The Feldenkrais Method has been featured in the news. In an October 30, 2017 New York Times article titled "Trying the Feldenkrais Method for Chronic Pain," the following are excerpts written by Paul Rogers:
"After two hourlong sessions focused first on body awareness and then on movement retraining at the Feldenkrais Institute of New York, I understood what it meant to experience an incredible lightness of being. Having, temporarily at least, released the muscle tension that aggravates my back and hip pain, I felt like I was walking on air. I had long refrained from writing about this method of countering pain because I thought it was some sort of New Age gobbledygook with no scientific basis. Boy, was I wrong!
The Feldenkrais method is one of several increasingly popular movement techniques, similar to the Alexander technique, that attempt to better integrate the connections between mind and body. By becoming aware of how one’s body interacts with its surroundings and learning how to behave in less stressful ways, it becomes possible to relinquish habitual movement patterns that cause or contribute to chronic pain. The method was developed by Moshe Feldenkrais, an Israeli physicist, mechanical engineer and expert in martial arts, after a knee injury threatened to leave him unable to walk. Relying on his expert knowledge of gravity and the mechanics of motion, he developed exercises to help teach the body easier, more efficient ways to move.
...The slow, gentle, repetitive movements I practiced in a Feldenkrais group class helped foster an awareness of how I use my body in relation to my environment, and awareness is
the first step to changing one’s behavior. One common problem of which I’m often guilty is using small muscles to accomplish tasks meant for large, heavy-duty ones, resulting in undue fatigue and pain. The group class, called Awareness Through Movement, was followed by an individual session called Functional Integration with a therapist that helped to free tight muscles and joints that were limiting my motion and increasing my discomfort. Using gentle manipulation and passive movements, the therapist individualized his approach to my particular needs.
The ultimate goal of both sessions is, in effect, to retrain the brain – to establish new neural pathways that result in easy, simple movements that are physiologically effective and
comfortable. Although the Feldenkrais method was developed in the mid-20th century, neurophysiologists have since demonstrated the plasticity of the brain, its ability to form new cells, reorganize itself and, in effect, learn new ways to do things
...Feldenkrais teachers do not give formulas for a proper way of behaving; rather, they rely on their patients’ ability to self-discover and self-correct.Once aware of their counterproductive habits, students are given the opportunity to experience alternative movements, postures and behaviors and, through practice, create new habits that are less likely to cause pain."
Check out the rest of the NY Times article to read more about the reporter's findings (it may require a NY Times subscription to view it): https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/well/trying-the-feldenkrais-method-for-chronic-pain.html.
People who try Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement classes and Functional Integration sessions are drawn to Feldenkrais with a variety of goals, including pain reduction, improved function, increased ease, and better mobility. Many people feel an increase in comfort, feel greater ease in walking, reaching, turning, bending, feel more grounded, feel taller, and other improvements.
I ended up in individual Feldenkrais sessions after sustaining whiplash and lumbar strain in a car accident. The Feldenkrais sessions did for me what other interventions didn't do - I found relief from the pain. It was a very welcome surprise!
To schedule a Feldenkrais session at Love-Feldenkrais, click here.
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