Incorporating rollers in your repertoire

Recently, I found out that a colleague who was interested in the postgraduate program that I am teaching in Paris the first week of July was unsure if the course would meet her needs. Since I’ll also be teaching the same course in Florence the first week of September and since other folks might have the same doubt, I decided to share (a slightly revised version) what I wrote her:

I can certainly appreciate your reluctance to sign up for the July course. Even so, considering our previous conversations, I thought it would be worthwhile to respond to your concerns about the content of the upcoming advanced training in Paris and whether you would benefit from participating.

Yes, the upcoming postgrad program is about using rollers as tools for facilitating learning, primarily in Functional Integration but also in Awareness Through Movement. Let me start by telling you how, specifically, each lesson utilizes rollers:

• In the first FI, Sitting Against a Column, the student is sitting on a chair with a thick, hard roller between their spine and the back of the chair. The teacher stands and sits to give the lesson; the roller serves as a support and a means for augmenting sensory feedback (by providing an external midline reference).
• For The Neck Pillow, the second FI, the student lies supine, with a (thinner) hard roller behind their neck and pads supporting the back of their head. Much as in the lesson above, the roller serves as a support and provides continuous tactile feedback in an area where someone rarely receives it. The position of the roller changes, tilting slightly in one direction and then, later, the other. At one point, the teacher also rolls the roller to move the student's head and, at another time, slides their head over the roller, translating it right and left.

It would be a mistake to consider that either FI requires particularly advanced or complicated skills. Rather than thinking you will need to learn an entirely new repertoire of practices and procedures, I invite you to consider the course as being congruent with the fundamental Feldenkraisian notion of learning new ways to do what you can already do.

Indeed, the compositions of both FIs utilize and build on the same tactics and techniques you learned and rely upon when teaching a lying student. Indeed, participating in the course will present many opportunities to refresh your acquaintance with familiar methods, refine your ability to use them, and help you better understand their rationale. You may discover new hand positions and encounter some previously unfamiliar conceptual models. You will definitely gain a new understanding of how rollers afford new options, and you’ll get to improve your self-use.

Posing a student in a different orientation changes their spatial relationship with the teacher, making previously unavailable configurations, constraints, movements, and trajectories possible. For instance, in the sitting lesson, it's easy to guide someone through a greater range of motion than when they are lying on the table. When the student is upright, it also becomes feasible to support them in ways that would be impossible if they were lying down.

There is another aspect you might want to take into account: Exploring familiar themes and strategies in new positions is an excellent approach to deepening your understanding of and appreciation for the fundamentals. For instance, the FI with the roller behind your student’s neck shares an underlying strategy similar to that of the Artificial Floor. In a way, you could even think of it as following a similar throughline but from “the other end.”

Finally, one of the most valuable aspects of learning the other FI structure is that it helps you get more comfortable giving a lesson to a seated student. That means you don't have to be dependent on having a table to work, and, therefore, you will be more likely to practice with friends, colleagues, and acquaintances — and more prepared to give lessons —wherever you may be.

To find out more about the program in Paris from 2 to 6 July 2025, please click here. To find out this course in Florence from 3 to 7 September 2025, please contact Francesco Ambrosio. [You can reach him at francescoambrosio1 at Gmail.]

What I wrote above addresses the concerns of someone new to using Moshe’s method; that doesn’t mean it’s only a beginner's course. The curriculum addresses these lessons in enough depth and from a broad enough perspective that even highly experienced teachers will benefit from attending. Participants of all levels have the opportunity to learn from and with each other. I closely monitor when participants are working with each other to be sure to meet each person’s needs and to make sure no one is left behind.

Finally, I’ll be teaching in English, and translation will be provided. I may teach some of the Paris program in French, in which case the translator will relay what I’m saying in English. Regardless of whether you speak English or not, please know that you will be included in the course, and your questions will be addressed.