Feldenkrais?! What does that mean?! Is this something about Jesus Christ?!
Feldenkrais means, literally, crossing the field, and was the last name of the late Moshé Feldenkrais (1904-1984). Feldenkrais was a Russian-born Israeli physicist and judoist who invented a method of improving human functioning by way of awareness through movement both with oneself, and with others, to which the name is given, the Feldenkrais Method. Please check out his Wikipedia article for a brief biography: his life makes for a very interesting story.
What is the difference between Awareness Through Movement, Functional Integration, and Feldenkrais Method?
Both Functional Integration and Awareness Through Movement are a part of the Feldenkrais Method. Functional Integration, Moshé Feldenkrais’s original form of practice for his method, consists of a practitioner and a student in a one-to-one setting where over the course of 20 to 45 minutes, a unique, usually hands-on lesson, is given by the practitioner to facilitate some sort of functional improvement. The practitioner meets precisely with, respects and utilizes, the unique current state of the student, as well as the spontaneous, individualized way in which the student reacts and grows throughout the lesson. Functional Integration may be sought for any number of reasons, including but not limited to: curiosity about oneself, a desire to improve, feel better, or feel more alive, relief from pain, recovery from an injury, or a general interest in feeling great.
Awareness Through Movement is given in a group setting. The practitioner delivers verbal instructions for a lesson that the students then carry out in their own way, without demonstration or comparison amongst themselves. The Awareness Through Movement lessons, for the most part, were originally taught by Feldenkrais himself to his students. There are thousands of lessons among which are a great variety of experiences to be had.
What can I expect from a Functional Integration lesson?
In Functional Integration, the expertise of the practitioner is called upon to facilitate a unique, one-to-lesson with the student. Oftentimes the student will have a specific reason for seeking a Functional Integration lesson, such as pain management, recuperation from an injury, or an improvement in some activity.
How is Functional Integration different from massage or chiropractic work?
One major goal of Feldenkrais Method practice is in becoming more autonomous and in learning how to learn. In Functional Integration, the practitioner does not set out to impose corrections or improvements on the student. Rather, the practitioner instigates, initiates, or incites improvement together with the student in such a way that the student themselves integrate the newly learned experience into their own unique person. Not only does this support the development of a more self-sufficient and intelligent individual, but also, learning that occurs under conditions where the experience feels native, or one’s own, is more likely to become habitual and replicable. It is hoped that a student will not have to return with the same precise need for improvement.
Differing from massage, Functional Integration tends to be a very skeletal form of contact. Reach out and touch a nearby wall with your left hand. Although you did it rather automatically, you will notice that you intended to move the skeletal shape of yourself to accomplish this, and the muscles organized to make it so. In Functional Integration, much of our work is at this junction where the intention of moving our skeletal shape is enacted. We address that part which organizes and intends, giving it sensed examples both remembered and novel, by which to do its part more efficiently, spontaneously, and pleasurably. We address muscular tonus by way of clarifying patterns of movement so that only the precise musculature needed is called upon, as opposed to other methods which address the tissue of the musculature through massage.
How is Awareness Through Movement different from yoga?
Awareness Through Movement lessons are a little less modular than most yoga classes, which is to say, while many yoga classes consist of set poses that are mixed and matched into an integrated class, Awareness Through Movement lessons are singular units which typically are not broken up into constituent pieces: they have an arc within them that is self-contained and highly thought through.
In Awareness Through Movement lessons we intentionally avoid pain, pushing ourselves through efforting, or, ripping muscular tissue through intense stretching or fatigue. Following the Weber-Fechner Law, we seek to improve our ability to sense, and thereby organize our actions, by creating an environment of stimulation with a very quiet baseline. The experience of Awareness Through Movement can be one of tremendous sensation although the movements may be slow and small, especially at first. This is like the difference between shining a flashlight in ones eyes, compared to the emergence of many stars on a night far away from other sources of illumination: both are sensually rich experiences, in very different ways.
What age group is Awareness Through Movement for?
Awareness Through Movement is well suited for all adults. Many elderly people appreciate the opportunity to move in elegant, interesting, and novel ways, facilitated by the start-with-what’s-easy, and entirely non-competitive approach that we use. Many younger people find a great deal of pleasure in the experience of learning themselves more thoroughly, and recognizing their ability to increase their strength and flexibility in a sustainable way while utilizing and improving their intelligence and tolerance for pleasure. We aim to improve, and there is no end to it, whether you are a virtuoso or fresh off an injury.
Is there an underlying philosophy to the Feldenkrais Method?
People are intelligent, and they do what they do out of what they believe, on some level, to be the best possible reason. To make our lives better, it can be of service to be exposed to many many options as to how we might go about doing something. We are always doing something, and we are always moving. No matter the perspective we take on our lives, there are constituents to it which are movements. By improving our ability to move, to sense how to improve our movements, to be able to organize the best course of motion to meet our intention, all the while building a habit of pleasure and ease in the way we move, then something will change for us which we will say is better.
As a Feldenkrais Method Practitioner, it is my hope to make space for others to learn how to do whatever it is that they want. Feldenkrais said he hoped to help people to realize their unavowed dreams, and also, that once you know what you are doing, then you can do what you want. Your life is incredibly rich and diverse. If you learn yourself carefully, you will also learn what you can do to make your life as close to your own ideal of it as possible.
Feldenkrais himself did a fair deal of writing on his own method. If you are interested more in the system of thought behind the development of his work, I encourage you to read some of Feldenkrais Trainer Dennis Leri’s articles, and, to check out some of Feldenkrais’s books.
I heard Feldenkrais Method is very slow. Is that true, and if so, why?
Although not all Feldenkrais Method movements are slow, we do often, especially at the beginning of a lesson, move very small and slowly. By lowering the amount of stimulation to the nervous system, we are able to make greater distinctions, and pay more careful attention, with regard to what we are doing. Also, moving small and slowly, we can generate more pleasurable sensations as a part of our movements. Being able to make more subtle distinctions, and, associating pleasure with the process of improvement, are both powerful contributors to our ability to enact change, and, make it more habitual. We improve the movement, the thinking, and the sensing. Slow movements allow us to be very precise both in which parts of our skeleton and musculature we use in action, and also, how we think about and organize our movements.
Why do you call the people you work with ‘students’ instead of ‘clients’ or ‘patients’?
Feldenkrais Method practice helps individuals to learn how to better themselves. We do not simply manipulate or force somebody into an ideal or improved state as we perceive it. We aim that individuals can own whatever improvements it is that they make throughout practice, and become more autonomous. Furthermore, it is not so easy to know what is the best path for learning for each individual. Given the uniqueness of each of our lives, there will be particularities as to how we will best go about making changes. Therefore the student is at the very least of equal importance to the practitioner, and the process is one of collaborative education, not treatment.