The Feldenkrais Method®

right now,
for those of us who are practitioners
and can stand it,
on
feldyforum,
there is a ridiculous
tempest in a teacup
battle raging:

Is there a Feldenkrais Method?
Is there anything that Feldenkrais practitioners
find in common?
Are we burdened with the name Feldenkrais,
or given an anchor that keeps us on track?

And so on.

first off,
third question:
I love describing the method
as coming from someone
way good at judo
a real discover and experiment scientist
a physicist interesting in the engineering miracle of the human body
a student of learning fascinated with how babies organically learn so much
so fast

The three PhD bigshots
who never ask questions
and always answer have weighed in:
nah, no method,
no common set of practices.

La, la.

So be it.
Their opinion and two bucks will get them
a bus ride across town.
My opinion and two bucks with get
me
a bus ride across town.

And, here's a kicker:
if you really want to remember what the
Feldenkrais Method is,
delve into the
Anat Baniel Method.

A book is coming out soon;
MOVE INTO LIFE,
by Anat Baniel,
making very clear
the
nine essentials of
vitality and learning:
1. movement with attention
2. slow ( the brain can't learn new if it's going at normal speed)
3. turn on the learning switch
4. subtlety
5. flexible relationship to goals
6. variation
7. imagination and dreams
8. enthusiasm
9. awareness

we could also posit these as fundamentals of the Feldenkrais Method:

we are two legged beings
we live in gravity
we were engineered for maximum mobility
we have a rib cage that gets in the way of things
we have small feet with many toes
we have a pelvis around which big muscles have most power
we have a spine composed of many vertebrae,
this spine holds up our head and shoulders and arms
good use of the spine seems pretty useful

learning based on function
has a lot more bang per buck
that learning based on structure
or this is right
or how to use the muscles

learning based on action
in the real world
leads to a better life in the real world

almost anything can be learned
better
if broken down into smaller chunks
and
even better if this chunks shake
up established patterns
and orientations

reversible motion is good motion
motion that comes from or increases our lengthen is a good thing

doing things one or two ways is stucks-ville

real learning is fun

sensing ourselves
--brings us into reality
--creates conditions for amazing change
--gives us back the real world underneath all the words


more could be said,
but that word statement kind
of gives me the stop now
idea

ciao
chris