TESTIMONIALS

What is it like to work with Naoko?

“Working with you has been essential to my mental well-being. Last Wednesday, for the first time in almost five months, I woke up without fear or violent physical sensations, and continued my day without the dread that had accompanied me everywhere. Since then, I've become aware of a sense of my inner strength and I feel able to let go of my dependency on others to relieve the fear, even if the relief was temporary. A week ago I wouldn't have been able to make this decision. Thank you for everything you've done for me. “ (Axelle Fortier, CA)

“I've sampled many teachers via zoom from many countries and you are the best. I guess it's hard to put into words without sounding cliche. For sure it's that you constantly emphasize slowness, small movements, less effort, and doing things in our imaginations. As I go through the day, I often find myself calling out to myself "less effort, less effort! While a few other teachers nod to the emotional and spiritual experience of the lessons, I feel the spiritual component of the practice is inherent in all you do. The clarity of awareness of the body you invoke creates a very vivid sense of the continuity of ourselves with that universe that is both within and without us. Finally, the answer is ineffable. It's your presence, who you are; there's a gentleness and modesty to your work. To me, you are uniquely effective - one of the great ones walking this earth." (Mark Milstein, NYC)

“I injured my back during the summer of 2020 and because of the pandemic, it was almost a year until I saw a chiropractor and physical therapist. It was better, but I still had lower back and hip pain and sciatica for the next two years. I couldn’t dance, and I could barely walk. Every step was painful. Naoko worked on me, and now I don’t have that pain anymore! I am jogging around and dancing again! It’s hard to believe how an hour of gentle nudging could fix pain I had for years.” (Ginni Stilts, Interior designer, PA)

"After my session with Naoko the excess tension and discomfort on the entire left side of my body was gone. I was balanced equally left to right side and had a more substantial relationship to the ground. I felt connected and energized and the improvement was long lasting.“ (Temple, NC)

“I’m a full-time chef and use my hands so much. I had persistent headache for months due to the intense work schedule. I had virtual private session with Naoko. I felt so cleansed after the session and my headache was all gone, to my surprise. I regained energy and was able to get through the week with hard schedule! (H,K. NY)

"Naoko is a powerful practitioner who has helped me so much with my back issues.” (P. B., New York)

"Naoko's presence is amazing. During a session with Naoko, I can feel a deep shift happening in my body. I feel changed. That is the very reason I come here." (Jose, NY)

”After the session, my feet feel so strong that when I’m standing in the kitchen, I feel like I can do things.” (Woman with Multiple Sclerosis, NY)

”I feel so open! I can play (my viola) so much better after the treatment.” (M.C. Musician, New York)

“omg, Naoko Maeshiba is a genius! Her Feldenkrais classes are changing so much more than my posture. Exploring the body in relationship to performance, performance energy, how posture and alignment fully transforms then body's sense of itself and my personal sense of myself. It's MAGIC! Except it's REAL. (Pele Bauch dance artist, New York)

“I had neck tightness on the left side for years. It just released after one session. I can feel I’m being reorganized from the tips of toes to the top of my head. It’s so complete. It’s so special. (E.E., NY)”

“I love Naoko! She is an exceptional practitioner. I went into my body so deeply during the session.” (D. H. New York)

”Her work is so tender and sensitive. After so many years of not feeling my body, I’m so happy I can feel it again!” (M.F., NY)

"When I stood up from the table, I felt like I was gradually enfolding. My hip felt so open and and the chest area felt like it was in one piece. (J. G. NY)

“The effect is so immediate. I feel my hip and head are so free. (C.Z. New York)

“After one session, I slept so well!” (D.K., MD)

“She has an astute eye and quickly identifies patterns of tension in the body. Her hands on approach is direct and gentle.” (A. K., NY)

"Naoko has a rare skill to turn pain into joy." (T. M., New York)

"I feel centered in a familiar, but unusual way.” (Peter, Baltimore)

"She has a light, warm, and firm touch. " (Stephanie, MD)

”I’ve never felt like this. I always thought my body was a certain way. But it wasn't.” (Young actress, NY)

“I wanted to say that this class is like a thousand therapy sessions without a therapist.”

"As I touch my spine, I feel sore spots I didn't know existed! This is profound.”

"I had a headache & now it’s almost gone.”

“I love this class. I feel so relaxed ad I notice differences. Through the week, I felt myself practicing the new breathing. Please don't end this class. It's wonderful.”

“Why is it easier to stand up after your class than it is other times?”

“One class, even a few minutes, is Each class is a thousand, wordless therapy sessions without a therapist.”

“I had a lot of pain in my right neck at the first part. I still wanted to slowly continue. After it all I felt tingling & I really felt much better!”

“Feeling so much better! Thank you Naoko! I’d forgotten how good my body could feel!

“This was phenomenal. I usually have a lot of pain and this lesson helped me a lot."

“This is miracle- I've been doing the lessons everyday and I feel much less pain.”

“There we learn about our body, we awakening our true self on all level - thank you!”

“This is my first time and I was starting too all asleep at the beginning, but I felt weirdly connected in the end.”

“I do meditation and usually get this tingling feeling. The difference today was that the tingling feeling lasted all the way through and even now. It was particularly interesting to feel all other parts of my body.” Marilyn

Movement Workshop

‘To say that Naoko's workshop changed my life is no understatement. I found a depth that I never found in any of my previous acting, improvisational or dance work. During the exercise called Minute Speed, I came face to face with the Zeno's paradox, where we can never reach our destination because its distance can be infinitely divided in half. That among other work changed how I saw movement forever. I have been very fortunate that Naoko gave me the opportunity to explore this work over the last 8 years. I have gained levels of concentration and stamina I would not have imagined. This is not easy, pretty work. I have been challenged to explore the unknown and to stay with what I wanted to run from. The reward has been in the journey. In so many performing arts forms, the performer is swept away by the choreography, music, text or emotions like a leaf in the wind. Through this imagery and sensory work, the body mind becomes part of the natural and unseen worlds, while the head mind steps outside to witness the dance. It allows the performer and audience a glimpse of the potential we have as humans.’ (Jen Young, Personal trainer/dancer, Washington DC)

“Naoko’s workshop transformed our performers and our production. The work with body awareness and breath has brought a presence and energy to our performers that we have never seen before. Her approach to teaching is experiential and rooted in immediate practice. In the first hour, we were moving and engaging with each other in deeper and more subtle ways then I have ever experienced. Naoko brings so many different embodied perspectives and approaches to the work from theater, to dance, to health and wellness. She helped us deepen our cross-disciplinary thinking, but we also found the core truths that ran across our different practices. We were all over the place with our ideas and methods for choreography. Through simple and thoughtful exercises, Naoko helped us find a rich movement vocabulary that already existed within the work but was obscured by our own overthinking. Her embodied approach opened up our bodies to the power of presence and our individual strengths as performers. She immediately had us moving and exploring our bodies in new ways that we had never experienced. We are all trained dancer and performers, but it was like I was discovering my potential for the first time. Her methods are deceptively simple, and yet created potential for a depth of quality that our performers had never felt before. Maeshiba uses a verity of approaches from theater, to dance, to everyday movement in her classes. My initial skepticism was quickly replaced with a deep sense of joy, meaning, and engagement with her and my colleagues. I forgot about my phone, stopped worrying about my emails, and felt truly present for the first time in years. I saw the world anew in all its texture, emotion, and potential.'“ (Sydney Pink, Visual artist/Performer, Baltimore)

“Naoko is a passionate and skilled movement teacher and somatic practitioner. Her knowledge of the body comes from years of deep investigation into performance and somatic study and practice. She is an attentive and generous teacher who helps her students reach high levels of body awareness and creative expression. During a week-long performance workshop with Naoko, I experienced profound shifts in my body and consciousness. She creates a learning environment that is welcoming to all. She attends to the group while also providing individualized attention. The practices I learned from her continue to significantly inform my movement/performance work.” (T.C. Baltimore)

“Class was great! I was very aware of my spine for most of it. When we were working with the tongue and esophagus, I had this feeling of elongation as if I was being stretched along a pole going through the middle of my body. I think the image of the chakras aided in that. My core felt very activated. I enjoyed thinking about the breath as something that comes outside to the inside and vice versa. “(L.P. Michigan)

Performance Mentoring

”In my 30-year career as a choreographer and teacher, I have had many collaborators, and all those who work with me know that I can be highly demanding. I found Naoko’s blend of professionalism and artistry unique. Naoko has many qualities that commend her: deep knowledge in choreography and theater, somatic practice, organization, etc. There is one aspect, however, that rises above the rest, She has both an intellectual brilliance and amazing intuition. She is always responsible and fully immersed in the idea we are working on. As a dramaturg for my dance company, we always have lengthy discussions to clarify and discover a deeper meaning of my work. She understands me, and she pushes me to be a better version of myself as an artist. What a joy and a blessing to collaborate with her.” (Anabella Lenzu, choreographer/performer, NYC)

”Naoko brings her wealth of knowledge about body, dance, and performance in her mentoring and teaching. By taking her class and workshop, I learned a lot about these things. However, what makes her extremely appealing is her expressivity and world view as an artist. In her art of teaching, body, language, performance, and life are all connected. She guides the students through her poetic language so masterfully that I always forgot time was passing! She also never forgets to give undivided attention to each individual student. Her class focuses on the basic principles about how to exist on stage with potency - how to maintain high level of consciousness, how to grasp physicality and its relation to psychology, how to create more potent relationship between one’s body and another body, and how the body can affect the energy of the space. I’m so surprised that it changed my ability to express so much after taking her workshop. “ (Mayu Shirai, dancer, Japan/New York)

“Naoko’s level of discipline to the craft motivated me, Her selflessness inspired me and her focus on the little things overall changed my trajectory. We can have grand ideas and ambitions but if one is not geared towards improving and mastering the little things in his/her own life, that big dream that exists will never come into fruition like it’s designed to. She said something I will never forget. She said “Jacob, I can see you struggling with something. Do not concentrate on the end result, concentrate on your next step of your path, give it everything you have and then once that is complete take another step. You will reach your destination through the process.” Thank you again for teaching me and impacting my life in such a strong and positive way.” (J.J, actor, GA)