You have tried everything.You were never the problem.
Pain that keeps returning, and patterns that keep repeating, are both instructions a nervous system learned once and never had a reason to update. Instructions can be relearned. That is the whole of my work, and it is why both practices live under one roof.
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner since 2000 · MA, Somatic Psychotherapy, California Institute of Integral Studies · Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #105864 · Former Staff Research Associate, UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
Two practices, one person, one nervous system. Start at the door that matches what brought you here — you can cross at any point, and nothing has to be explained twice.
Everything you tried worked on the tissue.
Acupuncture, chiropractic, physical therapy, massage. None of them were wrong. They were working one level below the one that decides.
You were treated where it hurt.
Manual work, needles, adjustment, pressure. All of it acts on the place that hurts. It works — and then the same movement habit puts the load back in the same spot, and the pain returns on schedule.
Nobody looked at how you got there.
“Eveline was the first and only professional to show me how I was sitting in a way that could produce pain in my back.” — Jennifer D., San Francisco
So you learned to avoid your own body.
You stopped exercising. You started holding yourself carefully. And holding yourself carefully is itself an instruction — one that costs more, over years, than the original injury did.
None of those practitioners were wrong. They were working one level below the one that decides.
You were never
the problem.
The instruction was.
One nervous system. Two doors. The same work, entered from different sides.
Don't take my word for it. Take twenty seconds.
Sit where you are. This is how a lesson works, only shorter — and it is the same principle on both sides of the house. Nothing is recorded and nothing is sent anywhere.
Ready when you are. No headphones needed — just a chair.
Start where it actually hurts.
Each of these is its own conversation. Pick the one that is yours.
Back pain that comes back
“Pain free for three months now, after two rounds of physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic and a Western specialist.” — Joanne F., Moraga
Read more →Neck and shoulders that never let go
For everyone who has been told to relax a muscle that will not listen.
Read more →Hip pain at night, lying on your side
The question people type at three in the morning. I wrote the answer in 2016.
Read more →Posture you cannot hold on to
Holding yourself upright is effort. Standing upright is organisation.
Read more →Strain from years at a keyboard
This is how I came to the method myself, and it is the pattern I know best.
Read more →Parkinson's, MS, and learning to move again
Where the nervous system is the subject, not the obstacle.
Read more →What you can book.
Change happens over a series. One lesson tells you whether this is for you — and it is credited in full if you continue.
The Series
Six private lessons. Six is where a pattern changes rather than eases for a week. Most people who arrive with something that has lasted years work this way.
The Weekly Class
Awareness Through Movement, in a group, verbally guided. Nothing to keep up with, nobody watching you. In person in Berkeley and online.
A First Lesson
One private lesson, hands-on, forty-five minutes. You leave with one thing to pay attention to during the week.
Workshops & online lessons
Occasional half-day workshops, and private lessons by video for people outside the Bay Area.
Cards accepted · HSA/FSA · Why is it worth it? Because you stop paying for the same relief twice a month. Why now? Because a habit that is twenty years old takes longer at thirty.
No stretching. No effort. Just better information.
Every one of these has its place. This one starts somewhere else.
| From where you sit | Physical therapy | Massage & bodywork | Feldenkrais lessons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relief in the moment | |||
| Relief that holds after you leave | |||
| You learn to recognise the cause yourself | |||
| Works without effort, load or pain | |||
| Acute injury and post-surgical rehab | |||
| Something you can keep using for life |
The row about acute injury is deliberately empty in my column. If you have had recent surgery, an acute disc event or an unexplained new pain, see a physician first. This is education, not treatment — it works alongside medical care and does not replace it.
Eleven people, in their own words.
Collected over twenty-five years of practice. Names and details used with permission.
“I had excruciating back and hip pain. After trying all the regular methods and finding little relief — physical therapy, chiropractic, massage, orthopedic surgeon visits — I decided to try Feldenkrais. After only one session, my pain was reduced by 50%. It was unbelievable. I had been in pain for over a year. Eveline was the first and only professional to show me how I was sitting in a way that could produce pain in my back. If you're in pain, go see her immediately.”
“Three years after a car accident left me with recurring whiplash and lower back problems, I had been through two rounds of physical therapy, cranial-sacral therapy, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic and a specialist in traditional Western medicine, yet nothing worked for long stretches of time. I've been pain free for three months now. It's not an exaggeration to say my quality of life has changed dramatically.”
“Eveline made my back pain completely disappear after just two visits. The added bonus was that she resolved a chronic problem with my Achilles and hamstring. Treatments have made it possible to take my first steps every morning without discomfort.”
“I forgot my life was spinning very fast. Now I am much more in the center of my body, orchestrating my movements from the inside rather than the outside. I am calmer, more grounded, able to stand up for myself — much more able to be present, which is very important in my line of work.”
“After a year of serious back pain and many different alternative healers, Eveline has been the single most helpful person I've found. For me, Feldenkrais with Eveline has been like a miracle.”
“I am one of those people who has never felt comfortable in my own skin. After Feldenkrais, I am in less pain and my body is more aligned, more whole. Most important, my awareness has increased. I really know when I am off and can make adjustments. My body is learning to be different. It is remembering.”
“Before I met Eveline, I was at a point where I did not know if there was anything left to try treatment-wise. After each session I have felt lighter, less tense and more relaxed in my shoulders, neck and back than I have been able to in years.”
“I was suffering from chronic and debilitating back and knee pain. Before, I was afraid to exercise at all. After working with Eveline, I was able to start walking and doing yoga daily. It helped me relax both physically and emotionally — in a way that I did not expect.”
“I am a marathon runner. I came because I could not turn my neck after being rear-ended. Eveline has helped with that. I also notice my feet are different — I no longer wear down the outside of my running shoes.”
“When I first came to Eveline, I was surprised to realize how stiffly I held myself. I had tuned out bodily information between my head and my feet. Now I pay more attention. I feel freer, like all my joints have been oiled. You have to try it to believe it.”
“She is so in touch with my body and what it needs on any given day, and she immediately calms me down as soon as she begins working with me. I walk away feeling better and calmer, and with a better sense of how I show up in the world.”
I was the person asking that question.
For several years I was in chronic pain from overusing a computer. I tried chiropractic, acupuncture, pilates, yoga, massage and psychotherapy. Some of it helped for a while. None of it held. Feldenkrais reached me almost by accident — the case manager on my worker's compensation claim suggested it to my doctor.
Wu
Fourteen years later I trained as a therapist, because half of what I was meeting on the table was never going to be reached through the shoulders alone. That is the only reason there are two practices here rather than one — not two businesses, one question approached from two sides.
There is a richer story of your body than a medical diagnosis.
Also a PSIA Level II certified ski instructor, which is where a lot of this started making sense in the first place.
It is one nervous system. Some people come here for a shoulder and find that something else eases too. If that happens, we do not start over — the door is down the hall.
Still not sure which door?
Three questions, one recommendation — not a menu. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent anywhere.
Answer the three above.
You will get one recommendation, with the reason for it.
Either way you are talking to the same person, and nothing has to be explained twice.
Start here.
Ten minutes of talking, then work on a low table, fully clothed. Nothing is forced and nothing should hurt.
We talk for ten minutes about what brought you and what you have already tried. Then you lie fully clothed on a low table. I move you slowly, in small ranges, and tell you what to notice. You get up, walk, and notice the difference yourself. Most people leave with one thing to pay attention to during the week.