Here’s Peggy Z. Protz, Feldenkrais teacher and Pilates instructor, talking about how Feldenkrais improved her pilates practice. What do you think – let me know in the comments section!

Throughout my whole life, it seems as if I have been on a mission to improve myself. I started dancing when I was five years old and continued professional training throughout high school and college. I worked hard at it–always in the studio–stretching, bending, and practicing. I was stumped, however, at how technique came so easily to those who seemed to never work hard.

In college, I discovered Pilates. It was 1989 in New York and my college had one of only a few Pilates studios in the New York City area at the time. Now, I’m sure, there are hundreds. I was attracted to the innovative machines and whole body philosophy. I thought this could be the answer to my quest for physical perfection. I was around the studio so much that I soon became an instructor and found myself teaching professional Broadway dancers, who were sometimes twice my age.

I was still far from satisfied with my own abilities, however. Various aches, pains, and stiffness led me to try any other technique or modality that promised relief. By this time I was in Seattle and was attending an Awareness Through Movement class. I was intrigued by how these often slow, small, and subtle movements not only offered relief from chronic tensions, but also gave me a feeling of integration and wholeness, that perhaps was what I was looking for.

I joined a four-year Feldenkrais® training in 1998. We met three times per year for 2- to 3-week intensive segments. After one particular segment, I was trying out some familiar Pilates moves on the “High Barrel.” I was performing a “swan dive,” a significant back bending movement where the goal is to touch and possibly walk down the wall behind you with your fingers. Back bending had never been easy for me and usually I would experience a level of resistance that I would have to push past before touching the wall. This time I practically bruised my fingers slamming swiftly and effortlessly into the wall!

What had happened? I hadn’t practiced this move in months. Did I suddenly become Superwoman? Something was different. I felt more alive and integrated, yes, but after further reflection I realized that I could explain it another way. I was no longer working against myself. My intention to bend backwards did not have to fight against parts of me that had previously refused to bend. Other Pilates moves also felt more graceful and effortless—all without excessive work or practice!

My mission continues, but my experience with theFeldenkrais Method has changed my perspective. I have learned that more practice and hard work does not guarantee improvement. The Feldenkrais lessons offer me increased awareness and the opportunity to perceive myself moving with greater ease and elegance. This is something repetitive practice cannot provide. It may, in fact, be the essence of the perfection I seek.

Source: North American Feldenkrais Guild

• Australian Health Managment
• Australian Country Health
• BetterHealth Cover
• Illawara Health Fund
• Senior Advantage
• Australian Unity Health Ltd
• CBHS Friendly Society Limited
• Credicare
• Grand United Corporate Health
• HBA
• HBF (physios only)
• Health Care Insurance Ltd
• Health Partners Inc
• MBF (BUPA)
• Medibank Private (to be confirmed)
• Mutual Community
• NRMA Health Pty Ltd
• Peoplecare Health Insurance
• Reserve Bank Health Society Ltd
• SGIC Health
• SGIO Health
• Teachers Federation

It should also be pointed out that other funds may be eligible. Please contact me for more details

True or False

Feldenkrais is exercise?

Yes and no.

Depending on your perspective, the answer for this one can be true OR false. Let me explain. It’s ‘false’, in so much that the intention of Feldenkrais isn’t to give you a killer workout – at least not in the way we commonly think about such things. On the other hand, it’s ‘true’ in that Feldenkrais ‘Exercises’ (actually called Awareness Through Movement Lessons) do provided a graded, progressive experience in which the person is challenged to adapt to circumstances. The outcome is often more power, grace and fluidity.

So, how is this paradox explained?

At it’s simplest, Feldenkrais is about adapting to the environment in such a way as to increase your ability to ‘hang out’ in challenging circumstances.

For a person who has poor balance, this can mean finding a way to progress from a rigid, protective stability (usually, that includes bracing, limping, guarding or pain) to graceful and dynamic motion.

On the other hand, for someone with body image issues, this could mean getting to progressively know and like yourself while developing trust in your own abilities.

And for an athlete, this could mean “how can I perform better without wrecking myself? How can I get the edge on the competition?”.

In each of these three examples, the individual develops more ability (the kind of results we associate with exercise) but by engaging with and exploring novel movement experiments (unlike set exercise routines).

Feldenkrais is gentle, easy and….boring?

That one is false all around.

While Feldenkrais has a reputation for being gentle, it’s in no way unlively. Bear in mind that Moshe Feldenkrais (the originator of the method) was a judoka, engineer, soccer enthusiast and soldier. This was not a man who could be considered a ‘hothouse flower’, in fear of breaking a sweat.  Nor was he someone to sit around and sing Kumbaya whilst navel gazing!

Feldenkrais was a do-er, and his method reflects that.

So why the disconnect?

The lessons are done gently for two reasons. The first reason is familar to anyone who has used a cheap mobile phone. Excess, incorrect effort causes ‘noise’. Noise scrambles the message. The end result is frustration instead of clarity.

The second reason is – if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. Simple, right? Yet we all sometimes insist on banging our heads against a brick wall (click)

In other words, the slow, gentle pace gives folks a chance to explore and become aware of alternatives that would not have otherwise occurred to them. After all, if you want different results, you have to act differently.

Does this mean that Feldenkrais teaches folks to be limp noodles? Hardly. Recall that Feldenkrais himself came from a tradition of action and intellect. There are many lessons that are powerful, potent and acrobatic. They require just as much concentration (and movement) as sport – but they are done in such a way as to promote ability and self development, not just sweat or competition.

Is it boring? That depends. Do you find yourself, how you interact with the world and your life boring? I sure hope not!

One final point here: many years ago, I recall a discussion with Dr Mel Siff (who sadly died some time ago). Dr Siff was (and is) a recognized authority on exercise, rehabilitation and sport training. If you search the Supertraining yahoo group, you’ll see that Mel Siff gave Feldenkrais two thumbs up. This from a man who wasn’t affraid to call a spade a spade (while you’re there, check out what he had to say about the ‘core’ craze and some of the more interesting exercise trends. His book – Facts and Fallacies of Fitness is also worth a look).

So, do I exercise or do Feldenkrais?

Both! Doing Feldenkrais lessons / exercises will enrich you experience, ability and give you new insight into whatever you love to do. Want to run faster? Lift more? Improve you golf, tennis or swimming? The answer may very well be Feldenkrais.

Brad Spence from Irene Gutteridge on Vimeo.

Dorko’s Desk

Musings on the human-ess of therapy and how science and art interact in healing. Some great stuff on neuroscience, pain, learning and deep models of understanding, from a guy who abhors woo-woo.

Everyday Systems

It took a librarian – of all people – to come up with one of the cleverest diet and exercise ideas that I’ve seen in a while. The reason I like Reinhard’s stuff is that by focusing on psychology and habit, he nicely simplifies what can otherwise be overwhelming. His entire exercise and diet manifesto can be summarized in 14 words!

Feldenkrais Research Archive

As I mention in my very first post, Feldenkrais not only has a sound theoretical basis but also a growing body of scientific literature to support it. I hope to one day add my own (for the curious, my interest are:  movement sonification – that is, the use of sound as a channel for feedback / feedforward – and EMG (electromyogram) profiles of skilled vs novice performers. Basically, think of when Neo ‘learns kung fu’, but without needing to install a socket into your skull)

Full Recall Software

Flash card software that uses a clever and easily visualized AI algorithm to help you learn stuff. If you ever wanted to install Google Analytics into your brain, then this is it. Easy to use, intuitive interface and scientifically sound approach (google spaced repetition) to remembering things indefinitely. This little doo-dad was pretty much *the* reason I passed first year biomechanics and anatomy (*shudder*)

The Art of Non-Conformity

One man’s approach to living a meaningful life. Lots of great ideas on work, personal freedom, travel and finding meaning. All without being sappy or glib. Win!

TED talks

TED’s mission statement? ‘Ideas worth spreading’. It’s impact? Profound and bountiful brain food. Visit this site and watch even 10 mins on any topic. Your brain will thank you. Whether your into high tech or high thought, TED is the place to hear and see experts in the field discussing it. Some of my favourites include Brain Magic (on how perception can be fooled with) and 6 ways mushrooms can save the world.

One of my favourite Feldenkrais aphorisms is “The only thing permanent about our behavior is the belief that it is so”. It’s interesting to think about this process and how the Feldenkrais Method goes about addressing it.

Change is a process of discovery and adaptation. The actual change – from A to B, from this to that, is very rapid. Actually, it happens the instant a threshold is reached. Why? Because people inherently seek a state of ability and empowerment. And as soon as you know how – and give yourself *permission to* – change occurs.

But the build up to that threshold – the ‘leg work’ – takes time.

Let’s take a look at an example. Here’s Perth’s Shuan Hern Lee, a recent contestant on “Australia’s Got Talent”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-1yplwvd6s
Shuan – who by any measure is an *outstanding* pianist, is 7 years old. Seven. Putting aside precociousness and ‘he was just born that way’, what do you suppose Shuan’s secret is?

It’s actually very simple. The secret is…. multiple, playful iterations of an experience, each slightly different, until a whole pattern emerges. Again and again and again. Until, one day, you’re on Australia’s Got Talent leaving audiences gawking with wonder.

This is exactly the process of learning you encounter within the Feldenkrais method. Multiple, novel iteration of an idea that sneak up on you, until – seemingly by magic – you can do something that previously seemed impossible. It surprises you and others, just like a 7 year old blasting out a perfect Rachmaninov.

Notice the words ‘multiple, novel iterations’ though. Trying to brute force a solution, by doing the same thing over and over and over will not help you reach ‘change threshold’. There’s just not enough ‘juice’ for the brain in the same piece of worn out chewing gum. An neither will following some rote metric: “Today I will practice the piano for 45 minutes. Tomorrow, 65. The next day, 90″. Change isn’t just about ‘time in service’ – that’s mediocrity. Growth is about attention, variation and play.

In our world, it’s very easy to look at the end product and with wistful sigh mutter ‘gee, I wish I could do that’. Gee, I wish my back didn’t hurt. Gee I wish I could dance, throw a ball, solve an equation, walk up a flight of stairs, make a soufflé, get rid of my neck pain, relearn to walk.

But instead of starting with ‘Gee, I wish I could…’, what if you approached it as an engineer, like Feldenkrais, might?

“Hmm…how could I…”

It’s this ‘how could I?” that’s at the heart of the Feldenkrais Method. “How could I” allows for making mistakes, exploring and making your own way. It allows for ownership.

Want things to be different? Figure out a way to act differently. Not on the basis of wishful thinking or rah rah optimism. Nor by doing the same thing over and over and expecting a miracle. Instead, change happens when we play with the environment and the way we are in it. Then you too can ‘make the impossible possible’.

Want to know more? Feel free to contact me directly

And – like raising a baby – everyone but the parents can be blinded by the fact that…dang it…the kid is ugly.

So, in an effort to avoid raising a little monster I adore but others want to kick, I’m going to make a special offer.

Starting from today (May 7th, 2010) and running for one month (June 7th, 2010), I’m inviting honest feedback on site layout, looks, readability. What do you like? What do you hate? What could be better? All you have to do is either email me or post something substantial and specific (at least a paragraph or two) to enter.

In return, I’m offering one free Functional Integration session (for those local to Perth) or one free, specifically tailored Awareness Through Movement Mp3 (world wide) to the winners. Your choice.  This offer is open to the first five (5) winning entrants, to be announced on the 7th of June.  I will notify winning entries and update this post as and when it occurs.

So if I give you this bunny, you'll give me all those plants? Sweet deal

Wanna improve your golf swing? Run better? Get rid of aches and pains that are bothering you every time you get up? Sing with more clarity? Or just wish you could sit more comfortably at your PC? Then drop me a line.

That right. 1 free hour – specifically tailored to you and your needs – for quality and intelligent feedback on this site. Fair trade? Then get reviewing!

While I’ve not been posting, I *have* been attentive to traffic ebb and flow. I took at look at the data and found some fun stats.

A few dozen folk have found this page by searching for feldon krist exercises or feldonkrist therapy perth. As I’ll discuss in depth in a future post, Feldenkrais is a educational approach with therapeutic effects, rather then a therapy. But more on that later.

A few folks got here by searching for yoga + feldenkrais + perth. Yoga is a special interest topic of mine so expect a post on that at some stage. There are certain commonalities between the two, as well as some profound differences, that could make for an interesting post/discussion. (By the way, check out Mark Singleton’s provocative and controversial book, Yoga Body as well as the documentary Enlighten Up! No, those aren’t affiliate links, so I don’t get dime out of your clicks)

The last interesting category of visitors are those who type +feldenkrais +skeptic or +feldenkrais +not +for +everyone

It’s this category that I would like to address today.

If you remember Seinfeld (and likely you do – it was one of the seminal sitcoms of the 90′s), then you’ll remember ‘The Soup Nazi’. With a reputation of extreme strictness (and the best soup in town), the Soup Nazi could – with a word – send you into gustatory heaven or hell (“No soup for you! Come back one year!”). Whilst I doubt anyone would turn away a potential student/client based on whether they chatted in line, it might be useful to consider some ‘No Soup’ scenarios.

If you’re expecting a panacea, no soup for you
Feldenkrais is a fantastic way of working with people to help them get better at what’s important to them. (Recently for example, I helped a woman walk her first tentative steps without a cane after years of knee troubles). But, whilst Feldenkrais can help a lot of folk, at the end of the day, it *isn’t* for everyone. Nothing really is. Feldenkrais requires an honest and open interaction between two parties to generate a learning environment.

If you’re expecting ‘crystal healing’, no soup for you

Change is a complex process and involves multiple, overlapping domains. While Feldenkrais was very interested in mental / emotional / physical interplay (check out The Potent self), it’s important to remember that Moshe was an engineer / physicist. As such, Feldenkrais was somewhat allergic to the more speculative ideas embraced by others.

Is there anything ‘wrong’ with crystal healing? Not at all. If two consenting parties wish to engage in it, then have at it. On the other hand, if you come expecting crystal healing, chakra rebalancing or angel communion, then no soup for you. It’s just not my area of expertise.

If you’re expecting ‘rack em, crack em’, no soup for you

Feldenkrais is not something that is done to you. Rather it’s something that’s done *with* you. If you’re not present / in the room – or at least curious – then we’re wasting each others time. No soup for you.

Does this mean Feldenkrais doesn’t address pain, sporting injuries, chronic ailments, disability etc? Not at all. As the (soon to be publicly released) Australian Health Fund document shows, Feldenkrais has positive impact on a host of conditions (such as pain management, balance and co-ordination, aged care, back care, neurological and musculoskeletal disorders, TMJ, rehabilitation etc) along with strong scientific evidence (RCT) to support it utility.

Simply put, Feldenkrais is an interactive process between two people, leading to greater outcome then by one person alone. Here’s a good case study -

Accidentally on Purpose

Hopefully, this goes part way towards addressing some of your questions. Leave a comment to let me know what you think!

(next time, we’ll talk about surviving air travel and beating jet lag – topics all too close to my heart!)

A while ago, a friend – who thought to get the better of me – forwarded an email with the comment  ‘Yeah, you’re so smart, smart guy? Bet you can’t figure out a way to do this!’

Now normally, I – like you – just roll my eyes and get on with my day. But something in the tone in this piece of spam intrigued me. It was so earnest. It was so definite. And it was so…final.

This is hysterical. You have to try this. It is absolutely true. I guess there are some things that the brain cannot handle.

HOW SMART IS YOUR RIGHT FOOT?

You have to try this please, it takes 2 seconds. I could not believe this! It is from an orthopaedic surgeon………… This will confuse your mind and you will keep trying over and over again to see if you can outsmart your foot, but, you can’t. It is pre-programmed in your brain!

1. While sitting at your desk in front of your computer, take your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.

2. Now, while doing this, draw an anti-clockwise circle in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction!

I told you so! And there’s nothing you can do about it! You and I both know how stupid it is, but before the day is done you are going to try it again, if you’ve not already done so.

Send it to your friends to frustrate them too

Like Marty Mcfly, I never could resist a challenge (heck, this one doesn’t even involve crashing Doc Brown’s time traveling Delorian).

So, here’s my attempt at this “impossible”, “nothing you can do about it” hand and foot circle.

Hand and foot circles

Sure, it’s not perfect….but as you can see, it’s not impossible either. Can you figure out how to do it? I did something very interesting… very sneaky….and very Feldenkrais. Try to figure it out yourself. I’ll reveal ‘the secret’ (whoo!) in a future post…and show you how you can use it to make all sorts of impossible things a little bit more possible

Gardening is amongst humanity’s oldest endeavours, probably beginning not long after Grok hit Urk over the head with a rock. Certainly ornamental gardens, such as those found in ancient Rome and Babylon, have been dated as being at least 4000 years old, and gardening for food goes back into pre-history.

Old school gardening

But this isn’t a story about gardens. This is a story about the act of gardening.

Ouch!

Before we became engineers, lawyers, teachers, housewives or a myriad of other things, many of us found joy in the simple act digging in the dirt. And many of us still do. However, pain, fatigue and uncooperative bodies can mean we are often left fighting against the things we love.

The numbers are sobering. According to a 1999 survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the ‘average’ 40-65 year old spends up to 15-20 minutes per day on ‘outdoor activities’, including gardening. A similar survey conducted in America in 2001 identified 43 million people, between the ages of 25 and 45, who thought of themselves as ‘avid’ gardeners. That equates to roughly 1 in 10 people who consider themselves as keen green-thumbs. If those statistics makes your eyes glaze over, you can intuit something like them yourself – walk into any bookstore and observe the shelf space allocated to gardening tomes. The volume and variety of gardening books is impressive.

One thing that might be more difficult to visualize is just how many people are dealing with chronic pain. People can often feel alone in their struggle but according to websites like www.pain.com and www.nimh.nih.gov, between 8.7% and 11% of all people have chronic, ongoing pain, with those who are older and likely to indulge in more physical pursuits (like gardening) being in the upper bracket.

With all the material on gardening, it seems strange that so little is said about how to enjoy gardening without getting into pain and using unnecessary effort. One way to begin the investigation in reversing this trend is to consider what we mean by ‘work’. What is work? Does work necessarily mean ‘pain’, or can it mean something else? Physics tells us that work is the product of force times displacement. Notice however that ‘effort’ doesn’t enter into the equation. One can do a tremendous amount of ‘work’ without wasted efforts. Consider the graceful ballerina, the powerful golfer or the smooth, elegant stride of an African woman carrying a basket on her head: lots of work being done, but somehow oddly ‘effortless’? How can this be?

Work vs effort

To think in this way makes us begin to ponder the difference between ‘effective’ and ‘efficient’. It may, for example, be effective to bend over, grab the wheelbarrow handles and lift them, then use our arms to push from point A to B. However, is it the most efficient application of force we can apply? How much of our force in this manner goes towards fighting the wheelbarrow and how much goes towards pushing it forward? What difference would it make if you straightened your arms, bent your knees slightly, kept your center low to the ground and then simply walked forward, allowing your skeleton do the ‘work’ instead of your upper body? Perhaps such a thing could help make ‘work’ more efficient without effort?

Typically, when we perceive resistance and the need for work (a topic that could fill an entire article by itself), we up our efforts – pushing harder. Sometimes that works. Other times, it’s a little like trying to fire a cannon out of a canoe. Knowing which strategy to employ when can make all the difference between frustration and pain or pleasure and success.

Learn to garden well and reap the benefits!

The fruits of working well

Scams ahoy?

Welcome to the first blog post! I hope you’ll join me as we wind our way through interesting news and ideas on action, perception, sensation and cognition.

Today I want to talk a little bit about what Feldenkrais is….and isn’t.

Hint: not this

To begin with, some preamble.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Health and Wellness are big business. Big, big business. Even factoring out mainstream health care,  a 2005 survey conducted by the National Marketing Institute identified  ‘Health’ and ‘Wellness’ as a U$79 Billion market. Five years on, some estimate that number to be as high as U$200 Billion.

Unfortunately, that much money floating around will attract its fair share of hucksters and frauds. Or as PT Barnum use to say ‘There’s a sucker born every minute’

Energizing, moisturizing, tantalizing, romanticizing, sur-prising tonic!

(Kooky side note: Moshe Feldenkrais worked with Madam Curie on the discovery of Radium. Pretty sure he didn’t drink the stuff though).

Now as then, the best protection against getting taken for a ride is knowledge. The opposite of knowledge is ignorance – a spectrum that swings from ‘true believers’ to intractable skeptics. Don’t get me wrong – skepticism is great; but when the weight of accumulated evidence clearly points in a direction, it’s folly to keep insisting that the earth is flat.

Earth - not flat

Because ‘Health’ is such big business, it’s understandable to be skeptical about something ‘new’ and relatively unheard of, like the Feldenkrais method.

With that in mind, the following reply on a skeptics’ site puts a smile on my face.

Poster 1: Feldenkrais concluded the brain continues to develop throughout life and retains the ability to relearn. His findings have been confirmed by research in neuroscience.

Poster 2: Uh, no. No they haven’t.

Poster 3: Uh, Yeah, they have. Take a look at what Moshe Feldenkris wrote in “Body and Mature Behaviour” (written circa 1945) and other books and then compare it to the below -

What follows are dozens of links to current research (in neuroscience and developmental theory) that match verbatim with what Feldenkrais wrote  65 years ago. You can read the full post here -

http://tinyurl.com/lsfc9m

The moral of the story? Neither blind faith nor blind skepticism are the best approach. Instead – use the best information at hand to make the correct decision for yourself. Because ultimately, you’re all you’ve got.