Daniel Sullivan, owner of Maine Feldenkrais & Physical Therapy, “scores a hat trick” on a daily basis, given that he incorporates martial arts, the Feldenkrais (pronounced felden-cr-ice) Method and traditional physical therapy to give his patients a more complete rehabilitation experience.

“What I do involves a lot of rolling around on the floor and learning how to move your body more effectively,” Sullivan said. “A lot of people are fairly unconscious in how they handle themselves and I try to educate them into moving more fluidly.”

Since 1994, when he took the complete four-year training in the Feldenkrais Method, known just as Feldenkrais, he has been sharing this knowledge with people who seek him out as a physical therapist.

“Feldenkrais is basically a technique of teaching a person about his or her own movement that is designed to reduce pain or constraints in movement and, consequently, improve physical function and encourage well-being by increasing (a) patient’s awareness of themselves and by expanding his or her movement range,” he said.

With a black belt in Kenpo Karate, he finds that the discipline used in martial arts translates well into the discipline a rehabilitating patient must use in order to get back to full strength.

Often, patients come in with a stiff this or a painful that and by teaching them slowly how to handle themselves differently Sullivan gets them back to doing what they like to do, be it gardening, golfing, playing tennis or cross-fit training.

“I bring everything down to a doable level. You can’t start out at the top, you have to start slowly at a low level and gain confidence, get through the fear of pain or re-injury and then you can build and go up from there,” Sullivan said. “By increasing a person’s self-awareness in the context of their daily or habitual movement patterns, it will over time lead to increased function, and can also lead to greater ease and enjoyment of movement.”

Initially, after completing physical therapy school at Boston University in 1983, Sullivan was a more traditional physical therapist, working first in Colorado in sports medicine, then at Parkview Hospital from 1987 to 1995 as director of the rehabilitation department.

But after completing his training in the Feldenkrais Method in 1994, which he was introduced to by taking a short course “out of curiosity,” he started planning to go out on his own, which he did in 1998.

“I didn’t really like the mechanized way of traditional physical therapy using a lot of modalities and machines,” Sullivan said. “Everything I do here is movement based. I think it’s important that people learn their bodies and learn what they do to themselves. How your body moves is important so you can maximize the use of it.”

Because he loves sports and himself plays ice hockey with the Brunswick Hockey Club, he believes younger athletes could really benefit from Feldenkrais. But in reality more than half his patients are baby boomers.

“I enjoy helping anyone get back out there and do what they really want to be doing, be it gardening or competitive sports,” he said. “Feldenkrais was unique in his thinking when he taught people that developing one’s skill in paying attention, particularly to how one moves one’s body, can affect more than the flexibility of their muscles and joints, but also their thinking. I think younger people could really benefit from that.”

Because of Sullivan’s sports background, he often starts the relationship with a new client as a coach-to-athlete kind of setup.

“In the beginning, it’s just me telling you what to do. But I can’t be the coach forever or you won’t learn how to make your own decisions. So as things develop I teach you (the patient) how to make your own decision. I want to transfer knowledge of your body movement to you so that you can catch yourself when you are doing something wrong and then you can recognize an incorrect habit and make an adjustment that can prevent reinjury,” Sullivan said.

Patients are given 45 minutes of one-on-one intense treatment while in Sullivan’s care. “That is something I haven’t been able to give up, the one-on-one method,” he said. “Every now and then I may have two patients together, but I make sure that they would be compatible and I ask if they are OK with being treated together.”

Sullivan’s main goal is to build patients back up mentally and physically to get back to “doing their lives.”

He also teaches Feldenkrais classes, “Awareness through Movement,” Mondays and Wednesdays at Brunswick Martial Arts Academy, 126 Main St., Topsham.

In addition to Sullivan at Maine Feldenkrais & Physical Therapy, there are physical therapist Nancy Forsell, office manager Nichole Mains, and two office staff, Claudia Potosme and Emery Ahoua, both of whom are Bowdoin College students studying in the physical therapy field.

Movement matters

¦ MAINE FELDENKRAIS & PHYSICAL THERAPY is
located in 1 Bowdoin Mills, Suite 202, Topsham
Telephone: 207-725-7578
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Website: www.maine-feldenkrais-pt.com
For more information: www.feldenkrais.com

¦ PEOPLE OF ALL AGES are encouraged to attend an upcoming open house to come and see what Feldenkrais is all about. The open house is on Friday, Nov. 9, from 2 to 5 p.m.

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