Feldenkrais is not about better movement. Movement is the medium for the change because
it is the most direct, non-confusing means of communication between the
conscious mind and the nervous system.
Before we are able to talk, we learn a great many things as children
through trial-and-error movement. On the
surface, we learn to sit up, crawl and walk, but in the process we learn deeper
lessons about relationships between seemingly separate ideas, balance, and how
to fulfil our needs. Movement is the
primary teacher for our most basic understanding of the world.
For this reason, Moshe
Feldenkrais chose movement, as opposed to massage, imagery, or conversation, as
the means by which people may improve themselves. Many issues which can not be dealt with in a
traditional medical or therapeutic setting can be approached very successfully
when a person is in a curious state where they can find the best way to recover
themselves. Engaging in movement with a
minimum of verbal stimulus is the best means of reaching this curious state.
Feldenkrais can teach you to move in a way that
does not agitate your pain or injury. For this reason, it is ideal for people
learning to recover from injury or trauma. If you are the victim of pain that
doctors have been unable to successfully identify or diagnose, Feldenkrais
may give you a chance to heighten your awareness of yourself; with this
awareness, you may be able to discover the source of your trouble and begin to
make changes to alleviate it.
One of the greatest aspects
of Feldenkrais is its pain-free approach. Moshe
Feldenkrais believed that the best learning happens in an environment which is pleasant.
For this reason, all lessons are done slowly, in a range of motion that
is easy. Instructors are not allowed to bring clients into pain.
Instead, they work with movements that a client does well, giving the body the
best possible chance to move freely and easily. In this way, the entire body
learns to function as a whole, rather than simply a collection of trained
parts.
Unless they have an
additional degree, Feldenkrais teachers are not doctors or physical
therapists. They do not diagnose trauma or illness, nor deal with those things
directly. Instead, they teach movement through the parts of the person that are
uninjured. Often, when a person begins to move in a more unified, graceful way,
a great many problems take care of themselves. Feldenkrais is not
appropriate for every situation, and if you are in need of surgery or relief
from acute pain, a Feldenkrais teacher can refer you to the
appropriate health-care professional.
No matter what situation
you are in, whether you are wheelchair-bound, hearing-impaired, or even
confined to a hospital bed, you still have a number of movements possible to
you. Feldenkrais will teach you to improve the quality of these
movements. If you are confined to a bed, but you can still feed yourself, you
can learn to get the food to your mouth without spilling it. If you use a
wheelchair, you may want to make sure you are engaging your back, shoulders and
chest in the most effective, coordinated way when you move yourself around.
In the case of lessons
which are designed to teach movement which is currently unavailable to you, Feldenkrais
offers a surprising approach. Moshe Feldenkrais reiterated many times that when
a movement is impossible or too difficult to do safely, then a person should
refine their image of the movement in their imagination. Remarkably, the
body learns better from a clearly imagined movement than it does from twenty
repetitions of a movement done hastily or with strain. As you take Feldenkrais
lessons, you will have ample opportunity to test this idea. You may find that
revisiting lost or unavailable movement by learning to imagine it clearly
will provide you with certain stimulation you have lacked. You may experience
surprising benefits as a result of this.
Feldenkrais is not specifically a healthcare
discipline. It operates on a teaching model rather than a diagnostic one. Yet
because it offers such tremendous benefits to those with health issues, it is a
fantastic resource for hospitals, clinics, and insurance carriers. Doctors will
find that Feldenkrais is ideal for addressing problems of general
pain, dizziness, or unease for which they may have had no easy answers. And
because the Feldenkrais Method stresses working only in pain-free
areas, doctors can feel secure recommending it, knowing that patients will not
aggravate their difficulties by engaging in the lessons.
Feldenkrais can be recommended for the fully
healthy individual in order to prevent injury, pain, or stress. Because the
work is gentle, it is suitable for senior citizens who wish to remain active;
in addition, the work stimulates the mind as well as the body, offering a more
complete benefit than traditional exercise. And those people who begin Feldenkrais
when they are younger and less at-risk for injury may avoid balance problems,
coordination problems, and other problems associated with the aging process.
The Feldenkrais Method is relatively new to the world, its
creator only having trained several hundred people as Practitioners before his
death in 1984. Information about the Method, especially regarding testing in
blind-studies, is still sparse. Nevertheless, several studies have been done,
and a number of books and articles have been written about the Method,
including several by NIH. Register
with us to read more. If you are a healthcare professional, or you
work to refer or to promote the healthcare industry, then you will find Feldenkrais
a fantastic resource, all the more exciting because many of the implications of
the work still remain to be discovered.
Absolutely. Because the Feldenkrais
Method is designed to teach you to improve no matter what state you are
in, it can be of phenomenal use to those who are looking to refine and excel in
their movement. Does this mean Feldenkrais can make you a better
golfer, tennis player, runner? Twisting, folding, bending; these
elements exist in every sport, and the Method can teach you to improve in
these elements.. Your Feldenkrais teacher may be able to show
you things about your game that your personal trainer or your golf pro may have
overlooked!
If you are a musician,
you can learn to express yourself more fluently and with more power on your
instrument than you ever believed was possible. Music teachers, while expert at
the little movements involving their instruments, are very rarely trained to
teach you to work with the movement of your entire body. Yet when the
entire body is engaged, musical skills that seemed out of reach become
possible, even simple!
Athletes, Musicians,
Dancers, Craftspeople, Surgeons...we are all human, and we all benefit
from the same process of deepening our self-understanding through the direct
medium of movement.