Lori A. Parker, GCFP, SEP, Ph.D.
Dr. Lori Parker has been involved in teaching and spiritual counseling since 1985, and in healing since 1993. She is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner®, a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner®, and an ordained Zen Buddhist Priest. She owned her own private Aikido School for over 35 years. She retired from Aikido in June 2021.
Dr. Parker completed the 4-year Feldenkrais Training Program in 1998. Her original teachers were Dr. Mark Reece and David Zemach-Bersin, both of whom are considered two of the world’s foremost authorities on the Feldenkrais Method. Both of these individuals studied with Moshe Feldenkrais himself, in San Francisco, Amherst, and Tel-Aviv.
Dr. Mark Reece is now deceased, but Dr. Parker has gone on to immerse herself in David Zemach-Bersin’s trainings. These trainings were focused on Balance, Posture, Sitting, and various specific areas of the body (e.g., Mouth & Jaw; Spine, Neck & Shoulders).
Dr. Parker has developed two Movement Awareness Series based on the Feldenkrais Method. Both series are informed by her extensive training in Stress Related Conditions.
Creating Space for Your Lungs
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Freeing the Neck, Relaxing the Jaw, Softening the Face
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After a series of physical trauma, including being struck by a car (as a pedestrian), Dr. Parker experienced such excruciating pain that she had to be packed in ice for much of the day in order to be able to conduct martial arts instruction in the evening. Severe headaches, as well as muscle spasms in her back, neck, and shoulders continued to reduce her physical abilities. She was unable to lie comfortably in any position.
During the four-year training program in the Feldenkrais Method®, the daily pain dissipated and her ability to function without physical pain was restored. Somatic Experiencing® furthered her progress by healing the deeper effects of trauma.
Her expression and application of the Feldenkrais Method® is informed by 1) her extensive training and experience in the Feldenkrais Method itself, 2) her extensive training in the Somatic Experiencing Method (a method that seeks to resolve physiological shock trauma), her Mindfulness Training, as well as her own extensive rehabilitation process.
For those whose recuperation from injury involves healing the deeper effects of trauma, Dr. Parker can, upon request, incorporate the Somatic Experiencing® method into the Feldenkrais Sessions. She also offers individual sessions utilizing exclusively the Somatic Experiencing® model.
"I feel as though I never knew what it meant to be truly at ease until, one day after a session, I felt the most amazing joy and acceptance. Lori is very informative; her touch alone brings awareness." -Debra Sussman, Marketing Director