Feldenkrais Method
Moshe Feldenkrais was an Israeli physicist and judo expert who developed a method of somatic education after severe knee injuries. Rather than focus on fixing the injury, he explored how movement patterns throughout the body contributed to knee stress. He discovered that improving overall coordination reduced local strain. The method that emerged treats the whole self as the unit of learning.
The premise: we develop movement habits early, often inefficiently, and rarely revise them. These habits feel natural because they’re familiar, not because they’re optimal. The Feldenkrais Method creates conditions for discovering more efficient possibilities.
Awareness Through Movement (ATM) lessons are verbal instructions guiding sequences of small, slow movements. A lesson might explore variations on rolling from back to side — dozens of subtly different ways to initiate, sequence, and complete the action. The goal isn’t exercise but experimentation. You’re not building strength; you’re differentiating sensation.
Functional Integration is the hands-on form — a practitioner guides the student’s movement with gentle touch. But unlike massage or manipulation, the practitioner isn’t doing something to the student. They’re creating conditions for the student’s nervous system to learn new options. The touch communicates possibility.
The method works through contrast. Try a movement one way, then slightly differently. Notice what’s easier. The nervous system learns through comparison. When you discover that turning your head is easier if you let your eyes go first, you’ve learned something about coordination that no amount of instruction could convey.
Feldenkrais emphasized learning to learn. Specific movement improvements matter less than developing the capacity to discover improvements. Someone who has learned to learn can continue improving long after lessons end. The method aims to develop self-teachers who need no further lessons.
The applications extend beyond injury recovery. Musicians, athletes, performers use Feldenkrais to refine technique. People with neurological conditions use it to rebuild movement patterns. Healthy people use it to move with less effort and more pleasure.
The common element: attention. Moving slowly and gently enough to notice sensation. Pausing to feel effects. Treating the body as an experiment rather than an object to control. This quality of attention is itself the skill being developed.
Go Deeper
Books
- Awareness Through Movement by Moshe Feldenkrais — The foundational book, with 12 lessons you can practice. Start here.
- The Elusive Obvious by Moshe Feldenkrais — Later work, more theoretical. On why obvious solutions are often missed.
- Embodied Wisdom: The Collected Papers of Moshe Feldenkrais edited by Elizabeth Beringer — For serious students.
- Awareness Heals by Steven Shafarman — Accessible introduction to the method with six basic lessons.
Audio
- Feldenkrais’s recorded ATM lessons are widely available and essential for understanding the work through practice rather than description.
Related: [[movement]], [[alexander-technique]], [[proprioception]], [[deliberate-practice]]