The Renner Method®

by Vonn Alen

The Renner Method is a learning method developed to teach the brain and body how to function optimally. It uses direct manipulation of the body, along with verbal and physical exercises. Gábor Renner developed this method after over twelve years of international study and practice using the Feldenkrais Method and others. Renner incorporates feedback techniques from the Sage Learning Method. The feedback is direct observation of the

student's body. Gábor Renner works side-by-side with his wife, Dr. Margaret Sturgeon, an energy specialist,

chiropractor, and Reiki Master. Dr. Sturgeon perceives patterns of energy in the body which help her to identify

constrictions where movement exercises can allow greater freedom of motion. Sturgeon's Life Energetics Technique is an integral part of the Renner Method. The Renner Method combines the Feldenkrais method, Life Energetics Technique, the Sage Learning Method, and other techniques to allow performance-oriented people of all walks of life greater success with body, mind, and career.

The idea is to train individuals to use exercises to regain and enhance brain/body connections which effect movement, awareness and self-image. In our daily lives we develop habitual patterns, which while stimulating some brain/body pathways, leave other pathways unstimulated. As an example, Renner asked me to fold my hands with fingers intertwined, a pattern most everyone has developed. After having done so, he asked me to reorganize my intertwined fingers so as to displace them by one (top thumb becoming bottom thumb , etc.). My action was clumsy and the sensation was unfamiliar. This task helped me understand how our brains and bodies adopt patterns to which we become accustomed. These patterns may be efficient for operating machinery, but when repeated over time, can lead to pain and disease.

Sturgeon like-wise gave me an example. Having a chiropractic background, she stood up straight and then threw one hip to the side, making her very off-center. "The brain," she explained, "wants to be horizontal for equilibrium," so she threw the rest of her body in the opposite direction to compensate. This made her head level. She then walked toward Renner and me, both sides of her body exaggerated in opposite directions, but with her head level with the floor and in line with her feet. When the body is allowed to repeat the same patterns over and over, the patterns become ingrained.

I asked Renner to describe how he would proceed with a student who choses to work with him and his wife. The first question he asked was, "What is your intention?" The Renner Method is not a healing method, but a learning method which affects the body and mind and can be used to achieve a specific goal. They would use the Renner Method with its variety of techniques and feedback to help the student achieve the goal. Sturgeon explained that it is different for different people. Businessmen want to sell better, others want to be better public speakers, etc. They find the method particularly helpful for dancers and other performance-oriented people.

To find out more about the Renner Method and the Salamander movement program compact disc, contact Gábor Renner or Margaret Sturgeon at "A Matter of Touch,"