â Do you dream of riding with effortless harmony, where balance and responsiveness feel like second nature?
â Are faulty postural habits, stiffness, or injuries holding you back from truly connecting with your horse?
â Have you wondered what it takes to embody the grace, balance, and awareness of the riders you admire?
Learning to Feel, Not Just Follow Instructions
In riding, just as in life, relying on instructions alone can sometimes cause us to lose touch with our inner sense of balance and personal authority.
This is the kind of 'learning' many of us have experienced in lessons, where an external expert is constantly correcting your 'faults'. This type of 'learning' is noisy. It disrupts your ability to feel, and the endless corrections often lead to frustration, anxiety, and feelings of self-doubt as well as the very muscular tension which gets in the way of sitting well and riding with ease.
It's About Awareness, Not Force
There's a gentler way to learn to sit well in the saddle, and it all starts with improving your awareness.
Catherine's approach invites you to slow down and notice what you're actually doing. When you learn through awareness rather than force, your body naturally finds easier, more comfortable ways to move. It's like turning on a light in a dark room - suddenly you can see possibilities that were always there.
â Can you imagine a riding experience where you move in seamless partnership with your horse, free of discomfort or restriction?
â Are you yearning for those moments of perfect balance and suppleness, where every aid feels precise and yet natural?
â What if embracing a fresh approach to movement could help you overcome old habits and find a more effective seat in the saddle?
Restoring Hope and Ease of Movement
Often riders experience a loss of coordination as they get older or develop compensations from injuries.
These problem areas can make you feel like you are dealing with blind spots in your awareness that we call âblack holesâ in which you canât feel a part of yourself, let alone understand how to coordinate it harmoniously with the rest of your body.
This is especially an issue when riding, as your balance is integral to your effectiveness.
FeldenFit lessons enable you to identify and address these âblack holesâ so that you can discover for yourself ways of moving which feel smoother, easier, more balanced and more cohesive.
Learn to sit and ride well the FeldenFit way.
â Learning the FeldenFit way is always fresh and in the moment. It's never automatic or repetitive. It is easy and relaxed.
â Through Feldenfit lessons you reawaken your curiosity and pleasure in moving well â like you did as a child discovering something for the first time.
â You become your own teacher by developing the sensitivity to judge for yourself the quality of your balance in relationship to the ground youâre walking on.
â You feel centred, grounded and aligned. Not through force and hard work, but through movement experiments in which you can easily feel whatâs better, or worse, for every action.
With FeldenFit you willâŠ
Move as Nature Always Intended
Every day, Catherine shares a video demonstrating and explaining a sequence of simple yet powerful movements. These movements quickly reconnect you with your bodyâs natural wisdom and innate connection, helping you move as nature intended.
Relieve Long-Held Physical Tension
Discover how simple, achievable movements can create profound change. This innovative approach helps you to increase your movement capability, flexibility, balance, and coordination while releasing tension you may not even realize you hold.
Improve Your Movement Intelligence
By understanding how different parts of your body connect and interact, you unlock greater freedom in your movement- and in the saddle. FeldenFit lessons reawaken your natural curiosity and joy in moving well.
Align with Your Horse and Yourself
Thoughtfully designed sessions cultivate your awareness and feel, allowing you to sense and feel into your horse better, communicate more effectively with clearer aids, and harmonize your movement with your horseâs movement. Whether youâre a beginner or an experienced rider, these lessons leave you with an improved feeling of being centred, grounded, and aligned.
â How would it feel to rediscover physical ease and resilience in the saddle and in daily life?
â What would change for you if stiffness and discomfort no longer dictated your ability to ride or enjoy other activities?
â Are you ready to replace tension with mindful awareness and discover effortless movement in the saddle?
Meet Your Instructor, Catherine McCrum
Catherine McCrum has over 30 years experience of training people in sport, fitness and movement. She has been a Guild certified Feldenkrais practitioner since 2002 and has a masters in Gestalt Psychotherapy.
She works with a wide variety of individual students ranging from professional athletes, musicians and actors to people with chronic pain issues, injuries or those simply wanting to become more in tune with how they move in daily life.
She teaches regular workshops for the general public and also to Pilates and fitness teachers, physiotherapists, runners, tennis and golf coaches and ski instructors, as well as riders.
And yes, Catherine is also a rider.
How Was the FeldenFit Programme Developed?
The FeldenFit programme emerged out of her research into how we can best prepare ourselves and our bodies for optimal performance in our chosen activities, sport or art. The series of movement lessons also teach us how to inhabit our bodies in the most comfortable and effortless way possible.
These lessons do not exercise the cardiovascular system or strengthen your muscles with weights. Rather, each 5 to 10-minute exercise focuses on sensory motor learning which is the means by which you improve your motor skills, the health of your posture and the ease and comfort of your movement which are essential components of health and well-being. They also give us the easy physical and mental confidence of the great athlete.
"Catherineâs teaching style is exceptional. Her calm, clear voice and professional manner make the lessons easy to follow and enjoyable. The sessions are thoughtfully designed to fit into even the busiest schedules, with short, focused exercises that yield lasting results."
A gift to your future self
As someone who has always been conscious of how my body moves, I thought I had a solid grasp on my physical capabilities. However, this program has taken my understanding to an entirely new level. The focus on subtle, precise movements and the idea of not trying too hard to make things happen has been a revelation. Itâs the small, refined adjustments that lead to big breakthroughs.
As a biomechanics riding coach, Iâve not only experienced these benefits personally but have recommended FeldenFit to many of my students. The changes Iâve seen in their riding and daily movement are extraordinary. Watching them experience greater balance and harmony, both on and off the horse, has been incredibly rewarding.
I wholeheartedly recommend FeldenFit to anyoneânot just ridersâwho wants to stay mobile, fluid, and strong for years to come. This program is a gift to your future self, supporting longevity and ease in every aspect of life.
Ann Montgomery
Stronger than 20 years ago
It took me a while to embrace the Feldenkrais mantra that 'less is more', as I was coming from a Yoga-Pilates-Fitness 'more is better!' background.
I had very limited range of motion in one shoulder following a break and insertion of stabilising metalwork, and I had spent years working with physios to get the movement back. By 2020 the improvements had plateaued and I assumed that there was nothing left to find.
Quite astonishing to me then that the FeldenFit series allowed my shoulder to explore and find not just a tiny bit more range of motion, but I am now practically back to full range. Something my surgeon in 2012 promised to me would never happen.
I'm in my mid fifties, I move better, and I am stronger and more capable than I was 20 years ago. Feldenkrais has played a massive part in that and I now recommend it to anyone who is trying to improve their way of moving.
Jacky Davies
Try a Sample FeldenFit Lesson
This is a familiar lesson with a few surprising twists! The movements in this session will help you feel how good support from your feet and legs helps you differentiate the vertebrae of your spine, frees your hip joints and enables you to access the power of your pelvis for dynamic stability. In lying, you explore many possibilities of how to free your hip joints and find the dynamic power in your pelvis and spine that is so essential for moving and riding effortlessly.
Riders will also notice that when you find more length and power in the spine to hold you upright, it becomes easier to lengthen the front of the hip joints so that the legs are free for subtle cues and aids.
The FeldenFit Programme
FeldenFit is a 4-part program. Each part is a series of 30 5-17 minute lessons designed to help you become a more effective rider by improving your balance, suppleness, spatial awareness and co-ordination in the saddle.
Each video features an awareness-based lesson which uses simple movements. Some will make you stronger. Some will make you more supple. They will definitely improve your coordination, your balance, and your posture.
â Each part contains 30 days of daily 5-15 minute guided exercise videos.
â Do them anywhere, anytime - Downloadable Audio Files.
â Membership and ongoing discussions in the lively FeldenFit Facebook Community.
â Access to all Periodic Accountability Challenges (held in the Facebook Group).
â Immediate access to all of the videos. Do at your own pace or follow along in the periodic Accountability Challenges.
â Occasional additional live trainings, bonuses, and Q&As.
FeldenFit 1: The Fundamental Series
Strength is important, but to be powerful you need to understand how to support yourself dynamically from the ground up. We introduce 4 key concepts that are ESSENTIAL for riders:
âžÂ how to organise your pelvis and supple your ribs, to enable you to move better in any direction while your breath flows more naturally. An effective seat is supple, responsive and well co-ordinated. Releasing historical patterns of muscular contraction you can discover the true power of your centre for effortless action.
âžÂ how to supple the legs, hip joints, and pelvis for a supple, agile seat. Free your overworked muscles and notice how it gives you a serious spring in your step!
âžÂ how to improve your spatial orientation and reduce your fear of falling. Great athletes always know where they need to be in a nano second - they know where every part of their body is in space and are highly aware of every part of their environment. how to Improve spatial awareness and reduce fear of falling,
âžÂ how to build the power and flexibility of the legs by learning how the strength and power of your muscles is dependent on the coordination of your whole body, not just isolated parts.
FeldenFit 2: The Connection Series
We expand on the key concepts introduced in FeldenFit 1, and have added two FeldenRide lessons (Feldenkrais lessons done on the horse):
âžÂ 7 ways to clarify the essential lines in your torso and develop elasticity and power in your core (and your seat!). Each core exercise helps you find more symmetry in the use of your trunk, lengthens your spine and improves the co-ordination of the pelvis, spine and chest.This proves to be a game changer for riders!
âžÂ focus on re-organising the upper back, neck, and shoulders. These lessons helps you open your chest, find length in your spine, and release unconscious braces around the shoulder girdle so your arms and hands are better supported for skillful, subtle aids.
âžÂ explore the connection of the legs to the pelvis and free your hip joints from the constraints of previously over-worked muscles. You will discover ways of moving your legs that you never imagined!
âžÂ clarify the relationship of the head, neck, jaw, and breath to the ability of the pelvis to move in all its possible directions with a combination of movement lessons. Some will focus on the small details that make up the big picture such as the use of the eyes and jaw. Some are lessons that improve your ability to come from lying to sitting to standing with ease.
FeldenFit 3: The Rider's Series
We continue with more lessons and imagery as well as 4 specific lessons to do in the saddle or in the barn before you get on the horse:
âžÂ clarify support from the ground up. When your feet, ankles and lower legs are well-organised, you can access the potential for both mobility and stability in your centre, your spine will feel effortlessly lengthened and your head and eyes free to orient you in space.
âžÂ develop your ability to turn your head, eyes and shoulders with equal ease in any direction. By the end of Week 2 your head will feel effortlessly balanced on your spine, your shoulders and arms will be light and free, and your chest open and wide. Your horse will thank you for this!
âžÂ explore the relationship between the freedom of the hip joints and the legs and the capacity for the ribs to be like a supple spring. The sensation of length and width you can develop in your torso from these sessions is truly expanding.
âžÂ explore and feel the wave-like potential of your spine. When every vertebrae is differentiated yet connected, the control you develop over your movement is marvellous. Imagine sitting the trot without jarring, tensing or bracing - every part of you available to absorb, amplify or be quiet at will.
FeldenFit 4: The Freedom Series
The lessons in this programme are focused on creating freedom in the saddle. In freeing our bodies from the constraints of poor posture, unconscious muscular tension, disturbances in breathing and poor co-ordination, we as riders, achieve the ultimate freedom to feel and be truly capable:
âžÂ develop self-carriage, align your spine, and restore core ability.
âžÂ liberate your hip joints and free your legs to be agile, light and powerful. Diagnose, clarify and restore the connection of movements that allow you to create a stable yet light 'kneeling seat' and an independent leg.
âžÂ free your shoulder girdle, restoring a full range of movement to your arms, and giving refinement and sensitivity to your hands and fingers. Discover your capacity to still your hands while allowing softness and yielding in your chest and shoulder girdle.
âžÂ reveal the potential of your upper body to bend, flex, extend and rotate. Release the small habitual braces which keep you a little bit twisted or collapsed for an incredible sense of evenness in how you use the two sides of yourself when you ride.
The FeldenFit Programme 4-Pack
âžÂ FeldenFit 1: The Fundamental Series
âžÂ FeldenFit 2: The Connection Series
âžÂ FeldenFit 3: The Riderâs Series
âžÂ FeldenFit 4: The Freedom Series
*Other currencies and payment plans available.
The Felden- Workshops
In addition to the main FeldenFit Programme, we periodically hold shorter workshops centred around specific topics of intensive focus. Each Workshop includes:
⟠Downloadable recordings. Do them anywhere, anytime - Downloadable Video and Audio Files.
⟠Membership and ongoing discussions in the lively FeldenFit Facebook Community.
⟠ Immediate access to all of the videos for past workshops.
FeldenFoot Workshop
The feet are, in fact, the foundation of self-carriage for the rider. A good seat starts at the feet.
âžÂ This self paced self study workshop includes 5 Days of 5-15 minute Pre-Recorded Feldenkrais Lessons (PLUS the recording of a LIVE Q&A).
âžÂ BONUS: An exclusive podcast of the recordings so you can listen anytime, anywhere (especially while on your horse) with just your phone. So easy!!
FeldenHip Workshop
We all know that having independent aids is vital in order to ride well. But did you know that in order to have independent aids, you must FIRST have independent legs and hips?
âžÂ This self paced self study workshop includes 5 Days of 5-17 minute Pre-Recorded Feldenkrais Lessons (PLUS the recording of a LIVE Q&A).
âžÂ BONUSES: 1 FeldenRide Lesson, 1 video of a hands-on lesson with a student, PLUS the Podcast of the recordings.
*Other currencies and payment plans available.
We hope you will love this program. You will have a full 2 weeks from the date of purchase to see if it is right for you. If it doesnât resonate with you, just let us know and we will refund your money. No hassles. No hard feelings.
