Feldenkrais for Digestive Health

How Feldenkrais helped me to resolve my digestive health issues and how it can help you

I’ve had a “nervous stomach” since childhood. Any changes, good or bad, left me constipated. Whether it was an exam or a hot date, a presentation at work, a party or a concert, my digestive system would shut down. You see, I'm one of those people who are easily over-stimulated and my digestion responds accordingly.

People used to tell me to "just relax" but that isn't really helpful for someone like me. I get over-stimulated, even when I am in a place that is relaxing. I once went to a Yoga Ashram to relax and developed severe constipation - despite delicious lentils and fibrous food and loads of relaxing meditations. And that's not all: as I approached menopause, I also started to suffer from bloating.

So when I signed up to my Feldenkrais training I dreaded what would happen to my digestion: I knew that taking the training meant spending long days in a room full of people for many weeks on end. I decided to give it a go anyway. And then the miracle happened: instead of pain or discomfort, bloating or constipation, I found that Feldenkrais resolved my digestive issues.

My digestion health improved: no more pain or discomfort, no more bloating and no more constipation. Plus, my stomach was suddenly as flat as if I had been working out in a gym non-stop. How could that be? After all, Feldenkrais can hardly be described as a tums-and-bums workout…. Quite the opposite: Feldenkrais lessons tend to offer small, gentle movements with a focus on awareness rather than achievement. Feldenkrais is easy, mindful movement. So how can this benefit our digestion?

1. Feldenkrais can help our nervous system to change from a "fight-or-flight" stress response to a "rest-and-digest" relaxed response

You see, our digestive system reacts to stress, for example, with diarrhoea or constipation. Now, in our ancient past, when we had to run away or fight our way out of danger, constipation made sense. Imagine a tiger or bear coming around the corner and instead of running away, you waste your energy digesting your food and then heading for the next toilet. In those days, if we didn't run away from the source of danger, we might have become someone else's food! So our nervous system is wired to respond to danger or stress by shutting down our digestion.

These days few of us might have to run away from a tiger or fear becoming someone's dinner, but our digestion still responds in the same way, even when our stressors are now cancelled trains, a rude customer or a deadline at work.

Now, Feldenkrais can't make the trains run or make your customers nicer. It can, however, help you to return to a more relaxed state of mind. Feldenkrais is mindful movement. As we move, we focus on comfort, ease and pleasure. Feldenkrais also asks us to pay attention to our body which can help to bring us back to the here and now.

2. Feldenkrais can help us to release muscular and fascial tension

In "fight-or-flight" (sympathetic) mode we often hold tension in core muscles, that is, the abdominals, the pelvic floor, the diaphragm and the back muscles. These are actually also the muscles that surround our digestive tract.

But that's not all: Fascia - the connective tissue that is found all over the body including in our digestive area - tightens too. In chronic stress, fascia can even start to stick together like velcro.

Feldenkrais lessons can help to release muscular tension and keep fascia healthy by gently massaging the digestive tract with gentle movement or breathing.

3. Feldenkrais helps us to free tension in our pelvis

When we feel stressed, we may "tuck" our pelvis, ready to fight or to curl up and hide. A tucked, tilted or twisted pelvis can affect our pelvic floor and our rectum. The rectum is that part of the digestive tract that eliminates our feces. Both pelvic floor and rectum dysfunction can lead to digestive problems.

Feldenkrais has many lessons that focus on the pelvis that can help to release muscular and fascial tension and restrictions and improve patterns such as tucking, tilting or twisting. These lessons can also correct the overall tone of the pelvic floor and support the rectum and its function.

Here is a short seated taster session that can help you become aware of and release pelvic tension:

4. Stress can lead to tight jaws, ribcage and diaphragm - Feldenkrais can help

Think of the last time you were stressed. Did you clench your jaw? Did your breathing become shallow and maybe even a little erratic? And what about your shoulders and ribs? Did you find yourself a little bit hunched, shoulders up to your ears? Maybe you don't remember but these are all patterns that are common when we are stressed. And all of these can affect our digestion.

Tension in our jaws might mean that we don't chew our food properly, for example. Yet healthy digestion starts in our mouth. If we don't chew well the rest of our digestive system has to work much harder and we might find that partially digested food leads to bloating or gas. Tension in our neck might mean that we can't swallow our food easily and even a slightly hunched posture might squeeze our stomach or our esophagus and may be the cause of reflux.

Feldenkrais has lessons that can help with all of these patterns of stress: lessons for jaw, neck, diaphragm and ribcage. Feldenkrais is also a mindful practice and can help us to eat mindfully.

5. By releasing muscular and fascial tension, Feldenkrais can help to improve our circulation

Stress also affects our circulation. When we are stressed, our blood tends to feed the big muscle groups, those muscles that help us run away from danger or fight the source of that danger. And yet for healthy digestion, blood is needed in the digestive area - and not just blood but also lymph which helps us digest fats and is also an important part of our immune system (read my blog about digestion and lymph to find out more). The focus on ease and comfort, on releasing tension in muscles and fascia allows circulation to return to smaller muscles and also our digestive system.

Will Feldenkrais be enough to support a return to healthy digestion?

First of all digestive issues should be investigated by your medical doctor to exclude any serious underlying conditions. This blog cannot replace medical advice.

Feldenkrais can support your digestive health as part of a holistic treatment plan, together with a healthy diet and lifestyle and, if necessary, medical support.

If your tension, postural patterns and stress response are chronic, a single Feldenkrais class is unlikely to resolve your issue and you may need to take a series of classes. However, even in chronic cases, a tailor-made Feldenkrais session can ease symptoms in many people.

Anyone with chronic issues related to stress may benefit from Feldenkrais combined with an approach that raises awareness of emotional patterns and offers techniques to help the nervous system return to a healthy response to life's challenges.

I have found that Feldenkrais somatic movement classes together with Yoga's therapeutic models of wellness offer that combination.

Are you interested in taking classes with me?

If you are interested to work with me, I offer one-to-one classes as well as courses. To enquire or book, you can contact me

In a one-to-one session we can develop an individual plan to support your digestive health. This plan can include movement and lifestyle coaching, including sleep restoration and relaxation techniques.

I also occasionally run a 5 week digestive health course that combines Feldenkrais movement with Yoga wellbeing therapeutic approaches. These models of wellness help us understand our triggers and help to change behaviour, release stress and guide us to return to full health. If you are interested to join my next 5 week course, join my digestive health mailing list. I will only contact you if another 5 week course is running. For other enquiries, contact me via this form

My qualifications: I am a Feldenkrais practitioner, a Yoga and Chi Gong teacher with special training in digestive health. With a background as a medical herbalist, I understand the complexities of the digestive system. I also have specialist qualifications in women's intimate and psychosexual health (intimate pelvic health can affect digestion), lymphatic health and osteoporosis. I am presently studying for a Masters in Mindfulness. Mindfulness has been shown to support digestive health issues.

Categories: digestive health, lymphatic health