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Feldenkrais
Method
While
at Drama School I was very fortunate to be introduced to the Feldenkrais
Method. It is often taught to performers to allow them to develop
an awareness of their body, which is fundamental to their craft.
But it is far from being limited to performers as the method corrects
posture, faulty movement patterns (common causes of injury) and
leads to a natural grace and lightness. Orna Dale-Eliashiv is
a senior practitioner in Feldenkrais Method in London and has
kindly given permission to use her article in this edition of
Peak Performance.
The Feldenkrais Method: one of the most beneficial, effective
and friendly disciplines ever devised. The method creates remarkable
improvements in the motor system with remarkable economy of means.
It uses awareness to reach out to movement and movement to reach
out to awareness. Both improve together while improving each other,
and with them is enhanced the general well-being and capacity
for comfort and pleasure. The depth and power of the method comes
because in it is a synthesis of western scientific knowledge and
inspiration and knowledge coming from the east. It was invented
by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, master of martial arts, physicist, and
a man of very original thought; a brilliant practitioner as well
as a most inspirational and intuitive teacher.
So where is the method aimed? The method addresses both women
and men who want to enjoy a healthy and vital life and particularly
want to improve the following: ease and range of movement, flexibility,
agility, posture, balance, co-ordination, optimism and self-image.
The method also helps in these other dimensions; in the physical
dimension: back pains, knees, neck and joint pain, muscular tension
that comes from routine work and repetitive strain injuries; skeletal
problems like slipped disc and scoliosis (mis-alignment of the
spine); it helps in improving the circulation, the breathing and
the metabolism; the prevention of injuries and aiding of recuperation.
In the emotional dimension: low concentration, impatience, stress,
depressed mood. In the care of children: the method assists children
in their development, helping them become aware of their body,
guiding them in their ability to control it. Children with developmental
problems such as dyslexia, problems with spatial awareness and
balance, or developmental problems with basic functions such as
crawling, sitting, standing or walking could be helped by the
method and reach improvement and personal achievement in the physical,
emotional and thinking area.
Lastly, there are special areas: palliative treatment of the symptoms
of MS, brain damage and accident trauma.
The power of Feldenkrais Method is that it pushes out the limits
of ability in an indirect and comfortable way. It's not interested
in effort, stress or pain, but in ease and pleasure. Its concern
is that your movement and functioning will hit the bullseye through
the principle of "minimum effort, maximum efficiency".
Feldenkrais says "…what you know how to do well is not hard
to do; or alternatively, what's hard to do is not being done well".
On top of this you have got to add: what's not done well will
soon lead to pain, and the more effort you make, the sooner comes
the pain.
In Feldenkrais lessons, a person becomes familiar with a new and
efficient way of moving. This results in a very noticeable gain
in movement ability, reduction of pain and tension, and a deep
influence on the general sensation of well-being. Feldenkrais
compared this "tuning" of the body to the tuning of
a piano, commenting that even the best musician can't make a good
sound on an out-of-tune instrument.
As a master of martial arts Feldenkrais understood that the ultimate
test of movement is efficiency. This principle can be seen working
for a soldier defending against superior forces, or for an actor
who can hypnotise us from the minute he steps on the stage (including
the stage of life), as well as for each person who wants get through
a hard day and not pay for it with a bad back. In all of these
cases there is bodily freedom, and they look to us effortless
and naturally graceful. By the way, I can assure you that these
qualities exist inside of all of us; they're just waiting for
the right approach to bring them out.
None of us had to go to school to learn to sit, to turn, to walk,
or to jump. We learned all these tricks subconsciously in an effortless
and natural way. It's like a mother tongue which is never forgotten.
As children we used our bodies to try out all sorts of different
moves that we discovered for ourselves. We were a great joy but
also a bit of a strain on our loving and exhausted parents: our
sheer inventiveness in our physical activity had no limits, and
had our parents run off their feet by the end of the day. We were
all able to take on such a huge learning curve because of the
innate human capacity to change and to develop.
As we grow into adults we learn to adapt ourselves to the demands
of life; we restrict our range of movements to what seems suitable.
And so we end up with habits of behaviour, peculiar to us as our
handwriting, which we are not aware of anymore. Habits can be
very dominant in our lives; they supply security, flow and identity.
You can't live without them, and sometimes you can't live with
them! Some of our habits bring with them a hidden disorganization
that spoils the natural flow and elegance of movement and creates
a limitation in our ability. With the time they lead to pain and
injuries, yet we don't know the cause. The nature of habits is
that we repeat them constantly. The strange thing is that even
in pain, the body's system hangs on to what it's used to, although
this may be actually the reason for the pain. Why does it do it?
The familiar feels comfortable and reliable, but perhaps also
we don't know differently. In other words, as adults, we forgot.
Bit by bit, the body forgets, gives up on trying, and eventually
these little bits have become a lot. Time takes its toll. So what
should we do about it?
Feldenkrais Method makes very good use of the innate human capacity
to change and develop that the baby and the child takes advantage
of. As we gathered habits once, we can now choose new ones. Using
a series of gentle motions the Feldenkrais Method will bring back
to our bodies a range of movements that were lost over time; and
with them will bring back the natural grace and lightness that
we all want to feel.
The student of the method gets introduced to efficient ways of
movement that he wasn't able to think about for himself. He learns
to notice the small details of movements that were normally hidden
from his consciousness, and this new awareness helps him to avoid
being imprecise in his actions; both in the way he moves and the
way he synergises his actions into the general pattern. While
improving and refining the movement we learn to deepen the observation
and the awareness, and to organize ourselves in a more efficient
way. The big advantage is the that the system learns to tune itself;
to find good solutions by its own means; to improvise and become
comfortable to adjustment - so comfortable that you can trust
it no less than you trust your habit. The internal freedom gets
enhanced, which allows the principle of the natural creativity
(which we all have) to work. I don't know of any freedom, joy
or confidence better than that.
When you sit on a chair, you not only drop onto the chair, but
each vertebra drops into a specific place relative to its neighbours;
and so does every other bone - the thigh bone, the shin bone and
even the skull. Each point in your body travels through a specific
path when your change your physical position, and each spot moves
in concert with all the other parts of your body (face it: you
don't fall apart!) Feldenkrais asks: did each bone go through
the ideal path on the way to the chair; did all the parts of the
body make the best coordination between themselves; was there
enough freedom in each joint to do the small job (or the big job,
it depends on which joint and the kind of movement) that was their
function. Ask yourself: did you stop breathing for a second? Did
your body manage to obey your intention? More than that, did it
manage to respond to your intention gracefully and easily? All
of these questions can be asked about each function; about anything
you want to do. In a nutshell, Feldenkrais Method is interested
in the dynamic of the action, and in its quality.
An ideal posture is very rare; so rare that we can say it doesn't
exist, but whether you are a dancer or your physical scope is
limited, Feldenkrais Method can take you forward step by step.
When we know about the efficient ways to move from position to
position, we become the master of our movements, our intentions,
our bodies, and our functioning. We become a free person. We recognise
the efficient way to move from position to position using our
6th sense - the kinaesthetic sense. This is our most intuitive
sense, responding to our internal sensations. We want to sharpen
it like a painter sharpens his sense of seeing.
Now for some details of the actual practice of Feldenkrais. The
method uses two techniques; one of them is One-to-One sessions,
and the other is Group lessons. First, the individual lesson,
which we call Functional Integration, or FI. In the individual
lesson the student is lying on a couch or sometimes sitting on
a chair. It's built around the specific needs of the student and
produces quick results. The teacher uses an expert system of touching
and manipulation learnt from hundreds of hours of study of the
delicate details of movement; this eases tension in the muscles,
and can also ease tension in the student's feelings and emotions.
It's suitable for people who need urgent relief from pain; for
small children and babies; for people with special problems that
don't allow them to join group lessons; or - to people who just
love the relaxed and comfortable feeling after the lesson.
Secondly, the group lesson, known as awareness through movement,
or ATM.
In the group lessons the students make movements for themselves
under the verbal direction of the teacher. Group lessons are usually
taken lying down. In this way the muscles can stop fighting gravity
and the students are better able to develop an awareness of their
sensations, their bodies and the way they are using them.
Each lesson explores a specific movement theme, made of different
variations of motions that may not seem related to the desired
purpose, but each variation contains important elements of the
end result. At the end of the lesson, all the elements spontaneously
synergise into efficient, easy, and confident movement. The process
is gradual and pleasant; it is not supposed to be an exercise
class!
The Feldenkrais Method has been around since the early 1950's.
Since then it has grown into a world wide community of many thousands
of teachers and students, and has taken its rightful place in
the lexicon of modern complementary medicine.
For more information on Feldenkrais Method in London and available
courses please contact Orna at: orna59@yahoo.co.uk
Your
3d Coach
Craig
Burton
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