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Feldenkrais offers a way to function with greater range
and feel more comfortable inside your own skin, so it
applies to a raft of conditions that restrict mobility
and ease.
Some that I’ve worked with over the past 25 years
include stroke, musculoskeletal and neurological impairments,
developmental delays, spinal and disk problems, focal
dystonia, fibromyalgia, arthritis, carpal tunnel, eye
strain, posttraumatic stress disorder, repetivie strain injury (RSI), and every manner
of injury. Golf swings and tennis elbows improve with
Feldenkrais practice, singers breathe better, and performers
get past stage fright. Feldenkrais reaches especially
those who fall through the cracks of conventional medical
treatment because of chronic pain whose causes can’t
be pinpointed.
But now I sound like I’m talking textbook diagnostics
instead of describing my students, whom I get to know
as whole people. The Feldenkrais Method treats the body
as an integrated unit rather than reducing people to
component parts. I asked some of my students what they
get from their Feldenkrais practice and many of them
focused on the self-confidence that comes with self-help,
or feeling in charge of their lives again.
The specifics they reported vary—knowing the principles to sit at a computer with minimal fatigue, being able not only to rehab an injury but to avoid reinjury, especially when playing an instrument— feeling free to walk on ice because you can get up from a fall, ending dependency on outside health professionals (myself included).
The general spectrum that the Feldenkrais Method addresses
is so wide-ranging because everything benefits from
receiving attention, and all of us are capable of increasing
our awareness.
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