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Feldenkrais Method
The Feldenkrais method is an educational system that allows the body to move and function more efficiently and comfortably. Its goal is to re-educate the nervous system and improve motor ability. The system can accomplish much more, relieving pressure on joints and weak points, and allowing the body to heal repetitive strain injuries. Continued use of the method can relieve pain and lead to higher standards of achievement in sports, the martial arts, dancing and other physical disciplines.
Pupils are taught to become aware of their movements and to become aware of how they use their bodies, thus discovering possible areas of stress and strain. The goal of Feldenkrais is to take the individual from merely functioning, to functioning well, free of pain and restriction of movement. Feldenkrais himself stated that his goal was, “To make the impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy, elegant.”
Conditions Treated with Feldenkrais
preventative health, also arthritis, back problems, cerebral palsey, depression, headache, migraine, neuromuscular disorders, over-contracted muscles, repetitive strain injury, stress, stroke
In the 1945, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais developed the method that bears his name. Several thousand practitioners have been trained in his techniques and practice them all around the world. The Feldenkrais Method can be considered a therapy in that it teaches a form of body awareness and control that can benefit those suffering from neurological and musculoskeletal problems, as well as other challenges, but it is also a useful tool that can be used to increase self-awareness, movement skills, posture, and balance, and also to reduce stress levels and increase self-esteem and general well-being.
Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, who devised the Feldenkrais Method was horn in Russia in 1904, but left that country when he was three to travel in Palestine. Later during his 20s, he studied engineering in Paris and was then awarded a doctorate in physics at the Sorhonne where he worked on France’s early atomic research program, During the Second World War, he escaped from Nazi-occupied France and found refuge in Britain, where he worked on an anti-submarine project before moving to Israel in 1949.
Feldenkrais studied Japanese healing, and also western anatomy, physiology, neurology, psychology, and other health disciplines as he slowly developed the system known as the Feldenkrais Method. In 1962 the Feidenkrais Institute was opened in Tel Aviv Israel, to train practitioners. Feldenkrais found it difficult to train others however since he could not easily explain to his students thee ideas that he appreciated instinctively. Nevertheless practitioners have now been trained in the technique and use it all around the world, notably in Israel America Australia, and Europe. Feldenkrais died in 1984 at the age of 80.
Feldenkrais Theory
The Feldenkrais Method is a form of somatic education and therefore a preventive therapy rather than a treatment. It aims to deepen body awareness in students. Feldenkrais started work on his system because of a knee injury, originally the result of a football accident, that kept recurring. Like Alexander, who was in a similar situation, Feldenkrais tried to cure himself. He found that by integrating his own knowledge with some Alexander’s ideas about “somatic education”— a phrase coined by American Dr. Thomas Hanna, — he could replace learned movements that put unnecessary stress on his body with relaxed and free movements that caused no damage.
The Feldenkrais Method
As children, we move with natural grace and ease, but with time, poor postural habits and movements are learned and eventually become automatic and involuntary. The result is that the body is pulled out of its correct alignment some muscles are too tense while others are overstretched. Meanwhile, the motor cortex of the brain becomes conditioned to believe that this state is correct and so keeps the muscles at the level of tension that maintains the incorrect alignment. To effect a lasting change in muscle tone, the brain must be reprogrammed; this can be done by consciously performing a series of small, fluid movements. These open new nerve pathways so that eventually a movement that was previously only possible under conscious control becomes involuntary and automatic.
Feldenkrais devised a series of easy, fluid movements that mimic everyday actions which do just this and reprogram the brain. They are taught in group lessons in a system called Awareness Through Movement. The other part of the Feldenkrais Method, called Functional Integration, is undertaken on a one- to one basis.
Awareness Through Movement: Feldenkrais
A Feidenkrais teacher takes a group of students through small, simple sequences of movements that gradually evolve into more complex and larger ones as the class progresses. They may be performed as floor work, o while sitting or standing. Many of the movements an based on everyday activities like opening a door or ironing, while others are designed to increase the rang of movement at a joint or to increase postural awareness. Throughout, students are told to think about the movement that is being performed to feel and sense precisely what the muscles and joints are doing, to notice how they interact with the rest of the body, and to how fully aware of each separate component of the action.
Every movement should feel natural and unforced so that the student progresses at his or her own speed without pushing, straining, or causing any pain. As Feldenkrais students become aware of how they move and experience how easy movements are when they follow the correct pattern, their old, habitual pattern will be forgotten and correct movement becomes instinctive.
Functional Integration and Feldenkrais
This one-to-one form of the Feldenkrais Method is usually conducted with the student lying, fully clothed, on a massage table. The student is asked to relax fully and become completely passive, and to let the practitioner guide his or her movements. The teacher moves the student’s body and limbs through various movements tailored to the individual, that stimulate the sensory nerve endings in the skin and muscles. Throughout the student is encouraged to focus on exactly how each movement feels and to appreciate how easy it is every movement should feel pleasurable and pain free. The sensory nerves then transmit this message to the brain; this “learns” the movement, with the result that it can reproduce it by transmitting the appropriate messages to the muscles through the motor nerves. And since the movement is so easy, relaxed, and fluid with the student exerting no unnecessary physical effort, the muscles relax and tension is gradually reduced.
In both the group and one-to-one forms of the Feldenkrais Method, the resulting increase in coordination and flexibility and a decrease in muscular tension makes students feel more relaxed. They have increased energy, too and can breathe more deeply and easily because everyday movements take less effort and cause less strain. This can have psychological and emotional benefits, such as increased self awareness and clarity of thought and inn proved self esteem.
Consulting a Feldenkrais Practitioner
Your aim is to discover which movements feel freer and easier and take the least effort to perform, so it is sensible to wear loose comfortable clothes. Feldenkrais teachers have a huge number of different series of movements in their repertoire. Each sequence starts with a basic, small movement which may be as simple as lifting one foot an inch off the floor, and then works towards a more complex sequence once its component parts have been mastered; Generally it is a good idea to take a course of classes, although how many you will need will depend on your individual requirements
Feldenkrais Resources
International Feldenkrais Federation (official organization for coordinating the FeldenkraisMethod internationally)
Feldenkrais Guild of North America (online lessons, background of the Feldenkrais Method, and practitioner listings.)
Feldenkrais Movement Institute
Institute for the Study of Somatic Education
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