I heard someone ask what kinds of movements the pelvis can make: Far beyond what any psychologist can think up. – Moshe Feldenkrais, Esalen: Lesson #42

In the Feldenkrais Method we move a lot and we talk a lot too. Feldenkrais dedicated his life to movement, but he was also a prolific writer and talker. At the same time, when one tries to create a clear and concise description of what the Feldenkrais method is and how it works, the subject matter becomes elusive.

Even in Feldenkrais’ own works there is a seeming aversion to building a hierarchy of definitions and statements. With his scientific training and experience reading physics lectures, he definitely could have done that. Instead, in his writings, lessons and workshops certain themes appear, recur and vary. They vary the way a musician would vary a theme, departing from it and coming back with some changes while keeping the theme still recognisable. The self-image is one such theme which Feldenkrais keeps returning to in his teaching and writing. It’s an intuitively appealing concept which highlights the connection between Feldenkrais and psychology.

The need to build this bridge between the two change-engendering approaches has dictated the structure of this article. With the caveat that conventional psychology uses language as its main medium for change, while Feldenkrais prefers first-hand somatic experience of movement as the access point to change.
We start by reviewing the concept of self-image in Feldenkrais, emphasizing its rich, multi-modal and dynamic nature. We then continue with the analysis of language as one of the tools for working with self-image. We introduce an innovative hybrid language and movement form created by Moshe Feldenkrais – Awareness Through Movement (ATM) – which uses language to create movements..

In true Feldenkrais spirit, we end up with a recording of a sample ATM lesson accompanying this essay. The lesson shows Feldenkrais’ skillful use of language to create a particular self-image and thus obtain access to very finely differentiated, while at the same time individualised change-engendering movements.
This work will hopefully simplify for readers navigation of the bridge between the movement and linguistic activity of the Feldenkrais Method, literally allowing them to travel from their pelvis to words and back.

The self-image in the Feldenkrais Method

The self-image in Feldenkrais is mostly associated with motor activity. The motor or sensory cortical homunculus, familiar to any psychologist, is used to illustrate how certain parts of the body are more available and detailed in the brain, while other parts are vague and lacking accessibility.

In the Feldenkrais Method the corresponding concept is completeness of self-image. We all have an incomplete self-image, with some parts of the body more in our awareness, while some remain ‘dark’. Taking a wind musical instrument player, the self-image of their lips and tongue is way more detailed than in an average person. Observing the young generation’s use of touchscreens and keyboards, their image of their thumbs is much more detailed. Without making any scientific claims, we can expect that the size of musician’s lips or teenagers’ thumbs in the cortical homunculus is going to be significantly larger. A complete self-image is unachievable, but this concept sets out the direction and criterion for improvement. By enriching the self-image, the movement, as well as the emotional and cognitive activity, will improve.

One characteristic of the Feldenkrais Method is its radical emphasis on the unity of motion, emotion and cognition, as opposed to classical psychology which emphasises ‘disembodied’ emotion and cognition and largely ignores how they relate to movement. Feldenkrais prefers to talk about the state of the entire nervous system, where any separation into observable aspects is only done for educational purposes. To teach and to learn we have to start with some aspect, but as a Feldenkrais Method student progresses, they all get covered and interconnected. An analogy with music learning can be helpful. In the early stages students are concerned with correct posture, how to hold their instrument, and learning to read the score. In parallel their musical ear is improving, and eventually they focus on an overall sense of ‘musicality’, which becomes an elusive concept connecting all aspects of a musician’s previous learning into a moment of moving their entire selves in ‘here and now’.

In the Feldenkrais Method the emphasis on the motor aspect of self-image is for practical purposes, since it’s more easily observable. Changes or absence thereof can be verified through changes in the movement. A person simultaneously moves and observes this state of the nervous system, then uses language to make sense of the experience for the purposes of communication, even if that communication is internal.

Understood in this way, the self-image then becomes a notion of one part of the nervous system interacting with another to create this observed image of self. The idea of the self-image can also lead to confusion because it creates an impression of something fixed in time, whereas Feldenkrais is keen to emphasize that life and the reaction of the nervous system is an evolving process, it’s in constant motion.

Language and self-image

In an attempt to bridge language and movement, while preserving a dynamic and comprehensive understanding of the nervous system and its changes, Feldenkrais has developed an innovative linguistic form, known as Awareness Through Movement (ATM). Essentially it is a sequence of verbal instructions to a group of people (students). The language, even though it’s not mentioned explicitly, has to be included as a media between teacher and students, and during their training Feldenkrais Practitioners are taught to use words, intonations, and rhythm in a particular way to guide students. Each instruction is designed to instigate certain movements in students leading them towards change through incremental improvements in self awareness. Language, however, also leaves space for individual interpretation, and also misinterpretation, this creates a learning environment where individual sensorial experience is the main focus, rather than ‘correct’ performance.

During an ATM, a practitioner observes movements and provides additional guidance. In this way no two ATMs are ever the same. Extending our musical analogies, the text of an ATM is similar to a music score that then has to be performed with varying degrees of improvisation, depending on a particular set of performers and circumstances.

As follows from the name, the objective of an Awareness Through Movement lesson is awareness, with the movement as a tool and pathway of achieving the improvement in awareness. The purpose is to get students to move, and through that movement to get to know themselves with greater self awareness. It is awareness that engenders change.

In the Feldenkrais Method we can move individual people with our hands (Functional Integration), and we move a whole group of people with words in an ATM. This helps to bring the benefits of the method to a larger number of people, but it also introduces an additional layer of interpretation that is less present in the direct, nervous system to nervous system communication of touch. Therefore the idea of the self-image can be described in words, but language cannot fully convey the rich and multifaceted direct experience of an individual in relation to the unity of motion, emotion and cognition.

Language reduces experience. – K.Ginsburg, The Intelligence of moving bodies. P.147.

This is the spirit in which Feldenkrais’ opening quote has to be understood – the endless richness of movement is inevitably reduced in language.
An image is much more than words, and in somatic practice it includes all the kinesthetic input. It can be reduced for the purpose of explanation, but then it’s a pointer to experience that should not be equated with the former. Experience cannot be reduced to words in principle, and this explains the reluctance of Feldenkrais Practitioners to create a definitive description of what the Feldenkrais method is, turning the nervous system from a process into an object. Words will always be insufficient when trying to capture the rich diversity of human experience. One has to sweat their prayers, as per Gabrielle Roth.

End of the words, start of the movement

Language is a useful tool that simplifies initial contact as well as transmission by creating a productive approximation. This article in itself is a pointer, and to show it, we link a recording of an ATM on Primary image. One starts with words, because it’s the common denominator, and moves onto direct multi-sensory experience. So please listen to the words and generate your own unique experience of touch, emotions, kinesthetic sensations.

Lesson 1: A stick person

Originally from Moscow, Dimitri Popolov first experienced Feldenkrais method there in 2003.

As life permitted, Dimitri embarked on a professional training program with Feldenkrais Institute in Portugal. He is now a Certified Practitioner with Feldenkrais Guild of North America.

Dimitri works in Information Technology and holds PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from De Montfort University in the UK and the second PhD in Social Philosophy from Moscow Bauman University. He is also an amateur cellist applying Feldenkrais principles to the art of playing this beautiful instrument.

Website: https://acture-fm.com/