The effectiveness of the Feldenkrais Method® lies in its ability to nourish the nervous system's own innate processes through the language of movement and sensation. It is based on the premise that through personal experience we develop habitual patterns of physical and psychological behavior (movement and thought) to ensure our personal, biological and social comfort. Over time these patterns become deeply embedded in our neurological systems, and can become "blocks" to new ways of thinking, feeling, and moving.
The Feldenkrais Method is taught in two forms: Awareness Through Movement (ATM) and Functional Integration (FI) lessons. In both cases you will be invited to engage in a pleasurable and playful process through which, simply by paying attention to physical sensations of movement, you develop more complete sense of yourself in motion.
Awareness Through Movement® (ATM) lessons, are offered to groups of students and individuals. In each session you are verbally guided through a series of slow and subtle movement sequences that improve your flexibility, coordination, strength and balance. You learn how to feel yourself move and how to eliminate excess effort and tension. After only a few lessons you will have a different sense for how you sit, stand, walk, bend or twist.
How does it work?
Explorations of these easy, but yet unusual movement patterns allow your nervous system to be aware of differences and to learn kinesthetically how you could move better. It is much like a baby who is lying on the floor exploring how to raise its head or reach for a toy. We all have the ability to learn, much like a child does, if we bring our attention to the feeling of exploratory movements.
Whatever movements you are exploring, you'll be encouraged to work within the comfortable easy range with which you already move. By avoiding discomfort and strain, you'll give yourself the freedom to listen to all the sensations that accompany your movement that are normally drowned out by being focused on achieving some outward goal.
Who can do this?
Anyone! The Awareness Through Movement lessons are easy and don't require any particular strength, experience, or ability. In fact, we are not seeking to "exercise" or "strengthen" a particular muscle group but rather to reorganize and refine our movement through a gentle dialogue with the nervous system. In general, you are learning to coordinate your movements so that you can use your whole self efficiently to do what you want to do. Since the method is speaking to the nervous system, you don't even have to get the movements 'right' for them to have an effect on your well-being.
Your role in this process is simply to be quiet enough to listen to what you do, refine your actions for easier movement and grow new efficient behaviors. From these lessons, you will take with you a newly discovered movement, or perhaps new awareness of an old movement pattern with new nuances. The key is transferring what you learn in class into your daily living.Functional Integration® (FI) lessons are one-on-one lesson that are custom-tailored to your unique movement habits and goals. The ideas and strategies employed are the same as in ATM classes but here it is generally the practitioner who moves the student. Through this gentle and precise touch-to-movement dialogue you will come to recognize both how you move already and learn new patterns of neuromuscular organization and movement. The result is more choice and flexibility in how you move and a greater sense of ease.
*Buffy Owens is a fourth year student of the Feldenkrais Method® and an Authorized Awareness Through Movement® teacher.
What’s it like?
Functional Integration® is performed with the student fully clothed, usually lying on a low padded table or on a padded on the floor. However, they may also be taught in sitting, kneeling, standing, or other configurations depending on the needs of the individual. At times, various props (pillows, rollers, blankets ) are used in an effort to support the person's body configuration or to facilitate certain movements. At the end of a session you will learn how to integrate the lesson in every day life.
How does Feldenkrais® Method differ?About Moshe Feldenkrais
The biggest difference is that client participation is essential, for it is our intention to teach you how you got where you are and what to do differently. Similar to other modalities with the body, touch is used, yet Feldenkrais touch is a tactile language; a type of communication through the body to the brain. The Feldenkrais® Method works with the nervous system, inclusive of mind and body. This integrative approach challenges the self and function of muscles and bones.
Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc., (1904-1984) was a distinguished scientist, physicist and engineer. He earned his D.Sc. in Physics from the Sorbonne and was a close associate of Nobel Prize Laureate Frederic Joliot-Curie at the Curie Institute in Paris, where they conducted research together.
He was also a respected Judo instructor and author of many books on the subject. Living in England in the 1940Ís, Feldenkrais found himself unable to walk after suffering a serious injury. He began an intense exploration into the relationship between bodily movement and healing, feeling, thinking, and learning. As a result, he restored his ability to walk and made revolutionary discoveries, culminating in the development of the method that now bears his name.
Before he passed away in 1984, in Tel-Aviv, Israel, Feldenkrais personally trained a small group of practitioners to continue his work. Today there are nearly 4,000 Feldenkrais Practitioners around the globe. His insights contributed to the development of the new field of somatic education and continue to influence disciplines such as the arts, education, psychology, child development, physical and occupational therapy, sports enhancement, and gerontology.
Books in English by Moshe Feldenkrais:
• The Potent Self. Berkeley, CA: Frog Press/Somatic Resources, 1985, 200.*This information on Moshe Feldenkrais is from the Feldenkrais Resources web site. You can also visit their site to purchase ay of the books listed above, except for Judo: The Art of Defense and Attack or to find out more about their Feldenkrais Professional Training Programs.
• The Master Moves. Cupertino, CA: Meta Publications, 1984.
• The Elusive Obvious. Cupertino, CA: Meta Publications, 1981.
• Body Awareness as Healing Therapy: The Case of Nora. Berkeley, CA: Frog Press/Somatic Resources, 1977, 1994.
• Awareness Through Movement: Health Exercises for Personal Growth. New York: Harper Collins, 1972.
• Higher Judo: Groundwork. New York: Frederick Warne & Co., 1952.
• Body and Mature Behavior: A Study in Anxiety, Sex, Gravitation and Learning. Berkeley, CA: Frog Press/Somatic Resources, 1950, 1980, 2005.
• Judo: The Art of Defense and Attack. New York: Frederick Warne & Co., 1944, 1967. Out of Print
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