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Sept. 6, 2013
New movements, new year
Learn to refine existing patterns and acquire new ones in 5774.
VITA KOLODNY
During these Days of Awe, the Yamim Noraim, we reflect on the past year, on our relationships, and on our hopes and dreams for the New Year. As you contemplate your goals for the coming year, I invite you to consider how your body is an integral part of those hopes and dreams.
It is now widely accepted that mind and body are intricately connected and, as I continue to practise the Feldenkrais Method, that connection becomes clearer each day.
Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984), the founder of the Feldenkrais Method, was born in what is present-day Ukraine and was a pioneer in the building of the state of Israel. He believed that every mental act has a physical component. Each action we do, he taught, is comprised of four elements: thinking, feeling (on an emotional level), sensing or taking in information, and moving. A shift in any one of these has the potential to produce a shift in the whole being, thereby bringing about a change in action and, hopefully, personal growth.
Each September, as the new school year and Rosh Hashanah approach, I still think of this as a time of new learning opportunities, of renewal and new adventures, even though I am no longer a student in a formal education program. The new community centre and college calendars appear in the mail and I look through them to decide on which courses to take. I also spend thoughtful time creating my autumn Feldenkrais class and workshop schedule.
The Feldenkrais Method is a form of somatic education, a learning method as opposed to a therapy. It is a way of learning that is fun, safe and leads to change in each of the four components of action. In the Feldenkrais Method, we use gentle movements and directed attention to improve how we move and how we act.
Moshe Feldenkrais was a contemporary of other great thinkers of his time. He approached learning through movement or action. In his book, Awareness Through Movement, he suggests that human beings act according to our self-image, which we have built up over many years. He believed that most of us do not live up to our full potential, and that our self-image of what we can do is actually smaller than what is available to us.
His goal was for students of the Feldenkrais Method to learn how to fulfil that potential, to become mature human beings, through action and movement. This is expressed in his oft-quoted statement, “What I am after isn’t flexible bodies, but flexible brains. What I am after is to restore each person to their human dignity.” This statement drives home the reality of the mind-body connection and the potential we all have to grow and learn every day of our lives.
I love being active and I have geared my Feldenkrais practice toward working with people who are not as active as they would like to be because of difficulties with movement or as a result of injury or an accident, primarily neck, back and shoulder pain.
The goal of the Feldenkrais Method is to help students (we refer more to students than clients because of the method’s emphasis on learning) refine existing movement patterns or acquire new ones that will help him or her learn what they need to do to move more easily. For example, to be able to sit at the computer to work with less pain, to walk a dog without struggling, to get down on the floor with their child or grandchild, or to be able to continue doing the sports activities they enjoy. The possibilities for improvement are endless. Each person can learn for him- or herself what stands in the way of easy movement and action, to learn a new way of doing what they have been doing. The goal is self-reliance rather than relying on an external authority.
Vita Kolodny, RN, GCFP, is the director of the Feldenkrais Centre Vancouver. She can be reached at 604-729-0060 or [email protected]. For a class and workshop schedule, visit feldenkraisvancouver.com.
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