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Feldenkrais® Seattle

Feldenkrais for the greater Seattle area, when pain has changed how you move

Many of my clients drive to Kirkland from Seattle and the towns around it. They come after pain has started limiting what they do, and after the usual approaches, e.g. physical therapy, massage, chiropractic, or exercises on their own, weren’t enough. They tell me they’re no longer able to do the activities they care about, like hiking, gardening, or climbing stairs.

Feldenkrais is movement education. You learn to move with more awareness and less strain. It isn’t medical treatment. If your pain is unexplained, please see your doctor first to rule out anything serious.

I’m Laura Yedwab, a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, and I’ve worked with clients across the Seattle area since 2012. If pain has been getting in the way of what you love to do, the free in-person consultation is a simple way to find out whether this kind of learning makes sense for you. No diagnosis, no treatment, no commitment.

Learn More About Laura
Laura Yedwab, a Kirkland Feldenkrais practitioner, seated and talking with a client during a consultation.

A free consultation at the Kirkland studio.

Book A Free Consultation

The consultation is free and takes 55 minutes. We’ll explore your goals and challenges and begin to identify the movement patterns behind them. We’ll look at how we might work together to improve your movements so that you put less wear and tear on your body.

Sessions are one-on-one, hands-on, fully clothed, and in person at my Kirkland studio.

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Laura Yedwab, a Kirkland Feldenkrais practitioner, gently raising a fully clothed client's arm as the client lies on the table during a Feldenkrais lesson.

A free consultation at the Kirkland studio.

What is the Feldenkrais Method®

The Feldenkrais Method is movement education. You come in with something that hurts, and instead of working on the sore spot, we look at how you’re moving, why that might be causing the pain, and find better options. It’s learning, the same way a golf or violin lesson is learning. Nobody strengthens their way into a better tennis serve; they learn one. Movement works the same way.

Most of the time we move on autopilot. Our movement patterns were learned so early we don’t remember choosing them. For example, I often see people with sore necks who look left or right by only turning their neck. When I teach them to turn using their whole body, e.g. with the shoulders and hips participating, then the neck does less work and the strain eases.

Lifting an arm is similar. Many people raise the arm without letting the shoulder blade move, overusing the smaller muscles of the rotator cuff and neck. I help people learn to use the strong muscles of their back to carry more of the load.

As you notice your habits and learn better options, you become more skillful at moving.

Contact Us

Where my studio is

My studio is in Kirkland, at 12810 NE 64th Street, with free parking and a garden setting. My clients drive from Seattle, Bellevue, Lynnwood, Redmond, and towns further out, some over an hour each way.

The work is hands-on, so it can’t happen over video. That’s the reason for the trip, and it’s why the free consultation is in person: you feel what the work is before you decide anything. For turn-by-turn directions, see the driving directions page.

Learn More About Laura
The exterior of Laura Yedwab's Feldenkrais studio in Kirkland, a yellow cottage with garden beds and a gravel path

My studio in Kirkland, with parking and a garden.

Laura Yedwab, a Kirkland Feldenkrais practitioner, gently raising a fully clothed client's arm as the client lies on the table during a Feldenkrais lesson.

Seattle-area client in her own words

Kathy came to me with neck pain from old sports injuries, worried it would make going back to work as a doctor too hard. She’d stayed active and done her physical therapy exercises, but sitting, standing, and typing were all uncomfortable. We started with a better way to sit:

“Sitting had always been difficult. I had hoped to feel a little better, but, remarkably, after just a few sessions my neck pain went away. Before I’d felt like I was bailing out a boat to keep it from sinking, and I hadn’t imagined the pain could go away completely.” — Kathy

From there we worked on standing, walking, reaching, and turning. In one lesson Kathy was on her back, tilting her knees, and we got the movement to travel up into her upper spine, the part she’d assumed was permanently stuck:

“When I stood up and tried this movement, I no longer had to work to get my shoulders to relax. It was like they knew on their own where they needed to be, dropping down and taking the pressure off my neck. I felt taller, lighter, and freer.”

Kathy did twenty lessons. What she took away wasn’t just less pain; it was also knowing what to do if the pain came back. You can read Kathy’s full story on the success stories page.

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Why I do this work

I found Feldenkrais when I kept injuring myself. After I left Microsoft, I fell in love with racquetball. Playing once a week was fine. But as I got more serious, I started playing twice a week and competing in weekend tournaments around Seattle. This was too much given the way I was moving, and I kept straining my hamstrings. So much so, that walking became painful.

I spent more than two years in physical therapy. The therapists all agreed that the issue was my glutes were weak and my hamstrings were overworking. They had me strengthening my glutes daily. The exercises were sound, but on the racquetball court I was still overusing my hamstrings. So, nothing changed.

A friend talked me into trying Feldenkrais. Within a few sessions I felt the difference. I learned to bring my glutes into the movement while I played, my hamstrings finally got a rest, and my game got stronger. And the Feldenkrais lessons were fun!

I was hooked and I wanted to get a deeper understanding of how the method worked. I joined a four-year, Guild-accredited training program to become a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner. After completing the first year in Seattle, I changed programs and completed the training as part of Jeff Haller’s Victoria II training.

I’ve worked with clients across the Seattle area since 2012. You can read more about my background and my training on my practitioner page and education page.

Laura Yedwab, a Kirkland Feldenkrais practitioner, serving the ball during a racquetball game on an indoor court.

Laura serving a ball during a racquetball game.

“Laura has a knack for asking questions of her clients (verbally and with touch) that lead them to discover abilities they do not know they have.”

What happens in a session

A session is a movement lesson, not a treatment. It runs 55 minutes, one-on-one, in my Kirkland studio, and you stay fully clothed. Most of the work happens lying on a low, padded table, though we sometimes work sitting or standing.

We start with what brought you in, a sore neck, a knee that complains on the stairs, trouble getting down to the floor and back up. Then we look at how you actually move, and I use gentle touch to help you feel what where you move easily, where you have resistance, and what other options are possible. It’s slow, and people are often surprised that it’s enjoyable. You don’t leave with a sheet of exercises; you leave having felt a different way of moving.

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See whether Feldenkrais is a fit for you

Feldenkrais isn’t right for everyone, and I’d rather tell you that up front. If your pain might be medical, see your doctor first; this is movement education, not care for a medical condition. If you’re after a quick fix, this isn’t it. Learning to move differently takes time and attention, the same way any skill does. And it works best when you come as a student, ready to take part in your own progress, rather than hoping to be fixed while you wait.

Feldenkrais is a good fit if you’re ready to learn a different way to move instead of pushing harder at the old one. If this sounds like the kind of work you want to do, the free consultation is the place to start. It’s in person at the Kirkland studio, one-on-one, with no diagnosis, no treatment, and no commitment.

Book a free consultation
Laura Yedwab, a Guild Certified Feldenkrais practitioner in Kirkland, seated in her studio

Laura Yedwab, Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner.

Client Testimonials

I was suffering from shoulder pain for about a month. The pain would flare up every time I started working in front of a computer. It made it difficult to concentrate and took over my life since, for most of my waking hours, my focus was on reducing the pain. My naturopathic doctor recommended that I investigate Feldenkrais. I was fortunate to have found Laura. During the first introductory session and each subsequent sessions, I learned about my posture, how my body functions, and how to pay close attention to what my body is telling me. Each session built on the last. Laura is very observant and adjusted her approach to suit my needs, even though we had to conduct the sessions over Zoom. I am grateful that Laura played an instrumental role in my recovery. Today I have been able to function normally with no pain. I was new to Feldenkrais but am now a believer that it plays a critical part in my wellbeing. Thank you Laura for all your teachings.
– Chin Seah
Our functional integration session yesterday was really terrific. I continued to apply the lesson in the pool, since I recognized raising my arm during the lesson, with how it felt when I was doing the backstroke. I tried focusing on connecting my arm with my sacrum, to get the sensation of movement up my spine and it worked great! In the middle of the night, something clicked deep in my shoulder and today I feel great — better than in over a month! Thank you so much.
– Elizabeth Strauss
I saw Laura when I had a severely inflamed knee joint. We looked at how I could support the knee from below by walking consciously and with awareness, especially in regards to how I move on my feet. It sounds simple but there are many more points of contact than I was aware of. She also gently moved all the bones in my feet and legs – a very relaxing experience – that seemed to helped me establish new patterns of movement. In addition, Laura taught me how to move from sitting to standing effortlessly. After three sessions the pain in my knee was immensely diminished and I am able to bike, dance, garden and walk much more easily. I found Laura’s calm approach reassuring. I would highly recommend her and the Feldenkrais method.
– Peggy Frank
Laura helped me re-learn how to do the most basic thing possible: walk. Since childhood, I got pain in my side running and walking at a fast pace. What I didn’t know is that something could be done about it, without drugs or surgery. Laura patiently increased my awareness of how my body works. We all have bad habits; we’re just aware of some of them more than others. With patience, warmth, and deep analytical knowledge, Laura taught me how to use my whole body as I walked. She taught me how awareness of my body mechanics could break my bad habits incurred through years of not thinking about something as simple as taking a single step. She also taught me other ways to move my body more efficiently in other daily movements, to lower the long-term stress I put on my joints. I now can walk long distances at a fast pace without pain. I know that my cardiovascular shape might limit me, but not the way I take each stride!
- Chris Rebholz
I am a physician and so skeptical of most ‘alternative’ treatments, but Laura’s approach to body mechanics, movement, and injury seemed very reasonable so I opted to try working with her. I found her to be very knowledgeable and smart, but most importantly, she took the time to listen to my concerns, look at my body and the way I walked and sat, answered my questions in a straightforward manner, proposed changes that were doable, and kept checking back in with me to see how things were going. Our work relieved my back pain while sitting and improved my posture. I feel more alert and uplifted when I stand or walk and this has had a definite impact on my mood. I can feel the difference when I stand up: I feel taller, more self-confident, stronger, and more able to meet whatever is happening at the moment. I recommend her highly and plan to continue to work with her.
– Mary Bolton
Laura gave me wonderful insights into how to move in a healthier way. I came to her with knee pain when I walked up stairs. Her gentle, thoughtful teaching helped me so much that I was soon pain-free! Laura helped me to be more centered in myself, as well as centered over my feet. It was a very holistic body-mind lesson that led me to greater integration on many levels.
– Virginia Howlett, Artist
Working with Laura was incredibly helpful! Our sessions were fun, relaxing, and empowering, and helped me achieve a new understanding of how my body works.
– Gin Hammond, Actor
Laura is fantastic. I love the collaborative nature of our work. She is fully present with me which helps me to be aware of how I’m feeling and moving. My drive home is always interesting after a session. I notice how I’m moving when I check traffic to merge, how I sit, and how I turn my head. I pay more attention to how my feet relate to the floor when I sit or stand and then notice how my posture shifts with that. Laura is uniquely talented and I’m grateful to be able to work with her.
– Linda Stone
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Frequently Asked Questions

Your studio is in Kirkland. Is that too far from Seattle?
My studio is in Kirkland, across Lake Washington from Seattle, so it isn’t in the city itself. Most of my clients live in Seattle or the towns around it, and they make the drive because the work is hands-on and only happens in person. If the distance is the thing giving you pause, start with the free consultation and decide afterward whether the trip is worth it to you.
Does insurance cover Feldenkrais?
Usually not. Feldenkrais is movement education, not medical care, so most plans don’t cover it the way they cover physical therapy. If coverage matters to you, check with your plan before you book.
Can I do Feldenkrais alongside physical therapy?
Yes, and many of my clients do both. Old movement habits run on autopilot, so they often show up inside the PT exercises themselves. A common example is with glue bridges. They are meant to strengthen the glutes, but people often push down through their heels so the quads do the lifting, and the glutes stay quiet. That’s hard to feel from the inside. My part is helping you notice it, so the exercise your physical therapist gave you can do what it’s meant to do.
Is this like massage?
No. In massage, the practitioner works on your muscles and soft tissue to help them relax. In a Feldenkrais lesson I use my hands differently: touch and gentle movement help you feel how you’re moving, so you can find easier options. We’re built to pay close attention to where we’re touched, so my hands bring your attention to what your body is doing. You stay fully clothed the whole time.