Feldenkrais Health Article

Definition

The Feldenkrais method is an educational system that allows the body to move and function more efficiently and comfortably. Its goal is to re-educate the nervous system and improve motor ability. The system can accomplish much more, relieving pressure on joints and weak points, and allowing the body to heal repetitive strain injuries. Continued use of the method can relieve pain and lead to higher standards of achievement in sports, the martial arts, dancing and other physical disciplines.

Pupils are taught to become aware of their movements and to become aware of how they use their bodies, thus discovering possible areas of stress and strain. The goal of Feldenkrais is to take the individual from merely functioning, to functioning well, free of pain and restriction of movement. Feldenkrais himself stated that his goal was, "To make the impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy, elegant."

Origins

Moshe Feldenkrais (1904–1984) was a Russian-born Israeli physicist and engineer who was also an active soccer player and judo master. He devised his system in response to his own recurring knee injury, which had restricted his movement and caused him great pain over a long period of time. Feldenkrais believed that repeated muscle patterns cause the parts of the brain controlling those muscles to stay in a fixed pattern as well. He thought that the more the muscles are used, the more parts of the brain can be activated. He devised a method of re-educating the neuromuscular system and re-evaluating movement to increase efficiency and reduce stress, using his knowledge of mechanics and engineering, and applying some of his martial arts training.

Benefits

This method of re-educating the nervous system can be beneficial to a wide range of people, including athletes, children, the elderly, martial artists, those who are handicapped, people with special needs, and those suffering from degenerative diseases. It has also proved popular with artists, particularly musicians, a number of whom have used Feldenkrais to improve their performance.

The Feldenkrais Guild of North America (FGNA) states that over half of the those who turn to Feldenkrais practitioners are seeking relief from pain. Many people who have pain from an injury compensate by changing their movements to limit pain. Often these changed movements remain after the pain from the original injury is gone, and new pain may occur. Feldenkrais helps students become aware of the changed movements and allows them to learn new movements that relieve their pain. Apart from the obvious physical benefits of more efficient movement and freedom from pain and restriction, Feldenkrais practitioners assert that there are other positive benefits for over-all physical and mental health. Feldenkrais can result in increased awareness, flexibility, and coordination, and better relaxation. Feldenkrais practitioners have also noted other benefits in their students, including improvements in awareness, flexibility, coordination, breathing, digestion, sleep, mood, mental alertness, energy, and range of motion, as well as reduced stress and hypertension, and fewer headaches and backaches.

Musicians and athletes can improve their performance in many ways when they learn to use their bodies more efficiently. Feldenkrais can also help injured athletes regain lost potential and free them from pain and restriction of movement.

There are numerous accounts of the remarkable results obtained when Feldenkrais is taught to handicapped children so that they can learn to function despite their limitations. Handicapped people can learn to make full use of whatever potential they have, and to have more confidence in their abilities. Practitioners who specialize in teaching Feldenkrais to those who have handicaps have in many cases allowed the patient to discover ways of performing tasks which were previously thought to be impossible for them.

The elderly, whose movements are often restricted by pain and stiffness, can learn to overcome these obstacles with Feldenkrais instruction. In some instances even severe cases of arthritis have been conquered. Theoretically, Feldenkrais can make possible renewed levels of energy and freedom from restriction.