Help me become a Feldenkrais Method Practitioner!

My Passion: After 15 years in a desk job, I have realized that my passion in life is to help -- nay, EMPOWER!! -- people to find healing through greater ease, comfort, trust, and poise in their body.  I am deeply inspired by the Feldenkrais Method – in particular, its recognition of the fundamental relationship between bodily self-awareness and healing. I feel that Feldenkrais is the modality that would best enable me to be pro-active in facilitating a healing process, while encouraging people to create healing for themselves. Also, I have a deep interest in studying autism and helping autistic individuals find a better quality of life. I strongly believe that the Feldenkrais Method would be of great benefit to the autism community by addressing the difficulties in movement, coordination, and kinesthetic awareness that autistic people have to deal with.

And so, I am following my passion by enrolling in a Feldenkrais Practitioner Training Program.

The situation:  The most cost-minimizing and rigorous training program takes place in the DC area, whereas I live in Boston, MA. It is a huge investment: $16,000 over four years for the program itself, plus another $10,000+ of travel expenses. The latter is for 8-10 trips to  from Boston per year for a total of around 35-40 trips over the entire training program. My sister, who is studying to be a doctor (and is deeply in debt for the next 10 years or more), lives about an hour’s drive from the training, so I would be staying with her to eliminate hotel costs, but I would still need to rent a car. As I am the main breadwinner for my family and the primary caretaker for my elderly mother, who has been debilitated by a severe heart condition and is recovering from a stroke that she had last November (2012), these costs are starting to look terribly frightening.

Fundraising goal: I would be so very grateful for some financial help, even just to cover some of the travel-related expenses. For this year alone, it comes out to a minimum of $150x10 trips = $1500 for airfare, plus ~$40 per day x 52 days = ~$2000 for car rental. So my goal right now is to raise $3500 to cover my travel expenses for the year’s worth of Feldenkrais Practitioner Training from June 2013 to June 2014.

Please help me pursue my passion so that I can help people live happier, more empowered, more active and healthier lives!