Christchurch Feldenkrais community participated in and benefited from the process as well. Gratefully, Larry
Stacy Barrows -July 24, 2023
I am so deeply saddened by the loss of Cindy. She was so available and helpful when my sister suffered a spinal cord injury. Thank you for sharing her generous heart and spirit. May she rest in peace ❤️?
Larry Goldfarb -July 25, 2023
Thank you, Annette. I hope you will download, read, and benefit from Cindy's work.
Jutta Kojalek -July 25, 2023
Your story just touched me. There are those people, who dive deep to leave their footprints in this world. Ain’t no valley deep enough….. What gift, that you supported Cindy and help spreading her work. I am curious about the SCI program - Thanks a lot for making it available ?
Larry Goldfarb -July 24, 2023
Hello Jutta - Thanks for letting me knkow that Cindy's story touched you. Supporting colleaguesin their work is one of my great joys and working with her was a gift. Please check out her work!
Mark Hirschfield -July 27, 2023
Thank you, Larry. Your generosity, as always, is so great and so moving. You do so much to foster the work itself and its dissemination in a way that manages to be so often selfless. It's a wonderful example that you set. You're the man!
Larry Goldfarb -July 25, 2023
Thank you kindly, Mark. I'm just doing my part to foster the development of the community learners we're both a part of.
Annette Katharina Schmid -July 25, 2023
Thank you Larry for this post and the generous offering to make accessible Cindys work: I am touched☺️
Larry Goldfarb -July 25, 2023
Thank you, Lily, for helping spread Cindy's work!
Ann Guhman -July 25, 2023
Thank you so much Larry for making us aware of this work and making it so available. Also, thank you for helping Cindy with her dissertation.
Sibyl Kneihs-Urbancic -July 27, 2023
Thank you for this, Larry, and for making Cindy's material accessible.
Larry Goldfarb -July 25, 2023
Hello Lindy - Yes, her legacy lives on. I think you'll find Cindy's work informative and valuable - please keep it alive!
lily-van-riemsdijk -July 25, 2023
Wow, impressive. Thanks for letting us know. Happily spreading her work.
Lindy Ost -July 24, 2023
Yes, thank you Larry! I did not know Cindy or her work. It is wonderful to know now. Her legacy lives on! Thank you Cindy!
Larry Goldfarb -July 25, 2023
It's an honor and a pleasure to share Cindy's work, Anina.
Larry Goldfarb -July 25, 2023
Hello Stacy - I'm heartened, but not at all surprised, to hear that Cindy was so willing to help. She was knowledgeable, devoted, and generous. I'm happy that I got to know her and so sad that she's gone.
Larry Goldfarb -July 25, 2023
Thank you for saying so, Carolyn! Keep on moving forward.
Larry Goldfarb -July 26, 2023
My pleasrue, Sybil!
Peggi Honig -July 25, 2023
Heartwarming despite her intense struggles in her dance of life. Now her calling and commitment will live on to support and help others.
marg-bartosek Bartosek -July 27, 2023
I am delighted you are helping to spread Cindy's work, Larry. Her lessons respectfully and gently address an often profound loss. I did not really know Cindy, but did have some email exchanges with her when I purchased her ATM series. I was working with an individual with a head and spinal cord injury and it was a new area for me. She was very encouraging and most generous with suggestions of how to proceed. I recommend the lessons - and not just for those with spinal cord injuries.
Anina Van Alstine -July 25, 2023
Thank you for sharing this Larry.
valerie-wycoff -July 26, 2023
Dear Larry I'm grateful for your sharing about Cindy, her life journey and her work through this email and making her PhD available on the platform. As a local "Feldy" colleague who knew her personally, I feel grateful for your presence and contribution in her life. I remember clearly her speaking to me about the joy of having you spend time with her as the lessons were chosen/created. The wonder I sensed in her at being taken seriously, "gotten" and encouraged. She used her power to share her lessons with local practitioners, and we had the satisfaction of being able to help "test" the lessons, imagining we were SCI patients was a gift to me, too. Through these lessons, my joy in our Christchurch Feldenkrais community was strengthened, and I have some great memories of collegiality and wonder at our discoveries of new ways of sensing and moving. Gratefully, Valerie
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