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The Feldcnkrais Method for
Dynamic HealLh
he Feldenkl'ais Method is a revolutionary approach to health alld !ltness. Using what
Dr. I\loshe Fcldenkrais called "Awareness Through Movement," people of any age or
condition can learn to move more comfortably and effectively. lIn pleasant yet PO\\ er-
ful wa)s, his method reawakens tile natural process by which we as babies learned to
crawl, walk, Rnd talk. In the U.S. and Canada mor'e Ulan one thousand guild-certified
practitioners teach the Feldenkrais MetilOd.
IIl'arelll'SS f !,eals is the first book to present the full benefits of Ule Foeldenkrais I'vlethod in
clear language. [t details six basic lessons which help you to become more aware of ho\\
you breathe, s,it, walk, and otllenvise move. By sensing these natural actions, you grow
more skillful I nd supple in all your movements. Through the Feldenkrais l\1eUlod, you ('an
learn to relie e pain, enhance flexihility, and re('over from physical or emotional stress.
The gentle movements in lll'oreness ffeals are designed for practi eat hOl11e ancl work,
and even in ypur CAr. They !It into any program of fitness, exercise, (~r tllerap). Most
important, Feldenkrais lessons demonstrate tllat such problems as stillness and stress do
not requjre ol,tside intervention- the remedy lies within each of us.
Stl'H'n Shafal'lnan studied \\-itll Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais between 1976 and J984, becoming
a certified Feldenkrais practitioner ancl assistant trainer. In 1981, when Dr. Feldenkrais
last taught in tile .S., he asked Shafarman to travel with him as assistant and appoint
ments secretary. A former ,'esearch associate of Dr. Jean Houston, Shafarman has studied
a variety ofw.ays to enhance health and hWllan capabilities. He lives in Santa Barbara,
California, and teaches and lectures internationally.
Cover illustratioll .r Chad A"ubo UIS 515.00 I 522.00 CAN
ISBN 0'201-69469-7
51500
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PER.SEUS BOOKS
9 780201 694697
hllp:llwww.persetJsbooksgroup.com
Awareness Heals
THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD FOR DYNAMIC HEALTH
Steven Shafarman
PERSEUS BOOKS
Reading, Massachusetts
The terms Feldenkrais Method®, Feldenkrais®, Awareness Through
Movement®, Functional Integration®, and The Feldenkrais Guild® are
Registered Marks of The Feldenkrais Guild®.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shafarman, Steven.
Awareness heals: the Feldenkrais method for dynamic health /
Steven Shafarman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-201-69469-7
1. Feldenkrais method. 1. Title.
RC489.F44S53 1997
613.7'I-dc20 96-41924
CIP
Copyright © 1997 by Steven Shafarman
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United
States of America.
Text design and production by Mark Corsey
Interior illustrations by Elizabeth Morales
Cover illustration by Chad Kubo
Set in lO-point New Baskerville
Perseus Books is a member of the Perseus Books Group
3456789-02010099
Find us on the World Wide Web at
http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com
Perseus Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in
the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For
more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at
HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022,
or call 212-207-7528.
CONTENTS
Introduction: How to Use This Book vii
The Method, Moshe, and Me 1
The Feldenkrais Method 9
Learning to Learn 26
Lesson One: Bending and Breathing 30
Lesson Two: Turning and Twisting 57
Lesson Three: Leaning and Lifting 80
Lesson Four: Uninhibited Breathing 102
Lesson Five: Effortless Sitting 116
Lesson Six: Elegant Walking 141
Learning and Life 168
Toward a Science of Health 173
Awareness Heals 188
Mterword: A World of Awareness 206
Appendix: For More Information 208
Acknowledgments 212
Index 214
To the memory of Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Se. (1904-1984),
for inspiring and provoking me to learn and think;
For everyone who makes these ideas her or his own
by doing so you help realize Moshe's dreams.
INTRODUCTION
How to Use This Book
The Feldenkrais Method is both a new approach to movement or
exercise and a new way of thinking about health and human
behavior. These new ideas may seem quite familiar, however,
since the Feldenkrais Method is based on understanding how we
learn as babies.
To emphasize the organic quality of the Feldenkrais Method, I
designed this book with a symmetrical structure, like your body.
In the middle, as the trunk or torso, are six lessons which enable
you to experience the Feldenkrais Method and how it reawakens
and refines the process through which we learn to move as
babies. On each side of the lessons-the book's arms and legs
are three chapters, which relate what and how you are learning
to your everyday experience. In extending this analogy, I see this
introduction as a hand: I offer it to welcome you to this way of
thinking and the benefits of the Feldenkrais Method.
The Method, Moshe, and Me, the first chapter, tells the story of the
Feldenkrais Method and its founder, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, who
I studied with for many years. The second chapter, The Feldenkrais
Method, shows how you can use the Method generally-and the
six lessons in this book in particular-to relieve pain, recover
from stress, improve athletic and artistic performance, and
enhance pleasure.
The third chapter, Learning to Learn, discusses specific ways for
you to gain maximum benefit from the six lessons. You will learn
and improve most rapidly when you minimize any effort and
continually seek to move more comfortably, effectively, and en
joyably. In various ways, reducing excess effort is the essence of
vii
-- How TO USE THIS BOOK
this learning, and years of teaching and thousands of students
have shown me that most of us tend to work much harder than
necessary or desirable. While some readers may want to begin
with the lessons, I recommend you read this chapter before
doing them. For your convenience, it is quite short.
The six lessons are best learned in the order presented. Each
lesson has several parts and often instructs you to pause or rest
for a moment. These rests are important for your learning and I
encourage you to lie still, breathe easily, and enjoy them. Specific
movements are sometimes performed and then repeated; the
sequence and repetitions enable you to sense changes and
discover differences, which are essential for learning. Lesson Five,
Effortless Sitting, and Lesson Six, Elegant Walking, summarize and
integrate movements from the first four lessons. I suggest you
allow 45 minutes for each lesson.
You will benefit most from these lessons if you do them on dif
ferent days to allow time for you to integrate and assimilate. As
with learning to play golf or piano, to use a computer or speak a
foreign language, reviewing can facilitate learning. Mter you have
done a complete lesson at least once, feel free to skip parts or
explore your own variations. Even a few movements can be use
ful, if you do them with awareness. You may also want to review
Learning to Learn occasionally.
Mter the six lessons is another short chapter, Learning and Life,
which suggests many ways you can integrate learning and the
benefits of the lessons into your everyday activities. The final two
chapters, Toward a Science of Health and Awareness Heals, will help
you understand the way of thinking that makes the Feldenkrais
Method unique and effective. As you will see, these insights into
how we learn as babies apply to art, science, medicine, psychol
ogy, philosophy, education, and all other aspects of our lives. I
conclude the book with A World of Awareness, my vision regarding
these ideas and what is possible for each of us as individuals and
for all of us together.
I encourage you to use this book in whatever way seems to suit
you best. Perhaps we'll meet one day and you'll tell me what you
learned. If you make these ideas your own, you may discover new
ways to apply them that benefit me and many others.
VIn
The Method, Moshe, and Me
"My pain's gone."
"I haven't moved so easily in years."
"This way of thinking really makes sense."
"These lessons are so simple and effective, I wish I'd learned
them in school."
I hear comments like these every day. The Feldenkrais Method
helps people relieve chronic or occasional back pain, shoulder
tension, and most other musculoskeletal difficulties. Individuals
diagnosed with neurological disorders such as stroke, cerebral
palsy, or multiple sclerosis discover easier, healthier ways to
function. Artists, athletes, and other performers, both amateurs
and world-class professionals, use Feldenkrais lessons to improve
their skills.
The basics of the Feldenkrais Method are easy to learn and apply.
You can learn each of the simple lessons in this book in less than
45 minutes-and doing them even one time may benefit you
for the rest of your life. Whether you are 20, 50, or 80 years
old ... whether you are mostly sedentary, exercise occasionally,
or work out in the gym daily ... whether you are generally
healthy or living with some disability ... these lessons will help
you learn to move more comfortably and effectively.
1
-- AWARENESS HEALS
Medical doctors, chiropractors, and other health professionals
increasingly acknowledge the Feldenkrais Method as a valuable,
educational adjunct to their treatments. The Feldenkrais
Approach to helping people improve their everyday functioning
is quite compatible with the medical focus on treating injuries
and illnesses. With many types of therapy, people find that pains
or problems recur after a few hours, days, or weeks. Genetics may
be blamed, or age or occupation, and people sometimes assume
they '~ust have to learn to live with it." These notions may be
unnecessarily limiting and self-fulfilling, however. With the
Feldenkrais Method, you can learn to live in ways that minimize
or eliminate many problems.
The six lessons in this book use simple, common movements:
bending, turning, leaning, breathing, sitting, and walking. When
you are more aware and effective with these fundamental skills,
you will be better able to do whatever you choose, no matter how
complex or demanding.
The Man and His Method
Moshe Feldenkrais had an extraordinary background for his
discoveries. Born in the Ukraine in 1904, he left his home and
family at the age of 14 to emigrate to Palestine. That was shortly
after the end of World War I, and the journey took almost six
months, mostly walking. For the next ten years, Feldenkrais lived
in Tel Aviv, at that time a relatively small community of pioneer
ingJewish settlers. As a young man, he studied, worked as a tutor,
laborer, and surveyor, and pursued his love of sports. While
playing soccer, he tore the ligaments and cartilage in his left knee
so severely that his knee was swollen and painful for many
months.
Feldenkrais moved to Paris in 1928 to study physics, mathematics,
and mechanical and electrical engineering. Mter earning his
Doctor of Science degree at the Sorbonne, he was invited to work
with Frederic Joliot-Curie, director of the Curie Institute, one of
the premier scientific laboratories in the world. Joliot-Curie
discovered induced radiation and won the 1935 Nobel Prize in
Chemistry, and Feldenkrais was Joliot-Curie's principal assistant at
2
