When I ask my clients to invite people to my free introductory Feldenkrais lessons, they often say: “I can’t really explain what it is and what it does!” I completely understand that. It is indeed difficult to explain in words. That is the reason for the free lessons and the 3-lesson pass. Experiencing it yourself is necessary here. I’ll try to explain why that is.
Limited Movement Repertoire
People usually experience themselves through their limitations, through what doesn’t work—a painful or stiff shoulder, for example. Or those recurring back problems that gradually eliminate many movements, consciously or unconsciously. This makes the movement repertoire more limited, smaller.
Much of what you do is within this limited repertoire, and often if we move beyond it, we’re quickly pulled back because it causes pain. This reinforces the habit to the point where we never go beyond. The limited movement space has imperceptibly become a fact: “This is what I can do.” This isn’t a conscious thought, but completely automated. For example, with my chronic back pain, I long avoided carrying anything heavy because it caused extra pain. I would park my bike against the supermarket wall and load my bag in the shopping cart, placing it close to my handlebars so I only had to lift it until the handle was over the handlebars. I minimized carrying the weight and didn’t have to bend over.
I still remember the moment when I suddenly realized: I can lift that crate. That was the moment I could let go of my limiting unconscious and semi-conscious program of “I can’t lift”. That was years after the back problems had long disappeared thanks to the Feldenkrais lessons.
Habit Programs
All those programs within us can be summarized with the word ‘habit’. It becomes so ‘usual’ that we no longer notice it. It has entered our unconscious, our so-called automatic pilot. It has become synonymous with who we are.
There are many smaller habits you don’t notice, like the way you think you relax your shoulders but certain muscles aren’t involved and remain tense. Or, for instance, when sitting, you unconsciously push into the floor, requiring you to create tension in your abdominal and back muscles to compensate for that pressure—also completely unconscious and habitual. These are two examples that are very common in my practice.
Being Able to Choose, How Do You Do That?
How could you notice what you do when it feels so ‘usual’ to you? You can only do this by doing something that changes the habit. When invited to play with variations, providing more choices than just your one habit, you give yourself the opportunity to feel which one is the most pleasant, the easiest way. Then you can also feel that it is different from before. In the shoulder example mentioned earlier, it literally feels more spacious and relaxed.
This is how you built movements in infancy and as a small child. The more refined that system of feeling and experiencing is, the more precise your choice of what works better. And that is exactly what we do in every Feldenkrais lesson: train the sensory system in feeling and thus learn to choose what works better.
Leaving It to Your Brain
These are not choices made through thinking. The brain chooses. The brain is very good at choosing what is easier, it is programmed for that. What the brain needs for this is your attention and for you to become more precise in feeling the differences. So, learn to differentiate better by moving. Differentiate how you move, what other options there are, and whether there is a difference between how you do it on the right versus the left side. That is what Feldenkrais lessons offer you: a learning ground of experiences, variations, sensory experiments, and often seemingly impossible or simply unexpected movements to awaken that sensory system even more. And you can grow in this infinitely, get better at it. That’s why some people participate for years or just their entire life with weekly Feldenkrais lessons or weekend workshops. There is always a better version compared to this moment, and that is often surprisingly refreshing.
To do this with ease, many movements are done lying on the floor, and only when you stand again do you notice all that has changed in how you stand, how you walk, in how you experience yourself, and how you feel. How something has changed in your habitual and movement patterns, and thus in you as a person.
Curious? Then come to my English spoken Feldenkrais lessons on Mondays at 6:30 PM. You can try out 3 lessons with a 3-lesson card.
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