Patient Story: Healing Beyond Shoulder Pain – A Restorative Experience

“I came to Dr. Feldman at a point in my healing journey with two things very clear to me: that I could go no further on the journey without someone’s help, and acute chronic left shoulder pain.

I had done a lot of work on my own reading and applying mental and spiritual concepts for the past two years, but I had such resistance in the left side of my body, that I couldn’t fully embrace myself and occupy the space that is me without help residing there again. I didn’t even realize completely that that was what I was in for – returning home to myself within my body. I thought I was going to deal with shoulder pain, yeah? But Dr. Feldman, through Feldenkrais shows you how every part of your body is connected, and that one thing is leading to another. So to heal left shoulder pain, we must look at the left hip. We must look at it physically – how do I hold it and move it?

And we must look at it on a deeper level, an emotional/energetic level, which is where the Craniosacral Therapy came into play for me. We hold trauma in our bodies, and my body was storing a lot of unrest within my pelvic region. Human beings are energetic beings that require reciprocal exchange with one another. When traumatized, it’s very difficult to come back to a balanced state without the help of another energetic presence in a more balanced state.

In my very first session, I could feel myself relax in his hands in a way that I felt my deeper self trusted him, a trust that I had lost with my own self on account of the trauma. I didn’t protect myself from a harmful situation and could no longer be trusted. But my system had no problem tuning in to his and trusting the inner wisdom to bring things back to balance.

I don’t mean to write a book on Google, but my ten sessions over twelve weeks or so have been truly transformative. After a lifetime of learning to hold oneself incorrectly, one usually needs the help of a teacher to learn to move correctly. Once I had those two things – sensing the incorrect way that feels uncomfortable and painful, versus the correct way of moving that feels comfortable and pain-free, our brains naturally want to do the easy, more comfortable pain-free way! It’s why we came seeking help in the first place. So naturally throughout the day, I find myself doing some movement the incorrect way, and can easily make less effort and find myself doing it more neutrally and correctly.

Which is the last point I want to mention: there are many pathways to truth but some are more direct in their route, which is what we’re seeking essentially, right? The fastest way to truth? For example, many people say or give the advice to ‘let go.’ I find this somewhat unhelpful and difficult to understand, because I don’t know how I’m holding myself. If I understood how I was constricting my body, I could already let go. So I can try to work it out with a talk therapist on why I’m holding on to all these things within my body and how to let go of it, which could take weeks, months, years. Or I can roll with what Dr. Feldman says with the Feldendkrais modality of making ‘less effort.’ Now this I understand – make less effort to me means stop trying so hard. Why are you trying so hard to be a person? Why are you making so much effort to be in a body? Make less effort. I get that. It makes sense. It’s the most direct way of seeing the truth.

Dr. Feldman is very skilled in what he does. His presence is reassuring and he only wants to help people be more balanced and wholesome. I’m incredibly thankful to have worked with him on the journey home to myself, through blockages and trauma where I needed someone more perceptive than me to offer their wisdom, guidance, and support. Dr. Feldman has done all that for me, as I’m sure he does it for all his patients. Don’t miss out on Feldman Wellness.”

~ Nina Orlando