THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD You organize your life to create limitation, then blame the world for the result. The Feldenkrais method is a powerful technique of body/mind integration that uses movement to enhance the communication between brain and body. Although it is not a therapy or healing technique, the lessons taught provide a way to improve a person's awareness, as well as physical and mental performance. The lessons are taught with two different techniques, manipulative and group. The manipulative technique, called Functional Integration, is a hands-on, one-on-one, instructor with student arrangement. It is a cushion tailored to meet the needs of a certain individual and was the first of the two techniques to be developed. Awareness Through Movement is a group technique. It was created to produce the effects of manipulative technique teachings to a group of people. Although the Feldenkrais method can help any person of almost any age in their daily activities, it is particularly useful to professionals such as dancers and musicians who want to fine-tune their skills. The Feldenkrais Method was developed by Moshe Feldenkrais(1904-1984). Before he became immersed in the holistic health and New Age movements, Feldenkrais was an engineer with both degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering. The The Russian-born Isreali received his doctorate in science from the Sorbonne in Paris and worked in the French atomic research program. A judo master and excellent soccer player, he had always been interested in the body's mechanics. When a knee injury sustained while playing soccer began to flare up, he was led to apply his engineering-oriented mind to the mechanics of the body and brain. In England during the 1940s he drew on the work of body/mind pioneer Frederick Mathiasa Alexander, originator of the Alexander Technique. This led to the development of the Feldenkrais Method. Feldenkrais believed that ordinarily we learn just enough in order to function. For example, we learn to use our hands well enough to write and our legs well enough to walk, but our ability to function with a greater range of ease still remains undeveloped. Movement only occurs when the brain sends a nerve impulse to a muscle and the muscle contracts in the correct pattern and time sequence. If muscle patterns never change (great numbers of them never do, especially after childhood) then the areas of the brain that control these patterns remain fixed. The Feldenkrais method uses over a thousand different exercises or movements to help the body program the brain, thus enhancing the whole body/mind system. Lessons are usually done on a padded table with the student comfortably (fully) clothed. He lies on his back or various other positions, sometimes with head and arms supported, to remove the effects of gravity normally experienced while standing. The practitioner moves the student through a series of precise movements that alter habitual patterns and provide new learning directly to the neuromuscular system. Movements are light and performed as slowly, easily, and pleasantly as possible without any strain or pain whatsoever. After a Feldenkrais session a student experiences improved posture, flexibility, and coordination, as well as relaxation and relief of muscular tension. Sessions normally last from thirty to fifty minutes. Specialized training to become a Feldenkrais practitioner requires eight hundred hours of instruction, usually over a period of four years. In 1977, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais established the Feldenkrais Guild, the professional organization of practitioners of the Feldenkrais method. A list of certified Feldenkrais paractitioners is available from the guild. Additionally, numerous books, audio- an videotapes, and other information pertaining to the Feldenkrais method are available from the guild. Kastner, Mark, L.A.c., Dipl.Ac., and Burroughs, Hugh Alternative Healing The - Complete A to Z Guide to More Than 150 Alternative Therapies Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1996, P.98-100 FELDENKRAIS METHOD LINKS Feldenkrais Guild of North America Leya Aum's Feldenkrais Method Page Somatic Options, Inc. Meditation - The Method of Feldenkrais and Other Paths to Whole Body Health NEWS Healthcare/Nursing/Policy Articles on NursingPower Natural Health Alternative Healing Technique . . .-------What is Alternative Healing?AcupunctureTherapeutic TouchPolarityThe Feldenkrais MethodChakra BalancingHealing with ChocolateDream TherapyHoxsey TreatmentReikiReiki SymbolsNatural AntibioticsColor TherapyCrystal HealingBiofeedbackWater/Dehydration CorrectionSleep ParalysisMagnet Therapy
You organize your life to create limitation, then blame the world for the result.
The Feldenkrais method is a powerful technique of body/mind integration that uses movement to enhance the communication between brain and body. Although it is not a therapy or healing technique, the lessons taught provide a way to improve a person's awareness, as well as physical and mental performance.
The lessons are taught with two different techniques, manipulative and group. The manipulative technique, called Functional Integration, is a hands-on, one-on-one, instructor with student arrangement. It is a cushion tailored to meet the needs of a certain individual and was the first of the two techniques to be developed. Awareness Through Movement is a group technique. It was created to produce the effects of manipulative technique teachings to a group of people.
Although the Feldenkrais method can help any person of almost any age in their daily activities, it is particularly useful to professionals such as dancers and musicians who want to fine-tune their skills.
The Feldenkrais Method was developed by Moshe Feldenkrais(1904-1984). Before he became immersed in the holistic health and New Age movements, Feldenkrais was an engineer with both degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering. The The Russian-born Isreali received his doctorate in science from the Sorbonne in Paris and worked in the French atomic research program.
A judo master and excellent soccer player, he had always been interested in the body's mechanics. When a knee injury sustained while playing soccer began to flare up, he was led to apply his engineering-oriented mind to the mechanics of the body and brain. In England during the 1940s he drew on the work of body/mind pioneer Frederick Mathiasa Alexander, originator of the Alexander Technique. This led to the development of the Feldenkrais Method.
Feldenkrais believed that ordinarily we learn just enough in order to function. For example, we learn to use our hands well enough to write and our legs well enough to walk, but our ability to function with a greater range of ease still remains undeveloped.
Movement only occurs when the brain sends a nerve impulse to a muscle and the muscle contracts in the correct pattern and time sequence. If muscle patterns never change (great numbers of them never do, especially after childhood) then the areas of the brain that control these patterns remain fixed.
The Feldenkrais method uses over a thousand different exercises or movements to help the body program the brain, thus enhancing the whole body/mind system.
Lessons are usually done on a padded table with the student comfortably (fully) clothed. He lies on his back or various other positions, sometimes with head and arms supported, to remove the effects of gravity normally experienced while standing.
The practitioner moves the student through a series of precise movements that alter habitual patterns and provide new learning directly to the neuromuscular system. Movements are light and performed as slowly, easily, and pleasantly as possible without any strain or pain whatsoever.
After a Feldenkrais session a student experiences improved posture, flexibility, and coordination, as well as relaxation and relief of muscular tension. Sessions normally last from thirty to fifty minutes.
Specialized training to become a Feldenkrais practitioner requires eight hundred hours of instruction, usually over a period of four years.
In 1977, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais established the Feldenkrais Guild, the professional organization of practitioners of the Feldenkrais method. A list of certified Feldenkrais paractitioners is available from the guild. Additionally, numerous books, audio- an videotapes, and other information pertaining to the Feldenkrais method are available from the guild.
Kastner, Mark, L.A.c., Dipl.Ac., and Burroughs, Hugh Alternative Healing The - Complete A to Z Guide to More Than 150 Alternative Therapies Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1996, P.98-100
FELDENKRAIS METHOD LINKS Feldenkrais Guild of North America Leya Aum's Feldenkrais Method Page Somatic Options, Inc. Meditation - The Method of Feldenkrais and Other Paths to Whole Body Health
Healthcare/Nursing/Policy Articles on NursingPower Natural Health