Working in Movement

Where did the Feldenkrais Method come from? There is the story of Moshe Feldenkrais hurting his knees, declining an operation and then teaching himself to use the damaged knees with what would eventually come to be known as the Feldenkrais Method.

As it turns out, that story is not historically accurate and not nearly as dramatic as the real story. Feldenkrais' real history not only makes a better story, but also makes some of the principles of his Method a lot more accessible to the public.

According to a story related by Feldenkrais Method trainer Carl Ginsburg, Feldenkrais first hurt one knee while playing soccer. His other knee was apparently fine, but the injured knee hurt and wasn't of much use no matter what he tried to make it better.

But then he slipped and hurt the "good" knee. This new injury made his previously good knee much worse than the knee injured in the soccer game. Feldenkrais now found himself with two badly injured knees. He needed desperately to get to his home and walking was the only way to do it. How could he possibly walk with his old soccer injury and this new injury to his other knee?

Oddly, Feldenkrais found that he could suddenly walk on the knee injured in the soccer game, the one that he couldn't walk on before this new injury. He reasoned that his nervous system had recognized severity of the new injury and, seeing the necessity for locomotion, reorganized his sensory motor system to make walking on the original knee injury possible.

When some part of a system is compromised in some way, it needs the support of the rest of the system. Something in Feldenkrais recognized this and offered the new, severely injured knee the support that it needed, even if that meant using the previously bad knee.

This is a key principle of the Method that evolved from that experience, among others. Rather than forcing an already compromised or injured component of the sensory motor system to work, offer it support from the non compromised parts. The entire sensory motor system will figure out what needs to be done and how to do it as freely and easily as possible.

In its broadest sense, support means taking over the work of compromised part. It can come in a variety of ways. The support can come from removing a person from much of gravity's demands by having them lay on a flat surface, or putting a pillow under the back or knees. Ot it can come from recruiting more parts of the system to participate in a compromised movement. Or it can come with supplying outside muscular support to take over the effort of an overworked area. It can even come from imagining a movement, since that completely takes away the need for effort.

It seems counter intuitive to not touch or work with an injury directly. But thanks to Feldenkrais' keen observation, in most cases the nervous system already knows what to do--if it's given enough support.