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A Feldenkrais mindset is decidedly different from many
of the thoughts programmed into us Westerners pretty
much from birth. The fitness aim is not an athlete’s
muscle but a baby’s flexibility, instinct, and
energy. Struggle and strain are not accepted as attractive
ways to achieve goals. My students are perpetually surprised
at the simplicity of some of Feldenkrais’ many
movement sequences; they find that they can relax, have
fun, and still get a lot done. Here are a few key conceptual
shifts:
>> ‘No pain, no gain’ vs.
‘Do no harm’
Feldenkrais practice does not take you to the edge of
your physical endurance, but it does stretch your consciousness
beyond whatever movement habits are boxing you in. Most
people who are in “do ‘til you drop”
mode have stopped paying attention to how they feel
in daily functioning and don’t even know they
have habits that may be harming them, or that there’s
any other way to be. If you’re thinking outside
that box, you’ll notice early warning signs of
discomfort and stop before anything hurts.
>> ‘Try harder’ vs. ‘Move
smarter’
I’m always coaching my students to stop “efforting”
so much. Energy conservation, or the path of least resistance,
does not slow down progress. Actually, many of the stresses
and strains we carry in our bodies got put there from
muscles and joints working overtime when our skeletons
weren’t aligned for optimal efficiency. Imagine,
for instance, the static load that your wrist is forced
to carry if you’re clicking a computer mouse hundreds
of times with your arm overextended.
>> ‘Control’ vs. ‘Connect
The corrective for “overefforting” is not
the opposite extreme — either fearful control
or avoiding effort entirely — but rather moving
consciously, with more holistic awareness of yourself
as an integrated whole. A student dealing with vasculitis
described “trying to move as little as possible,
creeping in a stiff way to the kitchen, thinking that
was least likely to disturb my joints,” until
she discovered that gentle movement in the joints actually
loosens them up, like oiling a wheel.
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