Feldenkrais Method

The lower part of our spine is strong, but as it bears all the weight, it is also mechanically vulnerable. Four legged animals are less susceptible to this problem. Since the dawn of human kind man has thought up of ways to deal with the back pain that he faced. We have come up with the most unbelievable contraptions to relieve our back pain and also come up with methods that quite frankly are far fetched! If the underlying biomechanical and functional cause of the low back pain is not addressed, then you will not have a treatment but only temporary relief from the symptoms.

Most techniques that address lower back pain deal in part with the underlying cause and have a go at correcting it, but they do not go far enough. If you go for a program that just treats the pain and the symptoms and not the actual "cause" of the back problems, you are setting yourself up for recurring pain. Just dealing with the "symptoms" and not with the "root cause" is why the back pain recurs.

Moving in a distributed functionally efficient manner is what the Feldenkrais Method aims to realize. It is by expanding the type of movements and by moving away from a fixed way of operating that the Feldenkrais Method helps us regain flexibility and grace through the lessons developed by Dr. Feldenkrais. During childhood we tend to be more flexible, but as adults we restrict ourselves a lot and become fixed in our ways.

As we age, we restrict our movements to a kind of "bare minimum". Infants are not like grown ups, they aren't set in their ways, they have an infinite choice of movements to choose from and they take advantage of that! The habits we develop in our movements and the repetitive nature of those movements that are very often not optimal is in large part responsible for most of our aches and pains. You need to make sure that the cause of your back pain is not one that is life threatening, once you have established that you will be surprised to know that it is caused by a "poor use of self".

The way we move about and function is very restricted, once made aware of it, we can alter this and change. Offering a different way to move and go about life is what the Feldenkrais Method is about. This change is brought about by playfully exploring different movement possibilities and doing fun and challenging moves with ones body.

ATM or Awareness Through Movement is the name given to the group guided lessons taught by a Feldenkrais practitioner. These lessons or ATMs are practiced mainly on a soft carpet on the floor. A typical lesson lasts from half an hour for a short one to an hour and a half for the longer lessons. If you do enough of these you will begin to expand your own body awareness and movement repertoire.

You can find a Feldenkrais practitioner that practices near you to try out an Awareness Through Movement Class. You can find Awareness Through Movement lessons online in MP3 format that you can download and do at home

What Is The Feldemkrais Method?

If you have never heard of the Feldenkrais Method you are not alone. The Feldenkrais method is a movement based modality that aims at restoring our movement potential through gradual slow exercises that focus on connecting our higher brain centers with the lower ones so that we regain awareness of ourselves. This is a slow process, but one that does not impose any external forms onto the body, but uses our internal map to broaden our sensitivity and regain lost territory.

It is a technique that helps us have more choice of action and move about in a non habitual way.