The Feldenkrais Method
Feldenwhat? Felden
“Movement is life, life is a process.
Improve the quality of the process and you improve the quality of life itself”
Moshe Feldenkrais
Move Easily
One way of thinking of the Feldenkrais Method is as mindfulness in movement
The key to moving with more ease and grace is to sense ourselves clearly while we are moving. So in Feldenkrais Method classes we slow things down and often work with small movements since they are the beginnings of big movements.
You won’t be asked to copy the teacher or get anything right. Instead, you’ll be guided by my words or touch to feel how you are moving. The process is as profound as it is relaxing.
The method improves the performance of any physical skill. That’s what attracts dancers, actors, musicians and athletes. It also helps us to recover from injuries and reduce pain, and helps people with severe physical difficulties.
Anyone can work with the method, no matter what age or physical condition. And since everything we do involves moving, the method can help us improve anything we like.
Making the impossible possible, the possible easy, the easy elegant
Moshe Feldenkrais
Sense More
Movement and sensation are two sides of the same coin
We need to sense in order to move, or we’d keep bumping into things. And we need to move in order to sense: to turn our eyes for example. or reach out to touch something.
The Feldenkrais Method helps us to move better through refining our ability to sense ourselves while we are moving. This is how we learn and perfect any skill. In fact the method also enhances our ability to learn.
As our sensory experience of ourself in movement becomes richer, colours may appear more vibrant, smells more fragrant and the soundscape more three dimensional.
The world shows up for us in more detail. We feel more present.
Through awareness, we can learn to move with astonishing lightness and freedom at almost any age
Moshe Feldenkrais
Think Clearly
Developing the ability to make fine distinctions and new connections boosts our creativity
As we sit, stand, walk and move with more comfort and ease, we get more information from the world around us and we are more in touch with our inner world of sensation.
The Feldenkrais Method teaches us a process that helps us make fine distinctions and new connections in the world of sensation and movement. It’s this skill of attending to ourselves that is at the core of the method and we naturally apply it to our thinking and emotional lives too.
As this way of paying attention integrates into our thought processes, we relax more and find our flow in our thinking.
Many of us work with the method, not only because it helps us feel more comfortable in our bodies, but because it helps us think more clearly and creatively.
Eureka moments visit us more often.
My purpose is to allow people to move closer to actually being creatures of free choice
Moshe Feldenkrais
Feel Better
One of my favourite philosophers describes ego as unnecessary muscle tension
Our body language says a lot about our personality and state of mind. We recognise friends at a distance by their walks before we see their faces. And we can tell something about their mood by their posture before we talk.
When life gets challenging many of us seek out help to cope with uncomfortable thoughts and emotions. When we move with less effort, all that inner dialogue quietens down.
Physical and emotional balance go together. In moments of balance, we can choose to move in any direction. We are free of our past compulsions. We become more responsive and less reactive.
Life becomes easier for us and we radiate calmness and composure to those around us too.