The Feldenkrais Method

The Feldenkrais Method® was one of the early forms of somatic education and has influenced the development of other somatic practices. Feldenkrais is an educational system that helps you become aware of how you use your body and then helps you change patterns that are causing you pain or hindering your physical abilities.

Throughout your life, you adopt patterns of physical and psychological behavior to deal with all types of situations. These patterns can become deeply embedded in your nervous system and remain even when you no longer need them. These outmoded or dysfunctional patterns then cause pain or other problems.

The Feldenkrais Method can improve posture, flexibility, coordination, and self-image and also alleviate muscular tension and pain. The effectiveness of the Feldenkrais Method lies in its ability to access the nervous system's own innate processes to free you from habitual patterns. Then new patterns of thinking, moving, and feeling can emerge.

The Feldenkrais Method can benefit anyone who wants to move, sit, and lie more comfortably. It is especially useful for people with restricted movement, chronic pain, and psychological and neurological problems. Performing artists and athletes also use the Feldenkrais Method to improve performance.

The Feldenkrais Method has two parts: Awareness Through Movement® and Functional Integration®.

Awareness Through Movement® Lessons

In Awareness Through Movement (ATM) lessons, the Feldenkrais practitioner verbally guides you through a sequence of movements. ATM is taught in a group setting, and you may be sitting or lying on the floor, standing, or sitting in a chair.

ATM accesses the sensory motor processes of your brain. You discover how you do the movements and notice the quality of changes in your body. You learn to relax and to abandon habitual patterns. ATM reeducates your body and makes you aware of new movement potential. There are hundreds of lessons, addressing every joint and muscle group in the body and every human function.

Functional Integration®

Functional Integration is a one-to-one learning process, where the Feldenkrais practitioner communicates movements through slow, gentle touch. Comfortably clothed, you lie or sit on a low padded table, or you may be standing, walking, or sitting in a chair. The practitioner guides you through a series of precise movements that alter habitual patterns and provide new learning directly to your neuromuscular system.

Moshe Feldenkrais

Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc., (1904-1984) was a scientist, physicist, and engineer. He was also a Judo instructor. Feldenkrais developed the Method to heal his own knee problems, and then taught hundreds of students around the world. His insights contributed to the development of the new field of somatic education and continue to influence disciplines such as physical medicine, gerontology, the arts, education, and psychology.

For more information, visit the Feldenkrais Guild Web Site or the Feldenkrais Method Web ring.

"The ideal posture is obtained not by doing something to oneself, but by literally doing nothing, that is, by eliminating all acts of voluntary origin due to motivations other than standing that have become automatic and are now part and parcel of the personal acture of the situation of standing."

- Moshe Feldenkrais, The Potent Self

Also by Moshe Feldenkrais: Awareness Through Movement: Easy-to-Do Health Exercises to Improve Your Posture, Vision, Imagination, and Personal Awareness