February 2021 – Feldenkrais in schools: A future project of Moving Child

The Feldenkrais Method, named after its founder, the physicist Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais, is a body-oriented learning method that helps people to learn to perceive themselves more consciously. Access and experience to the Feldenkrais Method can contribute to professional and social learning processes. Through the mostly unfamiliar movements, children learn to perceive themselves better and to find alternatives to their usual behaviour in their own rhythm. It is just a small step from getting to know one’s own self, to the appreciation of the uniqueness of friends and strangers. Feeling and experiencing yourself without judgment helps to treat one another with respect and tolerance.

“Learning to think in motion” creates new connections in the brain, enables sensible contact with oneself and expands understanding in contexts. Feldenkrais’ dream was that his method would be taught in schools all over the world.

Our plan is to realise Feldenkrais’ original vision of integration and to incorporate features of organic learning into school learning. In doing so, we initially focus primarily on working with financially disadvantaged children, migrants, or children with learning difficulties. Through the movement exercises in the classroom, all students and teachers should become more fully present and their learning process should be more meaningful and connected with their entire being. The Feldenkrais Method is intended to initiate two important processes: First, students and teachers become more self-conscious and more attentive as a result of the Feldenkrais lesson. This will have an impact on the following subject teaching (e.g., mathematics) that will be carried out afterwards. Second, a new language, a new dynamic, gradually develops among the participants. They listen carefully to each other during exercise classes. The students learn to recognize their own progress and think in different directions in order to explore possible solutions. The subject teachers are also involved in this development, they listen to the students more attentively and are more creative in designing their lessons. The result is that teachers are gradually changing the way in which they teach their subject, leaving time for active awareness, exploration, and self-guidance of the students.

Our idea of ​​the practical implementation is inspired by and in collaboration with an Israeli pilot project that is being led by Dr. Eilat Almagor and has been successfully implemented since 2015. Dr. Eilat Almagor is leading the project to include the Feldenkrais Method in schools and is working with neuroscientists in Israel and Germany on a scientific study aimed at examining the effects of the Feldenkrais Method on brain activity.

Moving Child initially wants to launch projects in Berlin and Munich in which Feldenkrais teachers come to school once or twice per week and teach Feldenkrais movement for 20-30 minutes. The subject teachers are also present. This is followed by the normal subject class, such as mathematics, in which the Feldenkrais teacher then also partakes. Each teacher therefore takes part in the other teacher’s lessons as a student. The teachers meet regularly to prepare their lessons together and to deepen their understanding of Feldenkrais and its connection to learning. Moving Child helps to establish contact and mediation between teachers and schools, to develop the concept and, last but not least, to provide financial support. We look forward to reporting our progress in the future.

Sources and references

2020 end of term report: Moving Child started supporting 7 new projects

2020 was not an easy year. Constant fear, insecurity, and an abundance of financial, health and mental challenges have made life difficult for everyone. The effects of the pandemic are being perceived strongly in Germany, and yet on a global scale our situation is almost comfortable. Nevertheless, there was a drastic shortage for important funding in Germany in the past year. In order to counteract the consequences of the corona pandemic, Moving Child has increased its support for several projects this year. An urgent supply gap had to be closed this year, particularly in schools and in the health sector. In addition, we have included seven new projects in our funding this year and will support them with a total of more than € 180,000. We were very happy to get in touch with such great projects during this difficult time and to support them in their work. These exciting new projects are to be briefly presented here.

In the area of ​​health promotion, Moving Child now supports the Institute Trauma and Pedagogy led by Hedi Gies, which aims to help shape the development of trauma pedagogy socially and institutionally, pedagogically and individually. The basic idea of ​​the institute is the creative process of further developing and passing on trauma-pedagogical attitudes, methods and concepts. Moving Child supports the institute in financing specialist trauma counseling for children and adolescents. The children receive advice on stressful everyday issues that are characterized by their often destructive coping strategies due to trauma. In addition, the association Women Health Family Future is sponsored, the purpose of which is to prevent mental illnesses that can occur around childbirth. The work of the association includes individual and personal support during pregnancy, childbirth, and early parental leave. With the help of the association’s initiatives, women, and especially women with psychosocial stress, children, and their families should be given timely access to pre-existing aid measures. These approaches should help to minimize the rate of new cases of peripartum (around birth) mental illnesses. The most recent project in the “health” area ist the Munich Ambulant Children’s Hospice Foundation, which has been caring for families with critically and terminally ill children in Bavaria since 2004. The full-time and voluntary staff look after and accompany patients from diagnosis, through treatments, and beyond. They relieve families in these extremely trying psychological and physical situations and support them via a professional team of doctors, psychologists, social pedagogues, midwives, and nurses. Moving Child especially supports three projects of the foundation: 1) RUF24 (crisis intervention service), 2) therapy costs, and 3) costs for funerals appropriate for children.

Wildwasser e.V. is an association against sexual violence in Berlin. Their offers are aimed at girls and women who were exposed to sexual violence as girls or adolescents, and their relatives and supporters. DonyA is a transcultural residential group of the Wildwasser association, which currently comprises nine girls between 12 and 18 years. The young women come to the residential group because they have experienced (sexualized) violence or neglect in their families, are in conflict situations that they cannot resolve on their own, or because their home does not offer the necessary stability. The main goal of the work at DonyA is the empowerment of these girls in all areas of life. In 2020, Moving Child financed a summer holiday for the nine girls, which was the first vacation of their lives for some of the girls and at the same time an important component of the paedagogical work.

This year, Moving Child got to know two very special projects in the field of ​​“education”. The first project is the Quinoa School and its provider, Quinoa Education. The Quinoa School is a private school in the social hotspot of Berlin-Wedding with a special goal: all young people in Germany should have the chance to graduate from school regardless of their social and cultural background. Through individual and linguistic support, relationship and family work, career orientation, intercultural learning and behavior management, the students of the Quinoa School will provide the most important skills to lead a successful and fulfilling life. Moving Child finances the project “integrative learning therapy”, which is intended for the development of an individual learning plan and thus to strengthen the self-reflection, motivation and self-efficacy of the students. Furthermore, this year Moving Child has also started supporting the MiBiKids association, which offers German language classes for kindergarten children and schoolchildren with a migration background in the Freising district. The goal of the MiBiKids is to support the children in their school career and thus to increase the chances of a successful professional future. The only admission criteria are a migration background and the willingness to participate regularly.

This year, Moving Child also included environmental protection in its statutes and funding program. The first project in this field was carried out by BUND Nature conservation Bavaria. The project was concerned with the suppression of the mass spread of the glandular balsam, an introduced species that displaces native flora and fauna and disrupts the natural water balance. In an area of the alluvial forest near Waldkraiburg, which was completely dominated by balsam, grazing with cattle was initiated, which was hoped to promote the natural meadow vegetation as well as species that need sunny open habitats such as sand lizards, yellow-bellied toads and grass snakes. After just two weeks of grazing, the cattle had almost completely eliminated the balsam. How the vegetation develops longterm will be observed over the next few years.

We are very happy to have found such wonderful new projects this year and to see positive developments in the projects that we have sponsored for a long time. It is amazing how much energy, time and love people are ready to gift to their fellow human beings and it makes us happy to be able to support them in their work. Our thanks also go to our donors who helped finance the Moving Child projects this year.

We wish you all peaceful and healthy holidays and look forward to the developments in the new year!

Anna, Gertraud and Ella

 

November 2020 – Munich Ambulant Children’s Hospice Foundation

The Munich Ambulant Children’s Hospice Foundation (AKM) is the most recent new project supported by Moving Child. The AKM Foundation was founded by Christine and Florian Bronner and has been caring for families with critically and terminally ill unborn babies, new-borns, children, adolescents, and adults as well as critically ill parents living with their children since 2004. The full-time and voluntary staff look after and accompany patients from diagnosis, through treatments, and beyond. They relieve families in these extremely trying psychological and physical situations and support them via a professional team of doctors, psychologists, social pedagogues, midwives, and nurses.

Moving Child especially supports three projects of the foundation: 1) RUF24 (crisis intervention service), 2) therapy costs, and 3) children funerals.

RUF24 is a free, 24/7 offer from the AKM Foundation. Those affected can get advice over the phone in exceptional crisis situations and the RUF24 staff will meet patients at home or at the clinic within 1-2 hours. This project offers people support and stability in stressful situations. Like the other projects of the AKM Foundation, RUF24 is financed by donations. Moving Child is so positive about the work being done by the AKM Foundation that we will finance the baseline offer of RUF24 for the next three years.

Furthermore, the AKM Foundation offers various forms of therapy for those affected and their families. However, trauma therapy, riding therapy, painting therapy, and other forms of therapy are costly, but essential for dealing with trauma and crises. The AKM Foundation pays therapy costs for patients, their siblings, and parents. Here, too, Moving Child supports the AKM Foundation’s offer and finances over 150 therapy hours annually.

The third approach that Moving Child funds is the AKM offer of child-friendly funerals. When a child dies, parents and relatives have to organize a funeral at the most difficult time of their life, which is subject to very special requirements. In order to support the families during this time, the AKM Foundation helps organizationally and financially to cope with this task.

In addition, the AKM Foundation offers other helpful and supportive projects, such as outpatient hospice work, aftercare projects (e.g. meetings with those affected, creative offers and mourning groups) and advice for relatives. But also “heart’s wishes” (a project that fulfils special wishes), sibling days, and holidays for the whole family are supported by the AKM Foundation. Further projects and donation opportunities can also be found on the AKM homepage. All of these offers allow critically ill children, adolescents, young adults and their families moments of emotional security, comfort, and at least a short return to normalcy.