Describing the Feldenkrais method

It's about conscious movement: moving with attention, being mindful of how you move. That you know which parts of your self are involved in the movement and in what way. The method was invented by Dr Moshe Feldenkrais, an engineer, physicist, neuroscientist, and martial arts champion. Moshe started developing his ideas about movement when recovering from a knee injury. He wanted to understand what made humans move in the ways that we do, so he could work out how to change his habitual ways of movement to avoid re-injuring his knee. 

As humans we tend to move according to our habits – habits which were mostly formed in childhood. Habits are useful—they save us the trouble of having to work each movement out from first principles every time. But we can end up with habits that are sub-optimal and leave us with aches and pains.  Or we may at times want to move in new ways, for example when we are trying to learn a skill or recover from injury. Then it is useful to break the established habit and form new ones.

By bringing our awareness to how we move (which parts of our self are involved in the movement and in which way), the method enables us to discover new ways of moving. The accent is not on strengthening our self, but on how we organise our self to do a movement. What parts can we engage to make the movement easier, require less effort? As we discover new ways to organise our self, we gain insight which enables us to break old patterns. We gain a wider range of choice in how to move.

Benefits include improved balance and coordination, reduced chronic pain, increased freedom of movement, and better performance. Additionally, because the method works on our nerve system and brain, it can help improve self-perception and confidence.

Do you have experience with the Feldenkrais method? How would you describe its effects? Please tell us in a comment.