Awareness Through Movement® classes, or the group class aspect of The Feldenkrais Method®, is different from so many activities or therapies we’ve encountered before.
People often ask if it’s a form of physical therapy or massage? It is not.
Or they wonder if it’s like Reiki or yoga. Not at all.
In fact, it doesn’t involve stretching or any type of manipulative therapeutics.
It does involve small, slow movements that have been sequenced based on early human development. But even this is misleading because the movements themselves are not what produce the sometimes almost magical outcomes — it’s a persons’ focused attention on the quality of the sensation they feel AS they perform these tiny movements.
See my blog post on how Feldenkrais works.
The best way to understand Feldenkrais is to experience it. And the best way to get the most from the experience is to follow these four guidelines during class. Of course, you’ll be reminded of these often during your class, but here they are with a bit of explanation.
Go slowly.
Do each movement slowly. When you move slowly, you can sense and feel yourself more easily and become aware of any unnecessary muscular effort throughout your body.
Make very small movements.
The idea is to use as little muscular effort as possible. If you feel any stretching, strain, or discomfort or effort, make the movement even smaller — sometimes moving 1/32nd of an inch is enough and will make a huge improvement in your brain (i.e., muscles let go quickly and easily).
Only do what’s completely comfortable.
Avoid all stretching, strain, muscular effort or force. The entire range of each movement should be equally easeful and comfortable. We’re used to thinking in terms of “no pain, no gain.” This is the complete opposite of the Feldenkrais philosophy!
Rest often.
We rest between each movement so that each movement is separate and fresh from the one before it and the one after it. We also rest whenever we finish a sequence of movements. And we encourage resting whenever you feel tired, confused, frustrated, irritated, or whey you lose focus. This gives your brain time to absorb the sensory information and lay down new more efficient neural pathways.
Feldenkrais is a paradox.
In most activities we participate in, doing more and doing things faster or bigger is the goal. We stretch more, we push ourselves harder, we do more repetitions, we do it faster….
But in Awareness Through Movement® classes, the group class aspect of Feldenkrais®, the number of movements you do does not matter. Making the movement bigger is actually not helpful. You small, slow movements with your focus on the sensation that you feel as you do the movement.
In fact, the emphasis is purely on HOW you do the movement that counts, not how many times you repeat them. By “how,” I mean, does it feel easy, is it comfortable, is it smooth or do I feel resistance? For example, do you feel yourself engaging your muscles to force your head to turn or does it turn smoothly and easily in both directions without any effort? The brain doesn’t care how big the turning movement it — it cares how easy and comfortable it is.
By focusing on the quality of the sensation, and eliminating any stretching, strain, discomfort or muscular force, the ease of doing the movement will spontaneously become easy, smooth, and pleasurable. The brain is always working in our best interest, looking for the most efficient way to do a movement and as we feed the brain sensory information during a class or session, the brain overrides old neural pathways (of muscle tension) and replaces them with new, more efficient neural pathways (of ease and comfort).
Photo credit: © 2005, Rosalie O'Connor. Used with permission of the Feldenkrais Guild® of North America.