What is the Feldenkrais Method?
Feldenkrais® is a method of movement re-education which enables its users to enjoy a more complete sense of movement and flexibillity as well as an overall sense of relaxation. This method is more a process of movement than it is exercise. Restoring mobility and alleviating discomfort are a few goals the Feldenkrais® method helps achieve.
Human movement can become habitual and automatic. We tend to repeat the same movements again and again without giving them a second thought. Often times we do not think about our body movements until we begin to experience pain or problems. Feldenkrais® students develop new body awareness that changes their overall posture. This newfound consciousness instigates the self-awareness that is a crucial element of chronic and acute pain management.
Who Can Benefit From the Feldenkrais Method?
Anyone can benefit from the freedom this movement offers. People who wish to improve their performance (athletes, musicians, actors), have physical limitations (injuries, pain, neurological problems), or anyone that wants to move and function better in their daily life will discover newfound benefits from this Feldenkrais® method. This method may be especially helpful to those in depression treatment facilities, or for those in trauma recovery, as many people with chronic pain have experienced trauma.
Who Created this Method?
The Feldenkrais® method was named after the developer Moshe Feldenkrais. Moshe was an engineer, physicist and martial arts expert with extensive knowledge of linguistics, biology, perinatal development and athletics. Dr. Feldenkrais developed the Feldenkrais Method® to improve human functioning in movement and to provide safe and effective chronic and acute pain management therapies. The reason he may have been inspired to come up with this method was because of a re-occurring knee problem he had of his own.
Forms of the Feldenkrais Method
There are two forms to this method: Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration®. These two methods aid in alleviating stress, and encourage the body to move creatively through various relaxation techniques.
- Functional Integration – Functional Integration is taught in individual sessions through the use of verbal guidance and gentle touching. The practitioner designs a lesson plan that aids the student in breaking out of restrictive movement patterns and in discovering new movements.
- Awareness Through Movement – This form of the Feldenkrais® method is designed to enable its participants to become more aware of their muscular and body patterns. Awareness Through Movement is taught in group lessons and through peaceful verbal guidance. Stress relief, complete relaxation and the elimination of unnecessary movement are the goals of this class.
Role in Pain Management
Feldenkrais® is a holistic approach (considers all aspects of the person) toward healing and acute pain management that provides an objective means to address limitations in thinking, sensing and feeling.
In acute pain management therapy and other healing strategies, the lessons are done with light easy movements that avoid strain (as this retards learning). Expanding habitual movements to create more choices changes the brain and body on a very deep level which enhances physical health as well as cognitive and creative functioning. The Feldenkrais® practitioners identify how you are moving, your limitations, and your relationship to the problem occurring. They then begin to reeducate and liberate your functional movements to solve the problems and encourage conscious, uninhibited movement. In acute pain management, this awareness is essential.
It does not matter whether you are young or old, anyone wishing to improve their self-esteem and find a more peaceful outlook on life will find enjoyment in the Feldenkrais® method.