Movement for your mind <—> Mindfulness for your body
For me, Feldenkrais feels like a way to work holistically, with all of me - my body, mind (and brain).
Although it can make it easier to analyse and name the individual effects for body vs mind, there is really no need to separate them out like this.
“I believe that the unity of mind and body is an objective reality. They are not just parts somehow related to each other, but an inseparable whole while functioning. A brain without a body could not think.”
I will describe a little of how I feel the different effects for my whole self when I do Feldenkrais.
For my BODY…for movement improvement & pleasure
In class, we are slowly guided to move through different movement patterns. We learn with curiosity and experimentation, like little children do. We tune in to make sense of bodily cues and clues that were there all along.
Bit, by bit, we build the variety and complexity of the moves. We learn to co-ordinate all your joints and muscles for efficiency, enjoyment and injury prevention. We sense how to manage your body weights in gravity for a weightless, free feeling.
Usually, we begin to:
Feel looser as stiffness and tension melt away
Move with more grace, less effort
Rely on our own body-sense to manage episodes of pain or discomfort
Gain confidence in our ability to improve our movements, activities or sports
“Movement is life; without movement life is unthinkable.”
For my MIND… for resilient mood & mental well-being
We are guided in class, to move mindfully…absorbed in the moment and attending to ourselves.
We will oftentimes:
Feel calm, steady and refreshed
Grow resilience to stress and challenge
Find a new mind/body balance as mental chatter fades away
Know ourself, become our own authority
“Our breathing reflects every emotional or physical effort and every disturbance.”
For my BRAIN… for an active brain & lifelong learning
Lessons like riddles pique our curiosity. Novelty, playfulness and non-striving switch our brains onto learning. Old habits and patterns lose their grip. New possibilities emerge.
We will:
Re-learn old abilities lost through injury or disuse
Sharpen our communication channels from brain to muscle…and back again
Regulate our own state, to switch away from a stress response (fight or flight) into a more restorative mode
Feel that positive change is possible and it is under our influence
“What I’m after isn’t flexible bodies, but flexible brains. What I’m after is to restore each person to their human dignity.”
Note:
All quotes in this piece are from the writings of Moshe Feldenkrais