the Feldenkrais Method with Emma Alter

How do you know you’re improving in Feldenkrais lessons?

In the Feldenkrais Method we don’t have belts of learning, like you would in martial arts. 

Feldenkrais has such an individual effect, so it wouldn’t quite work. We explore movements on the floor, like a 3D puzzle. And when you get up, you often stand and move in a different way. There’s a new experience of what its like to be you. The first Feldenkrais lesson I did, I felt like I was wearing else’s legs. As if I’d picked up a different pair at the end of the class by mistake! My legs moved in such a different way from before the lesson, and I found that extraordinary. It was the start of my Feldenkrais learning.

It’s the kind of learning that creeps up on you over time. Sometimes at the start, it can feel like nothing’s happening. Over time, you start to notice that you can move more easily. That you can do something you couldn’t do for a while, like turning to reverse the car. Or you don’t get the same kind of back/neck/shoulder ache as before. If you do get an ache, it lasts for less time, and you have more resources to deal with it.

Sometimes it’s dramatic- it’s clear that these are new movements the person hasn’t made in a long time, or ever. Sometimes, their pain vanishes after one lesson or workshop. A joyful discovery. Other times the process is less dramatic. After a series of lessons, they notice that the pain is less, or isn’t there any more. It’s got a little less each week, until they notice that it’s gone. They no longer have to protect that area when they’re moving.

For some people it’s not that Feldenkrais helps with pain, but they feel more relaxed at the end of a lesson. And from there, they can deal with life with more ease. They feel less stressed, anxious or depressed. The improvement of our sensing can have very interesting emotional and psychological effects. Everything we do is psychophysical after all.

Sometimes it’s more about possibility. Skills get better: playing feels freer, easier. Golf or racket swings are more fluid, Running is more whole body, less effortful. Or you feel part of yourself after a lesson you didn’t before. So you can use it in a different way.

Singers often feel able to support with less effort, and control breath flow in a different way. Many of my musician clients and students say their playing/singing feels more effortless.

Other times, it’s simply that movement feels better, more pleasurable after a lesson.

Whichever way, Feldenkrais is cumulative, each building on the last. It’s implicit learning, rather than explicit. So over time it seeps into your unconscious, and your every day. At that point you’ll may find yourself exploring movement wherever you are. And you use gentle movements to unwind any excess tension you feel.

Sometimes, it’s when you stop lessons that you start to notice the absence. Aches come back in, or you’re straining again. One of my musician clients said something to this effect recently, after returning after a break. The good news is that it’s easy to restart, and you’re always welcome to return to my classes or 1-to-1s, no matter how long you’ve had a break.

There’s a great Chinese proverb which says that the best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago, and the next best time is right now! It’s the same for starting Feldenkrais lessons!