The Feldenkrais Method
The Feldenkrais Method, named after its founder Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, is recognized worldwide as an effective somatic education, which can help improve the way we move. As we all move, the method is applicable to anyone wishing to move with more ease in everyday life, improve specific activities like sports or music or alleviate chronic pains or restrictions.
How does it work?
The Feldenkrais Method is based on scientific observations of how the brain functions – especially its ability to create new solutions to movement problems. The method schools our sensory awareness and teaches us to find our own solutions. The more we can learn about how we move, the more we can let go of old unnecessary habits which restrict us or cause pain and injury. We can learn to perform movements that seemed impossible before, move without pain and better enjoy everyday activities.
Moshe Feldenkrais developed two forms for his method: Functional Integration (FI) individual sessions and Awareness Through Movement (ATM) group classes. Common to both is the invitation to take part in an explorative process which allows you to experience more of yourself in a pleasurable and safe context.
Feldenkrais Method®, Functional Integration® and Awareness through Movement® are protected trademarks of the IFF International Feldenkrais Federation and SFV Swiss Feldenkrais Guild.
Movement
In the Feldenkrais Method there is no right or wrong way of moving which is applicable to everyone. However, for each person there is an optimal way of moving. Each person has a unique anatomical structure, a unique movement history, and a unique psychological make-up which needs to be considered. By schooling our sensory awareness, we can access an organic intelligence which teaches us how to move – the very same intelligence that taught us to crawl, stand and walk as babies
As we age we loose this facility to self-learn, and increasingly rely on external instructions telling us how to move correctly. The Feldenkrais Method does not tell us what is “right” or “wrong” but provides a learning framework in which we can recover our own inner movement guide.
Who is it for?
People who work with the Feldenkrais Method come from all walks of life. Some suffer from chronic pain like arthritic conditions.Others want to recover from a sports injury or overcome constant shoulder and back pain. Parkinson and MS patients use the method to improve or stabilize their movement capacities. Last but not least the Feldenkrais Method is also used by dancers, musicians, and singers who want to improve their performance, as well as by people wishing to be more present in their lives . Regardless of age or condition, anybody can tap into their unused potential to learn how to move with more pleasure.
The Feldenkrais Method is especially recommended for persons:
- with physical discomfort or pain
- with movement restrictions
- who spend many hours sitting at work
- who suffer from stress and burnout syndromes
- who enjoy exploring movement
- who want to be more present and aware in their lives
What can you get out of it?
Besides moving easier after a Feldenkrais lesson, students often report feeling more alive, lighter, grounded, and centered.
The Feldenkrais Method can:
- help you discover and change movement and holding patterns which lead to pain and injury;
- help improve self-use in everyday life or highly skilled activities such as in sports, dancing, or playing an instrument;
- help improve over-all functioning after an accident or operation.
With the Feldenkrais Method, you can not only learn to move with more ease and lightness: the strategies it uses for learning new movements can be applied to learning any new skill. Just as infants learn to walk without an instruction manual, you can learn to listen to your own body’s signals (somatic awareness) as a reliable compass while learning something new . In this respect, the Feldenkrais Method can be considered as a ‘learn-how-to-learn' method.