The Elusive Obvious - October 12, 2016

This coming Wednesday, October 12, we'll convene at The Feldenkrais^® Institute of New York for 2016's last meeting of Between the Lines, our Feldenkrais reading and discussion group. The subject of our discussion on Wednesday will be, The Elusive Obvious, the last book Dr. Feldenkrais wrote and published very late in his life.

In my blog post from June, referring to lesson numbers two and three from Dr. Feldenkrais's book, Awareness Through Movement^®, I wrote, "It's all here, folks. Nearly all the keys to the Feldenkrais Method^® are contained in these two lessons." Substitute the words, "…this book," for "…these two lessons," and you'll have an accurate description of The Elusive Obvious.

Dr. Feldenkrais tells us as much in his Forward: "[The Elusive Obvious] was written…in response to my students' demand for a work condensing the four years' teaching…that led to their graduation and the formation of the Feldenkrais Guild…."

Like most good treatise authors, Dr. Feldenkrais spends much of the first portion of The Elusive Obvious laying the groundwork, or establishing the basis, on which to build a case for the effectiveness of what are his unusual ideas about the improvement of humanity.

He "explains" how his method works mostly in the last four chapters, Awareness Through Movement, Functional Integration^®, The Obvious is Elusive, and, In a Nutshell. You could almost read just these chapters first and then, if you question his ideas or are simply interested in how he came to his conclusions, go back and read the beginning of the book in which he writes of his own research and that of others in a way that forms the basis for his later explanation of the Feldenkrais Method.

There are so many possibilities for topics of discussion that might come from the book that I'm going to enter Wednesday's discussion with no specific plan (but well-prepared for anything) and wait for the group dynamic to form and see where we go from there. I'm very excited about the possibilities for the evening and am positive that it will be an interesting and enlightening few hours.

As part of the evening, I'll lead the group through the Awareness Through Movement lesson that Dr. Feldenkrais gives instructions for in the book's chapter with that title.

I look forward to seeing you at The Feldenkrais Institute on October 12 at 6:30 pm. If you have questions about Between the Lines or would like to reserve a spot at Wednesday's meeting, please call The Feldenkrais Institute at 212-727-1014.

Between the Lines, A Feldenkrais Method Reading and Discussion Group - June 29, 2016

For the next meeting of Between the Lines, the Feldenkrais^® reading and discussion group, we will stay with Dr. Feldenkrais's book, Awareness Through Movement, but move on to specifically address a portion of the second part of the book.

During our March meeting, most of our discussion revolved around the desire of Dr. Feldenkrais to use movement as a doorway or gateway to help his students enter into a process of improving not only their ability to move, but to change for the better each student's entire self. We discussed the idea that Feldenkrais's interest in creating his Method went far beyond any physical skill-building or therapy to encompass his belief that practicing the Feldenkrais Method^® would contribute to the betterment of humanity and the advancement of the human race.

The second part of Awareness Through Movement is comprised of twelve lessons, and along with the wide range of different movements presented in the lessons, there is a fascinating variety of explorations of physiological, neurological, kinesthetic, and even psychological aspects of being a human being.

The primary focus at our June 29 meeting will be discussing and experiencing lessons 2 What Action is Good, and 3 Some Fundamental Properties of Movement.

Lesson 2, is not really an Awareness Through Movement lesson at all, but more of a "lecture" in which Feldenkrais describes, in more detail than he does nearly anywhere else, what it is he's attempting to teach with Awareness Through Movement^® (in contrast to the one-on-one work with a Feldenkrais Practitioner known as Functional Integration^®).

In Lesson 3, that we'll all do as part of the evening on June 29, nearly all of the fundamental aspects of Awareness Through Movement are not only experienced but also explained, again in more explicit terms than Dr. Feldenkrais ever used when teaching the lessons to the public.

It's all here, folks. Nearly all the keys to the Feldenkrais Method are contained in these two lessons and I'll do my best to illuminate and help you to better understand anything that might remain unclear after we experience these lessons together on June 29.

In addition, if you have questions about the first half of the book that occurred to you after our March meeting or that you feel were not adequately addressed at the meeting, feel free to email me your questions in advance of our June meeting and, time allowing, I'll do my best to answer those questions as well. Email me at: mark@feldenkraisinstitute.com and please make "Between the Lines" the subject line of your email.

Finally, for the September meeting of Between the Lines, we'll move on to Dr. Feldenkrais's book, The Elusive Obvious (just in case you want to get a head start on your reading).

I look forward to seeing you at The Feldenkrais Institute on June 29 at 6:30 pm. If you have questions about Between the Lines or would like to reserve a spot at the June 29 meeting, please call The Feldenkrais Institute at 212-727-1014.

Between the Lines: A Feldenkrais-Related Reading and Discussion Group

Between the Lines is what we’re calling a new ongoing event that begins on Wednesday, March 30 at The Feldenkrais Institute of New York. It’s going to be structured like what I imagine many books clubs are (though I’ve never actually been a member of a book club), but all the reading will be related in some way to the Feldenkrais Method. Attendees will be asked to read something in advance that we’ll discuss at the meeting. I’ll also teach a Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lesson at each meeting.

Why a Reading and Discussion Group?

This idea has been percolating with me for a couple of years now. At first, I was interested in having the group discuss books recently written that illuminated ideas or principles that Dr. Feldenkrais used in the creation of the Feldenkrais Method. What interested me most were books that documented studies that have been done that prove, or at least strongly support, ideas on which Feldenkrais based his method. Advances in science, particularly in devices that measure physical phenomena, have moved as quickly as all technology in our culture. Consequently, there is information available now that was not when Feldenkrais was working; information that directly supports ideas that he had come to believe to be true, through his own experience, or through the less sophisticated research that was then available.

Some of these books also put forth hypotheses that are as yet unproven about what this new information may mean. Some of these intriguing hypotheses, whether or not they are ever "proven," will have a direct impact on the work we do with the Feldenkrais Method. For example, Feldenkrais talks about the "joining of two nervous systems" during the course of a Functional Integration session. This always seemed like a metaphorical joining to me, one to be sought, not because it was actually achievable, but because the closer one comes to the "ideal" of true joining, the more meaningful the experience becomes between client and practitioner. In The Field, by Lynn McTaggart (and in other books by other authors), the idea of finally identifying what is at the bottom of the Unified Field Theory, may make "joining" of anything and everything in the physical universe a concrete reality instead of just a metaphorical goal. It's an intriguing idea.

In The User Illusion, by Tor Norretranders, studies are cited that seem to indicate that the human brain begins working on a task before the conscious mind decides to do so. This calls into question the almost universally held belief that it is our conscious mind that is the sole agent of our actions (at least our physical actions, behaviors, wants and desires). Because the Feldenkrais Method uses both conscious awareness and attention, as well as affecting the subconscious process of "assembling" movement patterns, sequences, paths and timing, this idea of "who's on top"--consciousness, subconsciousness, or some combination of the two, becomes fascinatingly relevant to the practice of the Feldenkrais Method and how it works.

The above is a synopsis of thinking that was done a couple of years ago. In bringing Between the Lines to fruition, I spoke to many people and have come to realize that it makes sense to begin on a level that is more directly related to the Feldenkrais Method itself--by discussing at least some of the works that Dr. Feldenkrais wrote.

I encountered Dr. Feldenkrais's books on his method during my training program and found them all to contain complex ideas presented with what, at the time, I perceived as widely varying degrees of clarity. By far, his most accessible book, is Awareness Through Movement and so, in the end, that seemed like the most logical place to start.

Awareness Through Movement is divided into two parts. In the first part, Dr. Feldenkrais makes known his beliefs on learning, self-image, the role culture and society plays in discouraging people from reaching their full potential and how he proposes, though The Feldenkrais Method, to help people become more of what they’d like to be.

The second part of the book is divided into descriptions of twelve Awareness Through Movement lessons. Nowhere else that I’ve seen, does Dr Feldenkrais reveal so much of what he is attempting to do with his lessons.

For our first meeting, on March 30, I’ll teach one of the twelve Awareness Through Movement lessons from the book (I’ll let you know which one in a future post) and we’ll discuss anything from the book that interests you. I’ll be prepared to do as much “leading” as the group would like. At some point during the evening, we’ll also talk about what we’ll be reading and discussing at the next meeting of Between the Lines on June 29.

To prepare for the first meeting on March 30, please read at least Part One of Awareness Through Movement (less than seventy pages), and as much of the rest of the book as you like. If you need a copy of the book, it is available at a 20% discount through The Feldenkrais Institute from now through the end of March. You can pick one up at the front desk or call 212-727-1014 to order.

Between the Lines is sponsored by The Feldenkrais Foundation. Admission is free but donations to the foundation will be gladly accepted. For more information and to reserve a spot, contact The Feldenkrais Institute at 212-727-1014. Looking forward to seeing you on March 30.

Improving Your Sense of Self (even more...)

Who are we? When any of us speaks of "I" or "me," what do we mean? Most of us identify with our consciousness. We see ourselves as an synthesis of what we think and how we feel emotionally, coupled with the perception we have of the world through our five senses. It is our consciousness that gives us a sense of autonomy, of control over our own actions, our sense of free will.

Consequently, many of us limit what we identify as "me" or "I" to what we take in or produce through conscious action. What if you were "bigger" than that? More than just your consciousness? What if there was a creative, immensely capable part of yourself that you left unacknowledged, its power unused, simply because it resides outside your consciousness? Worse, what if leaving this power center's potential untapped caused it to atrophy and lose its ability to help you?

I'm writing of the potential power of your nervous system as a whole and, particularly, the part of your subconscious mind that organizes your movement. This power center resides within every human being but most of us never realize even a small portion of the ability that this aspect of ourselves has to contribute to our health and wellbeing.

Let's back up for a moment and think just about human movement. Even as adults, most of the time, we think of movement much as we did when we were babies. We think of movement not in terms of how it is done—what muscles are contracted in what sequence, timing and power level—but rather we think of movement in terms of what we want. Stand up. Sit down. Take a box off the shelf. Turn to see what made that noise. Walk to the car. Dial the correct combination to the padlock. Run to catch the bus. We rely on this untapped power center—our nervous system—to do the job of translating our desires into action, of directing the appropriate musculature to fire in just the right sequence at just the right time and with just the right level of contraction (and that is a gross simplification of what actually takes place) to move our body as our desires have requested. And most of us do only a small fraction of what we are capable of to improve the functioning of this part of our brain and nervous system.

Every Feldenkrais lesson provides food, in the form of information, for this aspect of our being, improving the functioning of our nervous system. But some lessons provide more direct input than others. These are the lessons through which we come to know our physical selves with greater and greater clarity and detail. In essence, these lessons provide pure and undiluted information to your nervous system that helps it (you) to do a more "informed" and efficient job of the movement assembly process outlined above. When your nervous system has better tools to work with, it will improve its (your) ability to assemble the details of how you move in a more efficient manner, resulting in greater comfort and pleasure in movement.

How does improving your movement improve your sense of self? Moshe Feldenkrais saw the human organism as an integrated system. If a change is made to one part of the system, a response is generated throughout the rest of the system. A positive change in one aspect results in a positive change to the whole. For more detail on this, see my blog post from last summer, here.

The types of Feldenkrais lessons that contribute most strongly to the nervous system's ability to sense itself and the body in which it resides require much more mental effort than they do physical exertion. These lessons can be mentally taxing, sometimes frustrating, but the effort expended in concentration and attention generates great rewards. As with all Feldenkrais work, the benefits can be immediate and profound. Moreover, the more of this type of work that is done, the more those benefits accrue over time. Whether or not a change or improvement is felt right away, these lessons provide very powerful input into the amazingly competent information processor that is our nervous system. And as one's physical self-image becomes more detailed and complete, one's self-image (in the larger sense that encompasses our thoughts and feelings as well) also expands and improves. The result is that we feel more confident, more powerful, more secure and more comfortable in the world.

I invite you to begin or continue, as the case may be, your journey toward finding a "bigger," more confident version of you, one that includes all of yourself and is no longer limited to just what your consciousness brings to your attention. This is what we'll do at my three-hour workshop (and in three related follow-up classes), Improving Your Sense of Self (click here for registration information), to be presented at The Feldenkrais Institute of New York, on Wednesday, March 5 at 6:30 pm.

More Thoughts on Improving Your Posture

It's never enough to simply understand what to do
if one feels unable to put that knowledge to use.

One of the mantras of more traditional postural techniques is, "Keep your chest up!" And yet, how one is supposed to hold one's chest "up," especially for any length of time, seems to be elusive for many people.

I have found one of the most exciting and practical applications of the Feldenkrais Method is to help people experience the sense of how to do something while providing the means to incorporate that ability into one's daily life. However, for some people, even Awareness Through Movement^® lessons that are designed to activate and balance the work of the back muscles and help them to lift the chest, leave those people feeling that the lower back is working too hard. We understand that this happens because, for those people, the lumbar area of their spine is most available for (or is, in fact, already doing too much of) the work of keeping them upright. So, for me, a long-time question has been, how can I help people achieve the sense that they can effortlessly lift through the chest without overworking the muscles in the lower back?

A couple of months ago, looking for something else, I stumbled across a trio of Awareness Through Movement^® lessons that were originally taught by Dr. Feldenkrais during his weekly classes in Israel. More than any set of lessons I have encountered, these lessons answered my question. Brilliantly constructed by Dr. Feldenkrais to help the student achieve greater flexibility throughout the thoracic area, these lessons also get the mid-back extensors firing in a way that seems almost magically to lift the chest with no sense of extra effort. It's a wonderful feeling.

On November 6, I'm going to teach a three-hour workshop, Improving Your Posture with the Feldenkrais Method at the Feldenkrais Institute of New York. For the most part, the workshop will consist of the incredibly potent Awareness Through Movement lessons I mentioned above. All the material taught on Nov. 6 will be entirely different than what you've previously experienced from me in a posture workshop. For more information and to register for the workshop, click here.

Don't misunderstand, I still firmly believe in the ideas on which I've based my previous posture workshops. If you'd like to read more of my thoughts on how the Feldenkrais Method can help you to improve your posture, take a look at my blog post from last year.  Click here to read it.

Hope to see you on the 6th!

Dynamic Sitting at the Feldenkrais Institute

No matter what you're sitting on, dynamic sitting will help!

It really makes no difference whether you purchased your chair at a yard sale for ten bucks or spent a thousand dollars at a tony office furniture store. If you don't know how best to sit, the extra nine hundred ninety dollars isn't going to make you much more comfortable.

No matter what you're resting your behind on, once you learn to sit dynamically, you'll find yourself sitting more comfortably for longer periods of time. The comfort of your back, neck and shoulders will improve now and for the rest of your life.

That's what my workshop, Dynamic Sitting, is all about. Come join me next week at the Feldenkrais Institute for a three-hour workshop in which you'll learn how to sit more comfortably in any chair.

For those of you who are in for the big bucks (or who have employers nice enough to purchase a great chair for you), we'll go over some simple adjustments you can (and should) make to get the most help possible from the chair you have.

I'll identify the most "optimal" sitting dynamics and help you to experience them. You'll learn how to use simple sensory cues to find your own best sitting position. Further, you'll learn how to make small adjustments while you sit so you no longer feel "stuck" or "frozen" in your chair.

And we'll do a series of Feldenkrais exercises that will make it easier and more pleasurable to adopt and maintain your newly improved sitting position.

Don't get me wrong. There are times when slumping or sagging on a nice, soft sofa or easy chair is just fine. But if you are unable to find comfort when you choose to sit more efficiently, your poor sitting habits will catch up with you (if they haven't already) and cause you unnecessary pain and distraction.

Join me at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, September 10 at the Feldenkriais Institute of New York to learn how to make sitting more comfortable now and forever. To register click here. (Always a 5% discount for online registration. An additional $10 discount is available until midnight, September 3--$50 instead of $60.)

I hope to see you on Tuesday!

Improving Your Sense of Self

Most people come to a Feldenkrais^® practitioner or to Awareness Through Movement^® classes attempting to improve some physical condition or injury—they might have neck or back pain, sore hips or knees, a frozen shoulder or difficulty recovering from an injury or surgery. Some have heard that the Feldenkrais Method^® can help with sleep disorders or digestive problems.

Feldenkrais work does help people overcome all of these issues and many others. Because of this, the Feldenkrais Method has a reputation as a healing modality, as a form of alternative medicine. At various times, clients have told me that I have, "healing hands," or that I am able to perform "magic." I've received other wonderful, ego-stroking comments of this nature that are all absolutely untrue. Anyone who improves with my help, improves because I have helped them find the means to help themselves.

Dr. Feldenkrais said:

"The natural tendency of all living creatures is to go in the direction that helps them, which makes them better….. The evidence is that each person, when you help him find himself, becomes more comfortable with himself and more comfortable with others….

From the ignorance of all of humanity, something is done that disturbs the person from really becoming a person."¹

Dr. Feldenkrais was known as a gifted healer. People traveled great distances so that he might put his hands on them and receive a Functional Integration^®. And yet, to call the Feldenkrais Method a healing modality is to minimize his aims in creating and disseminating his work and falls far short of the Feldenkrais Method's potential to facilitate self-improvement.

Think of it this way. Dr. Feldenkrais could have written some very successful books that might have had titles like, Effortlessly Heal Your Aching Back or Ten Simple Steps to a Relaxed Neck or Breathe Better—Feel Better. But instead he chose to write, The Potent Self, Body and Mature Behavior, Awareness Through Movement and The Elusive Obvious, among others. Just the titles alone make it apparent that Dr. Feldenkrais was after much more than helping people with aching knees and shoulders. He was after helping people become better, more expansive, more effective, happier human beings. And the key to this is improving one's sense of self or self-image.

Here are some excerpts that provide only a fragmented bare beginning of Dr. Feldenkrais's thoughts on self-image from his book, Awareness Through Movement:

Only the unusual person will continue to improve his self-image until it more nearly approaches the potential ability inherent in each individual.

… social conditions allow an organism to function as a useful member of society without in the least developing its capacities to the full.

It is important to understand that if a man wishes to improve his self-image, he must first of all learn to value himself as an individual, even if his faults as a member of society appear to him to outweigh his qualities

A man tends to regard his self-image as something bestowed upon him by nature, although it is, in fact, the result of his own experience.

The establishment of an initial more or less complete, although approximate, image will make it possible to improve the general dynamics instead of dealing with individual actions piecemeal. This improvement may be likened to correcting playing on an instrument that is not properly tuned. Improving the general dynamics of the image becomes the equivalent of tuning the piano itself, as it is much easier to play correctly on an instrument that is in tune than on one that is not.²

And here's the only secret, the only magic: self-improvement does not come from the Feldenkrais teacher, it comes from you. You have the power to heal yourself, to improve yourself, to learn more, to become more, and this power never leaves you. All you have to do is invest some time, let go of some old ideas and embrace the possibility of change.

The whole process begins and ends with improving your sense of self. And we'll make a concrete beginning (or add to the work you've already done) in my three-hour workshop at The Feldenkrais Institute on July 25, Improving Your Sense of Self. Click here for registration information. You won't learn everything you need to know to make yourself a new human. It's a step along the way. Remaking ourselves is a process and because we have unlimited potential, it's a process that never has to stop. The only thing that stops our self-improvement is our own lack of desire.

Hope to see you on the 25^th.

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¹ Feldenkrais, Moshe: Awareness Through Movement Lessons from Alexander Yanai; International Feldenkrais Federation, Paris; 2000; pp. 2081, 2082

² Feldenkrais, Moshe: Awareness Through Movement, Harper Collins, New York; 1977; pp. 10-24