Feldenkrais awareness through movement and state anxiety

The ability of the FeldenkraisÃÆ'Ã"šÃ¢â‚¬Å¡ÃƒÆ’‚Ã"šÃ‚® Method to reduce state anxiety was investigated. Specifically, both a single FeldenkraisÃÆ'Ã"šÃ¢â‚¬Å¡ÃƒÆ’‚Ã"šÃ‚® Awareness Through Movement lesson and a 10-week FeldenkraisÃÆ'Ã"šÃ¢â‚¬Å¡ÃƒÆ’‚Ã"šÃ‚®Awareness Through Movement programme were studied. Participants volunteered to take part in one 1-hour class each week for 10 weeks. Individuals who declined to participate in the 10-week programme were given the opportunity to participate in a single 1-hour lesson during week 5. Participants were divided into two groups: new and returning students, based on previous experience with Awareness Through Movement lessons. Participants were administered the state scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger et al. 1983) prior to the beginning of the first lesson (week 1 ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ T1), immediately before and after the fifth lesson (week 5 ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ T2 and T3), and after the final lesson (week 10 ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ T4). Findings indicated that state anxiety scores decreased significantly over a single lesson (T2ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“T3) for both new (n=13) and returning (n=42) students. In addition, state anxiety scores were significantly lower after the 10-week programme (T4) when compared with baseline scores (T1) for new (n=3) and returning (n=42) students, with new students experiencing a significantly greater reduction than returning students. These findings can be interpreted as further support for the efficacy of the FeldenkraisÃÆ'Ã"šÃ¢â‚¬Å¡ÃƒÆ’‚Ã"šÃ‚® Method in reducing state anxiety.