10 Tidbits From My First Feldenkrais Training

10 Tidbits From My First Feldenkrais Training

After a few years of taking classes in a slightly obscure somatic practice called the Feldenkrais Method, I decided to dive in deeper and take a training. It’s a 4-year process to become a practitioner and I’m looking forward to sharing what I learn along the way.

Our first 10-day segment in August 2016 was a revelation. So many principles of this practice dovetail with my experience of Zen, offering whole new ways to understand the mind-body connection. I look forward to sharing more on that in the future.

Here are my favorite tidbits from each day of the training. Some are distillations of my own experience of the day. Others are the principles of the practice shared by our trainer, Aliza Stewart.

Day 1
In Feldenkrais there are 2 answers to everything:
1. The pelvis
2. It depends

Day 2
Attention changes everything.

Day 3
Movement is the first thing you ever learned.

Day 4
Every thought has a muscular configuration. Think about that for a minute.

Day 5
There is nothing that warrants certainty. Except maybe this statement?!

Day 6
When tired, rest.

Day 7
We arrange ourselves to accommodate our limitations.

Day 8
From a TEDx talk by computer scientist Dorit Aharonov:
1. Start within your comfort zone and make it even more comfortable.
2. Pick a challenge within your reach.
3. Move away from your desired place and come back to it through different angles.
4. Play with it, connect it to other things you know, make it your own.

Day 9
Even God did one thing at a time and then took a rest when he finished.

Day 10
Differentiation (feeling differences) is the key to integration (feeling whole).