What is the Feldenkrais Method®?

To understand what the Feldenkrais® Method is it is important to know a bit about the wisdom of the body and how the method developed. Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais injured his knee in a soccer accident. After eight months of hobbling, atrophy developed in the leg. Without steady balance he slipped on a patch of ice damaging his “good” knee. The “good” knee swelled to the size of a football. The next day, miraculously, he was able to walk on his atrophied leg. First he thought he was going crazy, but being a doctor of physics with an ingenious mind he inquired, “How does the nervous system learn so quickly to utilize an atrophied leg? Extended research in evolution theory, neurology and biology helped to develop a method to enhance the nature of how the nervous system learns.

The Feldenkrais Methods: Awareness Through Movement® (group classes) and Functional Integration® (individual hands-on), involves gentle, slow movements in a scientific sequence to teach individuals internal (sensory) perspectives of their bodies. This movement sends impulses back to the brain and often relieves or eliminates discomfort. Different from other modalities Feldenkrais® methods are “lessons” to learn how we are using our bodies and if it could be contributing to pain. Pain becomes a guide verses a hindrance. Improvement not only encompasses structural functioning, but also self-image.

Most of the people learning the method have come with back, neck and upper extremities discomforts. Others range from professional athletes to people with neurological disorders like strokes or brain damage and seek to enhance their potential. The human body has incredible wisdom if we just slow down and listen.

Catherine Rosasco Mitchell
808-885-7190
www.feldenkraisguild.com