What is the Feldenkrais method?
“It’s a method of learning and awareness,” physicist Moshe Feldenkrais said when he developed it over 40 years ago. “More precisely, it is a method of somatic education, that is to say the awareness of the sensation of the body in movement” specifies Chantal Mir, practitioner and member of the Feldenkrais Collective. But beware, nothing to do with gentle gymnastics or yoga. The objective is not to reproduce a gesture or a posture and to seek “to please the teacher” as the practitioner emphasizes. The Feldenkrais method gives everyone the opportunity to explore and cultivate their own mobility, to discover and use their supports. At the end of a session, everyone feels a sense of well-being and fluidity of movement.
By revisiting the movements of everyday life, we learn to use the right muscle tone, making less unnecessary effort and staying within a really comfortable range of motion.
How does a course take place?
“Concretely, the practitioner makes proposals for simple but unusual sequences of movements and leads the participants on a sensory journey by drawing their attention to their perception of the body in motion. We thus discover that there are several ways of performing them according to of its relationship with the environment. This helps to develop an adaptability and develop personal mobility “explains Chantal Mir.
We work without looking for our limits in order to find the best organization. Not the solution imposed by the professor, but a movement in which you feel good, without tension. There is no competition, everyone will explore their own abilities.
Some courses are collective (in Feldenkrais language this is called awareness through movement), others are individual (functional integration or IF in Feldenkrais language). The individual course responds to a specific request: improving a daily gesture, regaining mobility following an injury or a difficulty, managing pain, etc.)
Who can it be useful for?
“The Feldenkrais method is for everyone and at all ages” insists Chantal Mir, some of whose students are over 80 years old. “Everyone will find what they want there. For some it will be the well-being and relaxation that it provides, for others it will be a way to get to know each other better. Still others will find a way to relieve tensions and pains “.
Without replacing doctors, the Feldenkrais method is indeed used in the field of health and in particular for:
– prevent musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and improve the daily lives of people who suffer from them;
– improve the mobility of people suffering from different forms of neuropathy;
– manage the pain of those suffering from multiple sclerosis;
– work on restoring mobility after a stroke;
– help relieve pain during chemotherapy.
National Feldenkrais Day
Once every two years, practitioners of the Feldenkrais method speak to the general public to make themselves better known. This Saturday March 28, forty events will be organized in France (discover the list here).
Note that in Paris, the Collectif Feldenkrais will take to the streets to introduce walkers to the method. Practitioners will be present at Place des Vosges (at 1 p.m.) and in Parc de la Villette (at 3:30 p.m.) to offer mini lessons.
And you, have you ever tried the Feldenkrais method? Talk about it on our forum
