The Feldenkrais Method®
The Feldenkrais Method® is a unique and practical approach to the ongoing development of human awareness, movement and learning. It mindfully engages each person in a thinking, feeling, sensing and moving process, enabling them to better enact their intentions.
Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984), the founder of the method, had a broad appreciation of the fields of physics, mechanics, anatomy, physiology, motor development and martial arts. He also had a personal need, as he sustained a knee injury for which he could find no treatment.
Out these diverse studies came his method which uses movement as the means for exploration of the patterns of behaviour, which are the way we live our lives.
Recent research in neuroscience, behavioural science, systems theory and learning has made it clear that many of the strategies employed in Feldenkrais lessons have a sound foundation.
Functional Integration (FI)
In a Functional Integration lesson, a trained practitioner uses his or her hands to guide the movement of a single client, who may be sitting, lying or standing (fully clothed). The practitioner uses this "hands-on" technique to help the student experience the connections among various parts of the body (with or without movement). Through precision of touch and movement, the client learns how to eliminate excess effort and thus move more freely and easily. Lessons may be specific in addressing particular issues brought by the client, or can be more global in scope. Although the technique does not specifically aim to eliminate pain or "cure" physical complaints, such issues may inform the lesson. Issues such as chronic
muscle pain may resolve themselves as the client may learn a more relaxed approach to his or her physical experience—a more integrated, free, and easy way to move.
*this information has been sourced and exactly copied - it was the only way I could describe the therapy as we begin our journey
