Part of the week, I work in a school teaching violin to 5-11 year olds. The 5 year olds have a bit of trouble with zips. Especially double zips. In September they can’t do it themselves, they don’t often try, and yet by January, it’s a different story. Some of them need a little help with the beginning but can pull the zip up by themselves. Others can do the beginning part when you put the end in, hold with one hand whilst pulling the zip with the other, but have to use their entire concentration. By the end of the winter for most it becomes easy, followed swiftly by continuing to talk at the same time. Finally they can do by feel at speed – elegantly if you like.
Leading me elegantly to Feldenkrais’ popular quotes “we make the “impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy elegant. “
Like with the zip, these are simply the stages of learning towards mastery. People spend different amounts of time in the different phases but we go from beginner, to competent to mastery over time and with practice.
Working less is hard!
Feldenkrais lessons follow this same idea. We go slow to learn fast. It’s the hardest part of the work, along with reducing effort. And then over time we can move faster with the same fine quality we can move ourselves slowly.
One of the things that people find difficult about Feldenkrais is doing less work. Many people like to feel they’ve worked to achieve something. Part of why straining and pushing through pain is so popular.
It’s harder in the beginning to break that habit and so we often suggest people reduce the size of the movement and go slower. But we’ve been trained for so long to struggle to achieve, that even though cerebrally we might understand it, for many people it’s this doing less, which is the issue.
Even though when we look at elite sportsmen or martial artists or musicians we understand that it’s the effortlessness that takes them up to the top level.
Feeling differences in quality is kinaesthetic learning
In my lessons I’m training you to feel differences, the difference between a forceful movement which is clunky, or a slower movement in which you can find a higher quality of movement. Which we feel as fluid or smooth.
the Feldenkrais Method with Emma Alter 