Many people alike, no two people the same

Free at last: Feldenkrais accesses the body's potential to feel and perform better

by Pauline Sugine

The Feldenkrais Method guides people to greater physical ease through increased body awareness. Developed by Russian-born physicist Moshe Feldenkrais, this somatic learning method is gaining popularity among health professionals, as well as those in sports, dance and other disciplines where movement science can enhance the way the body functions.

Feldenkrais is based on a synthesis of physics, biomechanics, neuroscience, psychology and child development. Unlike conventional exercise directed at the muscles, Feldenkrais work accesses the powerful learning potential of the brain. It is based on an understanding of how people learn to move and how that knowledge can improve movement skin.

Babies learn to sit up, roll over, crawl, stand and walk through trial and error. This sensory motor learning uses sight, hearing, balance and touch in conjunction with movement. The brain remembers which movements work and which don't. Each movement becomes efficient because those which do not lead to success are discarded. This principle - done with no conscious effort - is the basis of Feldenkrais. Information is exchanged between the brain and the senses during each exercise, and movement is enhanced by stimulating the brain's process of sensory motor learning.

Essentially, Feldenkrais is hundreds of subtle and gentle exercises constantly repeated, focusing on small areas. Sometimes the entire one-hour lesson is spent on part of a foot or one or two small muscles in the back.

With its reliance on muscular effort, force and speed, conventional exercise actually restricts the brain's ability to work on the body's behalf. Feldenkrais, with its minimal muscular effort, frees the brain to make sensory distinctions and improve the body. Slow and easy Feldenkrais movements activate brain movement centers and generate a useful flow of in formation to the muscles.

The Feldenkrais Method taps the innate intelligence of the human nervous system to function at higher levels. "The model that has emerged from movement science is sophisticated and allows us to understand how human beings learn movement," says David Zemach-Bersin, conference director for the Feldenkrais Guild's 15th annual advanced education meeting titled "Bringing the Feldenkrais Method into the 21st Century."

"We see how behavior, aging, illness, injury, overuse and the environment produce inefficient habitual movement patterns," he adds. "Then we develop the most appropriate movement strategies for optimizing health and function. My own clients range from musically-gifted children to athletes, artists, dancers, singers and stressed executives. After many years in practice, I am still delighted - and sometimes amazed - by what this work can accomplish."

Duffy Waldorf, a professional golfer with lower back problems, says his Feldenkrais work with Zemach-Bersin allowed him to concentrate on his golf without pain. In the last two years, his PGA Tour earnings increased to more than $600,000.

Another client, a 40-year-old stroke victim, was told she would never walk again. She not only walks now, but proudly says, "Through Feldenkrais I have the balance and organization to sit, stand and perform a full-time, high-pressure job."

A labor delivery room nurse in her 30s, whose back, neck and shoulders were injured in an automobile accident, regained full range of motion through Feldenkrais. "After years of trying everything, I started taking Feldenkrais," she says. "My body began to function as a unit - amazing! The spasms that plagued my life slowly disappeared. I have more energy and was able to return to the nursing work I love."

Many clients are people who have sustained fractured bones, sprains and ligament tears resulting in limited range of movement. Rehabilitating patients use this, method to bring about full recovery from strokes, post-polio syndrome, nerve and circulatory damage or other chronic conditions.

Feldenkrais training is aimed at making people function and feel better by unlocking the body's capacity to improve flexibility, agility, stamina, coordination and balance. It allows them to find relief from pain and enjoy the body the way it was meant to be.

Physical pain - from injury, chronic, degenerative or neuromuscular conditions - limits the body's potential and adversely affects people's lifestyles. With Feldenkrais individual treatments are designed for each client, and their options become possible again.

Moshe Feldenkrais conducted his last four-year Feldenkrais course a year before his death, in 1984. Today's students study various interpretations of his work taught by diversified practitioners. According to the Feldenkrais Guild based in Albany, Oregon, there are more than 680 certified Feldenkrais practitioners in the world who have completed at least four years of training plus continuing education.

Mark Reese, Ph.D., of the Reese Movement Institute in California, combined his experience as a Feldenkrais practitioner and trainer to publish Relaxercise in 1989. "I see a goal of making our movement human," he says. "This is accomplished by making movement |reversible' - meaning the ability to stop, start or change movements without preparation, increased effort or loss of stability.

The words |human' and "movement," Reese continues, "had special meaning for Moshe Feldenkrais, who saw movement as the embodiment of human evolution. It took millions of years to evolve this potential, and people use only a small part of it."

Feldenkrais practitioners give two types of "lessons" to clients. Functional Integration" is a one-to-one learning process communicated through slow, gentle touch. As the client lies or sits comfortably clothed, the practitioner guides him or her through a series of precise movements to relax tense areas, alter habitual patterns and provide new options. Awareness Through Movement [R] is taught in a classroom setting. Students learn movements in basic positions to improve movement quality, awareness and function.

Many specialties have also developed, from Feldenkrais teachers who work on just one organ or part of the body, to those who teach through the voice. There arc applications for everyone from world-class athletes to people with learning disabilities. The Feldenkrais Method makes breakthroughs everyday - from increasing a disabled client's range of movement to helping an athlete or dancer accomplish new career heights.

Feldenkrais therapy is so subtle, however, watching it has been likened to watching paint dry. The lessons are so relaxing, some clients even fall asleep during sessions. Yet it produces immediate results, rebuffing the myth of "no pain, no gain."

Benefits attributed to the Feldenkrais Method include better breathing and digestion, more restful sleep, improved mood and mental alertness, increased energy, flexibility and range of motion, fewer headaches and backaches, reduced stress and relieved hypertension.

Feldenkrais has been acclaimed by renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead who called it, "the most sophisticated and effective method I have seen for the prevention and reversal of deterioration of function." Athletes have found it an option for sports medicine and people who simply want to feel better have subscribed to regular treatment.

Moshe Feldenkrais wanted to explore the powerful potential of the brain and access its ability to enhance the body's performance. Now, people throughout the world are living tributes to the potential he knew could be tapped.

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