Making the Floor Your Friend Again

When was the last time you comfortably sat or lay on the floor—and then got back up with ease and confidence? For many adults, the answer is often a sheepish shrug. It’s not that we don’t want to get down on the floor—it’s that somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling natural.

For some, it even feels impossible.

But it wasn’t always this way. As children, we moved from the floor to standing countless times a day. Rolling, crawling, sitting, squatting, bouncing—our early years were filled with spontaneous, explorative movement close to the ground. The floor was our playground. It was a place of curiosity and comfort.

As we age, however, our relationship with the floor, often  tends to fade. We spend more time in chairs, cars, and on sofas, and our daily range of motion shrinks. Gradually, the simple act of getting down onto the floor and up again becomes more effortful, unfamiliar, and even intimidating. We begin to stiffen, not only physically but mentally too. We lose confidence in our ability to move freely, and the floor transforms from a space of possibility to one of limitation.

But here’s the good news: it doesn’t have to stay this way.

Movement Is a Skill, Not a Strength Test

One of the great misunderstandings about movement—especially in later life—is that it’s all about strength. While strength plays an important role, movement is first and foremost a skill. Just like riding a bicycle or playing an instrument, moving well is something we can learn, improve, and refine at any age.

This is where the Feldenkrais Method comes in.

Developed by Moshe Feldenkrais, this method is a unique approach to movement education that helps people rediscover natural, efficient, and pain-free ways of moving. It doesn’t involve stretching or straining. There’s no need to "push through" pain or “work hard.” Instead, it invites you to explore small, gentle movements with awareness and curiosity, so your nervous system can re-learn how to move in ways that feel easier and more integrated.

Why Getting Down (and Up) Becomes Hard

The process of losing ease in floor-to-standing movements is gradual and subtle. We stop squatting as often (like we did as toddlers). We avoid kneeling because it feels awkward or uncomfortable. We might stiffen our backs to "protect" them or limit bending because of past injuries. Like the saying “Use it or lose it,”  over time, our range of motion reduces and our movement patterns become more rigid. The muscles, joints, and connections we once relied on no longer work together fluidly.

Instead of using our whole body in a coordinated way that distributes and spreads effort and force evenly across and through our whole system, we start to rely heavily on individual parts—usually the hips, knees, or shoulders—to do the heavy lifting.

The result? Movement feels harder than it needs to. Getting up from the floor might involve a lot of grunting, grabbing for furniture, or putting excess pressure on joints. In many cases, this leads to discomfort or even injury and pain. It reinforces the idea that the floor is "not for me anymore."

The Feldenkrais Approach: Spreading the Work

One of the core principles of the Feldenkrais Method is learning to distribute movement through the whole body. Rather than overloading certain joints or muscles, Feldenkrais lessons help you rediscover how all your parts—feet, knees, hips, spine, ribs, shoulders, head—can participate in movement.

For example, a Feldenkrais lesson might guide you to explore how turning your head slightly affects your balance, or how engaging your ribs changes the ease with which you roll or shift your weight. These gentle explorations can wake up long-forgotten movement options. Over time, you start to move with more integration, more ease, and less effort.

Regaining Confidence and Curiosity

Another beautiful benefit of the Feldenkrais Method is its impact on confidence. Many people avoid the floor not just because it’s physically hard, but because it feels emotionally daunting. There’s fear—of falling, of not being able to get up, of looking or feeling awkward.

But when you explore movement in a non-judgmental, supportive way, that fear starts to fade. You learn to trust your body again. You rediscover a sense of play and curiosity that many of us left behind in childhood. You realize: "I can get down to the floor. I can get back up. And I don’t have to do it the way I thought I did.” It gives you more options and possibilities. More freedom.

Making the Floor Your Friend

Reclaiming your ease of movement doesn't require heroics. It starts with small steps. Lying on the floor for a few minutes each day. Attending a Feldenkrais class or trying an online lesson. Getting curious about how you move—and how you might move differently.

The floor can be a space of rest, of restoration, of movement practice. It can be a place where you rediscover the joy and possibility in your own body. And yes, it can be your friend again.

So if the idea of getting down onto the floor and back up feels out of reach right now—know that it doesn’t have to stay that way. 

With gentle guidance and a willingness to explore, you can regain this vital and life-affirming ability.

Book Workshop on 20th July

The Feldenkrais Method won’t just teach you how to move better. It will help you feel better, more connected, more resilient—and yes, more at home on the floor.