The Feldenkrais Method: Moving with Attention

What makes the Feldenkrais Method unique is that is makes you pay attention to the whole body as you are moving. By moving with attention, and being aware of multiple areas moving at once, an entire re-organization takes place in your body and in the part you are moving.

For instance, if I am lying on my back with both knees bent, and I lift my bent right leg (as if to straighten out my right knee) I am simultaneously paying attention to my right hip and what is occurring there. I am also monitoring what’s happening in my left hip.

I might also rest my attention on the length of my spine from sacrum to head so as not to lose my midline. In addition I can allow my attention to go to my outstretched arms (picture Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man) to keep the width of my torso present.

By encouraging different movement possibilities and then returning to the original movement; it becomes easier to do the intended movement.

Not through effort, but through attention and awareness of HOW I am moving, moving in different ways and trying out different movement variations. For example, crossing my left ankle over my right knee and lifting the pelvis and then returning to the original movement of lifting my bent right leg and straightening it. This now feels easier to do!

This is what I mean by moving with your Whole Self, so no part becomes scrunched up, shortened or contracted as you are moving according to your intention.

At the end of this particular Awareness Through Movement lesson, as I slide my bent right leg down away from me, I can notice that the leg is really underneath me, under my pelvis. I can sense that I have greater control of my right hip joint and feel that I can stand much better on my right leg and foot. As I come up to standing, I notice I can control what my right leg, foot and ankle are doing, rather than the other way around (it flailing out to the side, unsupported.)

Tip:
Try moving in Non-Habitual ways.
For instance comb your hair or brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand.
Take a shower and use your non-dominant hand to clean yourself.
Try doing the above throughout the day and…afterwards, notice how you feel in yourself.