My experience has been through a few horseback riding "courses" and we're specifically designed to help a rider be aware of imbalance in their own body which would imbalance the horse. I don't currently have a horse or ride, but once upon a long long ago I did, so the course was interesting, and I tried the exercises. My surmise is that it would require a very alert professional trainer to notice all the various tensions and know which needed primary attention and even which primary attention would be most helpful. Trainers also need a selection of approaches because very little is "one exercise to rule them all".
Feldenkrais teacher here👋. First of all congrats on this video. Very good examples and explanations. I‘d like to share a few thoughts. I think many people who have some kind of pain, have it because of bad movement and posture patterns. Feldenkrais can help you change that. Your take on muscle strength is spot on. If your muscles become weak, other muscles do the work which would be less functional. You are a very skilled movement practitioner (probably more skilled than 99,9% of Feldenkrais teachers) and so I can understand that you were not blown away by your Feldenkrais sessions😉. I experienced my favorite Feldenkrais moments when I was trying to improve difficult movements and positions like the headstand. So if you ever happen to take another Feldenkrais Session, think about an advanced movement that you cannot do yet and ask your practitioner to help you achieve it. Kind Regards
I have done a lot of Feldenkrais and I really love how I feel during and afterwards. It takes me right out of my overactive and obsessive thinking and brings me back into my body. Now in my mid seventies, I have no joint or muscle pain at all and I think Feldenkrais has really helped me avoid all that. And no, it does not build muscle but it does help with alignment and freedom of motion. That's my experience with it.
So I am a Feldenkrais Practitioner for the last 30 years and I’m an avid athlete. I compete and I have not lost any muscle mass. I don’t do any strength training. Feldenkrais IS NOT about. “RELAXING “ muscles. One part of Feldenkrais is learning about how you inhibit contractions patterns of muscles and groups of muscles, which I believe you conflate with relaxing. It is also about learning to use the appropriate muscles that you haven’t been using or contracting ones that not been contracting well, even stronger. you can only do this by having a sensory feedback loop allowing the nervous system to recognize the in efficiency. To be able to recognize this, you have to one, slow the movements down, and two reduce the effort so the coordination of those muscles relating to a movement patterns turns into a more coordinated effort.That is why Ron Guidry, who was 165lbs dripping wet ( old NY Yankees pitcher) could throw a baseball 95 mph, Feldenkrais allows people to improve the coordination of their intentions. You can’t do that by doing the old pattern of strength training over and over and over again. That’s Einstein’s theory of insanity and I for one who founded not helpful. So it is HOW you strengthen train that is important and learning how the coordination of that training helps you in whatever your intentions are. There is much more to say but so the sake of this platform I hope. This helps Rich Goldsand Guild Certified Practitioner
My partner paid for me to have five sessions after a hip injury. Five sessions of someone gently touching and slightly moving me, occasionally. Imagine my surprise when it did absolutely nothing to help. The professionally qualified physiotherapist I visited afterwards, however...
@@MrPlannery I’m not sure your point, did your partner feel better? I hope so. Does that take away from the effectiveness or methodology of the Feldenkrais method? I don’t believe it does. unfortunately, I didn’t hear much back from the author of the video about my comment and I didn’t hear you say anything about what my comment stated. Do you agree? Disagree is so how I’m interested in learning.
@@kueichenglee7583 What are you thanking me for? It. Might be that you were not prepared to answer the questions that came back to you or comment on the responses you received..let me know if you have either
There are many misunderstandings about what the Feldenkrais Method is and is not. The Feldenkrais Method is not about awareness. The term "Awareness Through Movement" for the group classes suggests that it's all about awareness. It's only one ingredient but not the main. The Feldenkrais Method is more about learning. It's about "Improving skills and abilities". That was the original name Feldenkrais used to name his classes in Hebrew. Motor learning science makes clear that learning is about task-space formation, task-space exploration, task-space (de-)composition and task-space differentiation. (which is of course not possible without some awareness.) The Feldenkrais Method is not about relaxation. It's about better movement organization, better coordination. Because many people are not very well organized and use too much force for simple every day tasks they feel more relaxed after a Feldenkrais class. But I've done Feldenkrais classes where I felt stronger afterwards! And I've done resistence training where I could feel how my bones spontaneously aligned for better support : better coordination! The Feldenkrais Method is not for integrating "more movement" into your life. Doing Feldenkrais only and spend the rest of your life on the couch is not a good idea! Go for walks, swim, dance, run, work daily in your garden, do resistance training.... whatever you like and enjoy. If you ADD Feldenkrais to that practice, you might experience more progress and maybe even more fun when moving. I'm a Feldenkrais Practitioner and am often upset how the complexity of that Method is overwhelming even my professional colleagues. And by reducing this complexity to some simple concepts you loose the essence. The Feldenkrais Method is about flexible minds not about flexible bodies!
If I had to choose only one thing to make my life better, it would be Feldenkrais - it has changed my life, and continues to. Notwithstanding Wikipedia telling me to ignore my own experience because there are not double blind studies or some shit.
I agree. Thank you for saying this " ignore my own experience because there are not double blind studies or some shit". People want to justify their own skepticism. Can you image how this would turn the medical industry on its head. Of course no one is funding this study.
I agree. Problem with Wikipedia is, anybody can go and edit it. On the other hand, the good thing with Wikipedia is, anybody can go and edit it. So I think when we notice a page that spouts rubbish, we can go and input our own real life experience. Even if "scientists" think it has no value - which is frankly absurd and NOT a scientific attitude AT ALL.
@@SKLightenUpNow This. I remember when science (and medicine) was about advancing humanity forward. Now it's about dogma and people feeling the need to justify their existence/degrees and fear that much of what they spent their life learning and basing their identity might be wrong.
@@thealignedalchemist Actually the history of science shows that paradigm shifts exist precisely because dogma sets in and there will always be inevitable resistance to change.
Feldenkrais was actually a nuclear physicist who got his PhD in the lab of Irene and Pierre Joliot-Curie. He came up with the technique after he injured his knee doing judo (which he helped introduce in France) and needed to manage walking on slippery ship decks while doing sonar research with the British during WW2. His mother once joked that he could have won a Nobel prize, but he became a massage therapist instead. He worked with stroke patients, people with cerebral palsy (which is a brain problem, not a muscle one), and even one extraordinary case of a woman who was born missing a third of her brain. However people make thousands of dollars through teaching feldenkrais sessions now, he was no film-flam artist, he was a neuroscientist before the term was invented.
@@subplantant "Accordingly in 2017 the Australian government identified the Feldenkrais Method as a practice that would not qualify for insurance subsidy, saying this step would "ensure taxpayer funds are expended appropriately and not directed to therapies lacking evidence" The Feldenkrais Method is promoted with anecdotal claims it can help children with autism and other developmental disorders, but such claims are not backed by reputable supporting evidence. There is limited evidence that workplace-based use of the Feldenkrais Method may help aid rehabilitation of people with upper limb complaints. David Gorski has written that the Method bears similarities to faith healing, is like "glorified yoga", and that it "borders on quackery". Quackwatch places the Feldenkrais Method on its list of "Unnaturalistic methods". I think that method is just about a basic part of existence, awareness and paying attention to oneself. Something that many people can do naturally, but others forget to do. Relaxation, yoga, qiqong, many ancient methods take these realities into account...
I observed a client use the basic beginning exercises presented in the book published by Alfons Grabher “Getting Better Day by Day” straighten her spine in ten weeks of twenty minutes of daily Feldenkrais practice. She has before and after X-rays. Her spine was like a DOUBLE mark of Zorro. Her surgeon told her that she was beyond surgery with a collapsed spine. It was too late to help her. Feldenkrais worked for her, and I charged her nothing. Your emphasis on “awareness” is complete crap and a total misunderstanding of Feldenkrais.
I have been doing somatic movement almost every morning for about 3.5 years now. It does not substitute for strength training, but it’s my foundational movement practice. I do it every day because it deliciously resets my body and if I miss a day I am more prone to drift back into compensatory movement patterns from my prior injuries. My experience is different than you describe. I don’t focus on muscle action, I don’t try to fix anything. I notice how various parts of myself react to movements and my relationship to gravity. Am I holding tension that prevents my body from reacting as an interconnected whole? I let my much smarter subconscious brain figure out which muscles need to work and/or relax. A session of Somatics effortlessly hits the RESET button like nothing else. Without conscious effort I get much closer to “neutral”, a much happier place for my body to do things like strength training. And it doesn’t cost me thousands. Most of what I know of Feldenkrais I learned for free from Alfons on the UA-cam channel Improving Ability. My typical Feldenkrais AHA is doing simple but unusual movements that unlock my brain-body connection in an unexpected way, like side bending on my belly unlocks my shoulder? Huh? It was Feldenkrais that restored my full range of motion after frozen shoulder syndrome when years of many other exercise and healing modalities failed. I also do Hanna Somatics. I took a 6-week online course with Martha Peterson of Essential Somatics that really started my daily practice. Plus my own somatic exploration. It was taking the Hanna Somatics course and doing the many lessons on the Improving Ability channel that taught me how to tap into my somatic intuition. Like any skill it takes regular practice to improve. After almost 4 years I feel like I’m just now beginning to really “get it”. It’s not for everybody. In my experience, for Somatics to work takes slowing down - way, way, down. Most of us are trained to bang out 3 sets of 15. I had to get out of that mindset before Somatics could work its magic on me. But I am grateful every day that I made the transition.
Hi Tracy, i have a question - Do you prefer feldenkrais or hanna somatics? I am during Hanna Somatics currently (just started), and have never done feldenkrais. Wanted to know the difference between the two. I know Mr. Hanna worked with Feldenkrais himself for a time. I'm mostly doing this to unlock my body and help treat chronic stress/anxiety, along with improving my posture
@@infinitepossibilities337 I don’t prefer one over the other, they build on each other in my experience. Both have helped me, as you say unlock my body, and have been invaluable for my stress management and learning where my neutral is (key to posture IMO). Yes, Hanna studied with Feldenkrais so they’re similar but different, and play beautifully together. Feldenkrais lessons will focus on one movement pattern. You will do different movements in order to improve that lesson’s focus (which is sometimes a surprise - oh! THIS is where we’ve been heading the whole time!), and it does reset my whole body, but it’s a deeper dive into improving one particular movement. Whereas Hanna has a set sequence of a limited number of movements/“exercises”. I love Feldenkrais but I wanted a somatic sequence I could do every day and Feldenkrais is just not designed for that. The repertoire of lessons that Mr. Feldenkrais created is huge and wide-ranging and the practice is welcoming of improvisation - which is fantastic. But. I’m not a trained Feldenkrais teacher, I’m only a student, so I couldn’t wrap my head around how to start building it into a regular practice. It was learning the Hanna sequence (from an online course I took with Essential Somatics) that got me to build my daily practice. Once I had that framework I could sprinkle in Feldenkrais nuggets to deepen the experience. I do full Feldenkrais lessons with Alfons on the youtube channel Improving Ability - highly recommended. Feldenkrais is what really got me to experience my relationship to gravity, and my body’s relationship to itself. And it’s given me the tools to listen to what my body needs and to improvise on my own and, perhaps most importantly, how to S-L-O-W D-O-W-N. And all of that has improved my Hanna practice. Lastly, I love the integration of the body’s natural stretch reflex into the Hanna repertoire. Pandiculation is how nature designed us to stretch IMO. So I’d say start with Hanna, learn his very efficient whole body reset sequence. But also experience the sometimes surprising exploration of Feldenkrais. Enjoy the ride!
This is an oversimplified explanation of a complex method. Feldenkrais is about MORE than the two words you repeated throughout your video. It is more than “awareness and relaxation “. What it CAN do is improve HOW you do what you do. It’s more about movement efficiency than relaxation and awareness. Awareness is the primary tool. A full experience with a broader scope of THOUSANDS of available lessons would inform you of more of how strength is built from organized movement. The depth of these lessons would educate you to the fact that we are NOT just lying around on the floor in an ongoing state of atrophy. For your consumers, it takes more than an introductory class to give you a full sense of what The Method has to offer.
I danced ballet for over a decade when I was young. Constantly using mirrors to correct body positions: exercising both sides equally... rules I never forgot. I'm 70 now, retired to a small rural property. Pastures & woodlands with gardens, orchards, goats, chickens, ducks & rescued cats/dogs. I still check my body's symmetry & get plenty of exercise, eat well & love my simple life.
to be focused on symmetry and looking at oneself in the mirror is very common for dancers and it's the opposite of what Feldenkrais method is about. Feldenkrais method focuses on how the movement feels to you and looking to improve quality of movement (ease, speed, strength) not the way it looks. Focus on symmetry/looks leads to correcting anything that does not match desired shape, and corrective adjustments don't integrate fully into daily life, because they don't emerge from experience, but from an idea of what movement should look like. Nothing is wrong with either choice, I just feel it's important to make a distinction. It is also possible to blend the two approaches.
@@IgorShteynberg Yes, it's a game-changer to be able to rely on what you feel of your body from the inside, rather than depending on something external like a mirror. Also to use sensation of ease as a measuring stick, rather than forcing oneself into symmetry.
Looking in a mirror is very helpful to me to get feedback about where I am positioning my shoulders & other joints. I have absolutely no sense of where my body is located in space. I have a severe proprioception deficit. If I don’t watch every single move I make with my eyes, then I will bang into walls, knock things over, trip on the floor, etc. I have to touch objects as well as look at them. I’ve been told I should always walk with a cane because of this problem, but I don’t want to become dependent on it. I only use a cane in ice and snow. Feldenkrais helps me a lot, and mirrors help me when I’m exercising.
I have found Feldenkreis to be extremely helpful. I'm not drawn to bodybuilding approaches,especially now at age 75. I do some yoga along with Feldenkreis,some qi gong for the bones and joints(Lee Holden) and tai chi. Feldenkreis is certainly NOT a scam. I'll stick with Feldenkreis,despite this forceful advice.
Feldenkrais is not simply using relaxation and awareness (as you say) to create movement possibilities. It's using your nervous system, and your brain's ability to sense and feel differences of effort in a complex kinesthetic realm. When you learn/feel a newer easier movement pattern, new muscles fire automatically. The necessary muscles for more ideal movements can be strengthened over time through more organized integrated movement. Feldenkrais can definitely make you stronger! But you wouldn't know that, because you don't know anything about Feldenkrais!!! Also, strong muscles does not equal better posture or movement. Movement is created by the brain, not muscles. Muscles support the movement, but the movement is not made via muscles, it's made via intention, sensation, habit...While building strength is great and helpful, it's not a complex enough solution to most people's functional movement problems , and the field of somatics is way ahead of the curve in fleshing this out, especially Feldenkrais. And finally, Feldenkrais lessons are extremely affordable, often free, all over the internet, accessible to many bodies, abilities, ages… Why are you making an entire video evaluating a method about which you clearly know almost nothing? It's also extremely prejudiced/superficial to refer to the entire field of somatics as 'hippy' 'patchouli' stuff. Maybe it would be be better to not answer a question if you dont really know the answer, or not tell everybody else what you think of something you've done for a total of 3x. That would be like me telling everybody not to bother eating too much spinach, because I ate it 3x, and I didn't think it made a big enough difference.
Feldenkrais has helped me when other actions did not. Still it is not a panacea, rather an excellent tool in the toolbox of optimal health. Definitely has its place in my life. Well done with explanation of repetitive patterns and ways to make different neural connections.
Of course it's not a complete system. No one claimed for it to be. Of course you still need cardio and strength. But, if you're doing cardio and strength without awareness, good luck not getting injured. For me. I am a Hawaii Ironman finisher, my quads were huge and every PT told me to "engage your glutes". After making Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons part of a daily habit (free online lessons, by the way...not paying thousands of dollars). My glutes now engage (and I have a nicer booty), and my quads aren't so huge...because my muskoskeletal system reorganized. But, I do a ton of cardio and strength training that builds on my daily ATMs.
A. I mostly enjoyed this video. You clearly have a strong appreciation for strength and body awareness. It makes me curious about what you have to offer (this was my first time watching your content). Part of why I appreciated is the skepticism with which you approve this topic. B. That said, the snarky comments about hippies and patchouli -- feels cheap and dismissive. Just stick to the facts and offer your honest critique and you'll do a great job. I say this and I fully agree that a lot of the new "healing modalities" warrant strong skepticism. C. I don't think 2-3 official sessions is a sufficient range of experience to offer the very confident analysis that you deliver. I'm not suggesting that you/we shouldn't be skeptical, but many "experiential" modalities (hope that doesn't trigger a hippie comment!) require more investment and training to "click" and work for people. Yoga does wonders for me. But it only really started clicking for me in a deep way after 15 years of practicing on and off. Does that mean that you shouldn't offer an opinion after 2-3 sessions? No, but maybe a more qualified opinion would seem more balanced.
As someone with genuine hyper mobility issues, I find approaches like Alexander technique does help with my 'daily living'. Strangely, it actually helps to prevent you overthinking your movements - something people with these kind of conditions can get obsessive over. But it has to be coupled with strength and resistance training for a fully functioning 'me'. Personally , pilates is more beneficial to me than yoga due to the stability and strength focus, but I still incorporate elements of yoga where beneficial. Your approach of weakness masquerading as tightness has really helped as have videos of other practitioners. Crux of it is, one size rarely fits all and some people benefit more from a buffet of approaches opposed to a set menu. How's that for a food analogy 😜
Curious choice of title, topic, and angle. I wonder what brought you to that? For sure wasn’t an easy upload, I suppose. Great video quality and editing as always! Btw, all my Feldenkrais-inspired videos are free to watch.
very good point. Feldenkrais is only expensive if you are doing the professional training program. And if you compare it to the longterm costs it will save you by not needing the doctor so often and by being able to help your family members the money spent is totally worth it. Thank you for your work Alfons!
Feldenkraise has been part of giving me more mobility than I've ever had in my life at my late 40s. I have connective tissue disorder, still pinpointing through genetics, CPTSD. Between feldenkraise and yoga nidra I feel such better proprioception so balance, strength, less pain, less joints jamming which all helps my nervous system be less triggered.
Feldenkrais combined with upright health made me start walking again. Still have a long way to go, but the combination is mindblowing. I need both! Each one separately failed for me but together, I began doing stuff. I am 31 years old but had a bad situation 2 years ago and i lost the ability to move.. now i have hope.
The goal of Feldenkrais is Not The Awareness itself but Improving Ability and Refining Function. Feldenkrais lessons are part of the programs in professional dance schools, conservatories and also in training programs of athletes.
Yes, see the comment above by @brigitteheusser8274 5 months ago There are many misunderstandings about what the Feldenkrais Method is and is not. The Feldenkrais Method is not about awareness. The term "Awareness Through Movement" for the group classes suggests that it's all about awareness. It's only one ingredient but not the main. The Feldenkrais Method is more about learning. It's about "Improving skills and abilities". That was the original name Feldenkrais used to name his classes in Hebrew. (I won't copy the whole comment here, but it is well worth reading!)
As far as thousands of dollars go, it only cost around $15-$20 dollars/hr for an ATM (Awareness Through Movt) session, usually with up to maybe 10 other people. That's basically the same as yoga and Tai Chi rates. The FI (Functional Integration) sessions are one on one on the table with a practitioner which will cost similar to other private types of bodywork. By the way, Feldenkrais and Alexander Technique (especially AT) are taught at most major Drama and Music Conservatoriums around the world...ever wondered why classical musicians have such great posture for hours?
Right, and after a while, once you learn the sequences and what to sense as your do them, you can even do Feldenkrais lessons on your own at home for free! And for those times when you reach a plateau or need additional help recovering from the muscular aftereffects of an injury or illness, an occasional series of Feldenkrais Functional Integration sessions one on one with a practitioner can be super helpful. But of course, as Matt says in the video, Feldenkrais works best in combination with strengthening exercises and other physical activities. It is through a physically active lifestyle that you can really apply what you've learned in a Feldenkrais lesson and incorporate it for the long term.
@@scyuditsStrengthening exercises will also work better if you do not use un-necessary effort! I wrote this, then I saw the excellent comment by @flexible-mind below. @flexible-mind 5 months ago Of course it's not a complete system. No one claimed for it to be. Of course you still need cardio and strength. But, if you're doing cardio and strength without awareness, good luck not getting injured. For me. I am a Hawaii Ironman finisher, my quads were huge and every PT told me to "engage your glutes". After making Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons part of a daily habit (free online lessons, by the way...not paying thousands of dollars). My glutes now engage (and I have a nicer booty), and my quads aren't so huge...because my muskoskeletal system reorganized. But, I do a ton of cardio and strength training that builds on my daily ATMs.
Feldenkrais was a Jiu-jitsu/Judo pioneer in France during the 1930s. He had learned the basics and written a book on jiu-jitsu while fighting with the Jewish haganugh in British Palestine in the 1920s. He took the judo concept of 'maximum efficiency" and started applying it to all kinds of body movement and recovery since he had a knee injury that plagued him all his life- at the same time he was learning physics at the Sorbonne and had to flee France during WW 2. In England he trained home guard units, wrote a book on unarmed combat and worked in sonar research for the UK government.... So he was combining solid science with sophisticated movement to design his system which he was codifying by the 1950s. What in the world does this have to do with flaky hippy stuff from the late 1960s????
Sir, I have no idea why you felt the need to produce this video! Surely we humans are quite able to discover our own paths without listening to your comments, which I might say were bordering on sarcasm much of the time! I have found you unnecessarily rude about a genuine movement practice, that not only aids the physical but will also in time aide with the mental/emotional bodies. After ten years of doing Feldenkrais, earlier in those years in a class, more today from the generosity of practitioners doing videos for UA-cam, I feel able to say I have benefited 100% from learning this mode of movement.
It is a great misunderstanding that the Feldenkrais method is about relaxation. It might be a side effect of many of the lessons, but really it is about improving coordination and functionality. No one ever claimed that it is a replacement for sport or strengthening exercises. If you point out the importance of the latter, and there ist certainly a good reason to do so ( yes, and you will still also need to go to the toilet and to eat, no matter how much Feldenkrais you do), then do strengthening exercises in addition. The Feldenkrais method is a very good basis for doing it more efficiently and safely, because you will be able to make finer distinctions between movements that are good for you and those that will cause wear and tear. You will be able to do your exercises with a more balanced muscle tone and improved coordination of agonists and antagonists, so your muscles will interfere less with each other and instead will be trained more effectively, and you will be able to wake up sleepy muscles that are otherwise hard to control if you never learned how to address them. You can greatly benefit from the Feldenkrais method to achieve this.
Having gone through the 800 hr Feldenkrais training and a lifetime of chronic pain...i tried everything, but coudnt relax. it wasnt till the FM that i found relief and am almost painfree in my neck. I can now do your PT and build up my weak muscles. No one modality is right for every situation. I now can listen to my body & use qigong, Feldenkrais, Exercise, & body work to improve myself. I think Feldy is very effective for trauma & chronic pain since it calms the nervous system. I am so grateful i found the Method and also your wonderful Upright Health. Bravo🎉 Thank you.
i found your title ,”Is the FM a Scam” to be disrespectful. The way you framed the discussion in your blurb,”Is the Feldenkrais Method (FM) right for you?" is more appropriate and respectful. It is common for individuals who are not deeply familiar with a particular practice to compare it to what they know, as you did with personal training. However, it is important to understand that the Feldenkrais Method is unique and not directly comparable to personal training. In my observation, individuals in personal training often benefit more from their training if they have also been exposed to the principles and techniques of Feldenkrais work. Therefore, it is worth considering whether incorporating aspects of the Feldenkrais Method into personal training sessions can enhance the overall outcomes for individuals seeking to improve their physical well-being and movement patterns.
I learned about Feldenkrais 20 years ago but didn’t give it a serious try. Now in my early 80’s, it has my appreciation and attention. After a recent fall I found my muscles and nerves couldn’t communicate. I felt frozen in pain and anxieties. The program has been very helpful and my awareness gives me a good basis to begin a strengthening program.
Well, while Feldenkrais certainly does not belong to the hippie generation, he actually developed his method in the fifties and started training people in the sixties, so it coincided with the hippie era and was picked up enthusiastically by many from the hippie movement. Interestingly though, when he was young, he had learned Jiu Jitsu and Judo and integrated some of their movements into his method. He also developed some basic concepts of self-defence, which were integrated into what we know as Krav Maga today.
I don't think you have represented Feldenkrais properly. It is not just 'awareness and relaxation' .. as the lessons develop and you practice more, you find yourself getting stronger and better organised in a fully balanced way. There are approx 10,000 lessons challenging your habits, thoughts, attitudes to yourself and your environment and your movement. Also, it reminds you in every lesson that you are whole - one part of you affects and is affected by every other part of you. I have never anything better on offer anywhere.
0:00: 🤔 The video discusses the Feldenkrais Method and whether it is effective or a waste of money. 3:09: 🧠 The video discusses how mental shortcuts can be unreliable and lead to negative consequences. 6:45: 🧘 The speaker discusses their experience with feldenkrais and feldenkrais adjacent sessions, focusing on body movement and muscle usage. 9:48: 💪 Developing awareness of your body's position and state can be helpful, but addressing muscle atrophy and stiffness is necessary for overall health and energy. 12:45: 💪 Resistance training involves being aware of your body's sensations and cues to improve efficiency and cleanliness of movement. Recap by Tammy AI
I get Feldenkreis free as part of a pool membership. I'm 72, an MD, very aware of bone-muscle interaction. I've added Feldenkreis to my total regimen because of the ah-ha moment it gives almost every time. Each session starts with simple isolated movements...to which I invariably think...this is stupid...why am I here. By the end of the hour, everything has built one on top of the next...to the ah-ha where all the parts show the elements of a major movement. The biggie for me was the rolling to the side then to a sit. Simple? But fraught with potential to injury Thousands of bucks? No, find a UA-cam video
😅I saw Moshe Feldenkrais at age 80 throw Dennis Leri 30 feet through the air in a judo demonstration. Yes, he was strong. Many PTs became Feldenkrais trained because of the effectiveness of the method. No, it’s not a be all end all, but it has helped many people to function more pain free.
I am 64. I could never do push-ups before. I learnt it through Feldenkrais. You tried it a few times with an attitude. In general you missed the essence of the method that should be taught in schools to children in order to develop good movement patterns in physical and mind bodies.
Hi Matt, I love your work and get so much from it, and I absolutely believe that building and maintaining muscular strength are key to efficient movements. But in this case, I think it premature of you to do such a strident critique of Feldenkrais, using the frustrated/shocked voice you use to refer to many harmful orthopedic approaches, especially after having experienced just TWO sessions. I don't think you are fully grasping the Feldenkrais method, in fact, I believe you are setting up a straw horse and ignoring a ground-breaking and extremely powerful approach. The purpose of Feldenkrais is for more efficient muscles use, with less compensation patterns, leading to better alignment and less wear and tear on the body. It is also profoundly relaxing to the nervous system. In my case, it absolutely improved all of those areas, but in an innovative, gentle, and brilliant way. It has become an essential component of my healthy movement program. The Feldenkrais Awareness through Movement technique is certainly not the Be all and End all, and does not advocate, to my knowledge, that muscle-building activities are unnecessary and should be avoided. On the contrary, it helps prepare the body for more efficient and more aligned loading activities. Secondly, Feldenkrais is not just about awareness of specific muscles- on the contrary it is all about the entire body working in synergy. Thirdly, to assert Feldenkrais is about "relaxing" specific muscles reflects a poor understanding of this powerful method. The slow and tiny approach of Feldenkrais, while very foreign to those trained in 'exercise' approaches, achieves deep communication between the Brain and the muscles/tendons/joints, with very powerful, positive, whole-body effects on subconscious movement patterns. Personally, as one who was essentially crippled for over ten years, I have had HUGE benefits from Feldenkrais, both from one-time lessons and from regular practice. I strongly believe that if I had not practiced Feldenkais Awareness-through Movement audio or video lessons (which can be found for free on line, or purchased for a reasonable fee), complemented by hands-on Functional Integration sessions, that I would be in a wheel-chair today. Feldenkrais, along-side muscle strengthening activities, is a core component of my Better Movement program. I LOVE your approach and Channel, and I LOVE Feldenkrais, and consider them both essential and complementary. ( By the way, Hannah Somatics, and Bones for Life, both approaches developed by students of Feldenkrias, are also very powerful and effective approaches that are ALSO part of my movement practices.) In short, please don't embarrass yourself, or urge your subscribers to have a suspicious attitude toward Feldenkais, by coming out swinging on this one before you have a chance to explore the method in far more depth.
I'm not sure why you think I came out swinging on this. I specifically said it's worth trying but don't put all your eggs into the one basket. It can be quite powerful for some, but it won't build the strength you need to confidently handle all of life's challenges. Not sure if you watched the whole video?
@@Uprighthealth Yes I watched the whole thing but your tone sounded skeptical, dubious. I also think you show a poor grasp of the method, hence my comment about Straw Horse. I would suggest you go alot deeper into Feldenkrais before essentially warning people about it. Your title "Is Feldenkrais a SCAM?"seems pretty out there as well. How about something more like: "Is Feldenkrais worth trying?" My answer would be: Yes, absolutely it's very innovative, effective and powerful method, something everyone would get substantial benefit from, and extremely complementary to strength building activities which are also needed.
I think you've missed the point - Feldenkrais is not just about moving with awareness - and I don't think it claims to 'fix' you or work with your muscles. In my experience it's more oriented to working with bones and alignment, thinking of how your body works as a whole system and crucially offering options- new ways of moving to get you out of old patterns that are leading to aches and pain. Once you've taken those lessons on board you can do exercise without injuring yourself. I love how well grounded, balanced and ready for action I feel after doing Feldenkrais. There's also Bones For Life courses to ward off or deal with osteoporosis. I'm sure for some adding strength building exercise could be beneficial but that doesn't give you an excuse to slag off Feldenkrais as some hippy awareness practise rolling around on the floor. You're trying to compare chalk and cheese. Me thinks YOU would benefit from getting back to class and learning what it's really about.
@@Uprighthealth No! even though I agree, mostly, with you, you present Feldenkrais in an (underhand) slightly derogatory way. Probably not what you meant. Reading all the comments under your video will give you a better idea about what Feldenkrais is about and how it helped many people. Otherwise I like your UA-cam channel.
oh dear, you miss the whole point of this method, which is about neuroplasticity, movement patterns and body-mind work. Moreover, Feldenkrais is not meant to replace other kind of training
It is not from the hippie era… he developed his approach many years b4 hippie era by watching babies as they develop and move through typical developmental movement patterns. Awareness is first step of Changing your movement and postural patterns.
You have missed the main point of the method!!! Learning how to learn... Babies get strong enough to do what they wanna do because they are learning and regulating in this way... Think progressive overloading in the most organic way. Also the method claims nothing, unlike you 😉❤
Like you, I believed that we need to contract muscles to add resistance and strength, until 2003, when I was introduced to fascia, tensegrity and how everything connects to everything. There are no individual muscles, the body is not a biomechanical lever system. Fascia is the soft matter matrix, a web that is CONTINUOUS. It doesn't just wrap around muscles but interpenetrates. Muscle fibers (individual muscle cells) are held together by the fascial matrix. A mix of collagen, elastin and ground substance or extra-cellular matrix. It has a viscoelastic and auxetic property. Which means it expands to absorb shock. To optimise this shock-absorbing property fascia needs to be soft and supple. So we need suppleness, not resistance training as we age. Supple enough to go from standing to sitting on the floor with ease. Suppleness is the absence of stiffness and strain. Which is why movement is essential as we age. Movement does not have to be strenous. What we do need to consider is the person as whole not just the body as a mechanical structure. Tensegrity in biology is a great resource that helps us understand the difference between biomechanics, individual muscle model and biotensegrity, the soft matter (fascia) that shapes our structure as a whole. Biomechanics - The body is a set of levers moved by individual muscles and held upright like a column. 2-dimensional musculoskeletal. Compression model. Where you're working against the force of gravity Biotensgrity - our body is shaped into a pre-tensioned, energy efficient structure formed by soft matter (Fascial matrix). Independant of gravity. Force is transmitted throughout. When you move everything moves. Strain in one area affects the whole. Integrity - the absence of strain. Standing should feel effortless, with no need to fire any muscle or engage the core. The purpose of somatic movement practices like Feldenkrais is to calm the stress and strain response caused by prescribed movements, trauma, living life on autopilot and lack of movement. He began this self-exploration from his own need to recover from injury. I'm a fascia-informed somatic movement educator with a background in Fitness, Pilates and Yoga.
If you are only taking ATM (Awareness Through Movement group classes) you might have to take a few to feel the benefits. A friend of mine took one class and she swore by it. I had to take a few, but I remember the day when it clicked. I merely THOUGHT about raising my arm and it was up, so smoothly and coordinated with zero effort. As the months and years went by, I became more graceful physically and also softer with myself inside. There are many psychological components that are improved with this practice. This stuff works, and the more awareness you bring to it, the more it will reveal in yourself.
I don't think this would work on what troubles me. I have this pressure in my head that moves around and affects my vision, my balance and gives me tremendous brain fog. Nothing has turned up on any MRI's/MRA's and ultrasounds. The neurologist said it was mental and I should go to a Chinese Medicine Clinic.
In 2014 I was introduced to a 30 minute set of Feldenkraise movements my Callanetics instructor dubbed The Daily Stretch. I’ve used them sporadically since then, (still working on that “Daily” thing) and always use them as the warmup to a Callanetics session. They’ve had a profound effect on my ability to reduce tension and free up movement. Callanetics is my strength training, to increase bone density and keep the body aligned. The Daily Stretch is my rock, the stabilizing force that opens up all the energy channels in a quiet, gentle, peaceful, almost spiritual way, connecting my brain and body as I prepare for what’s ahead. I know the Feldenkraise influence has deepened my understanding of the Callanetics movements. It’s a potent combination that keeps this 69-yr old body energetically engaged with life.
Nice video with a nice provocative title, but unfortunately you are using a "straw man" rhetorics. One of the tools of the Feldenkrais method is reducing *unnecessary* Muscular efforts, what Moshe Feldenkrais called "Parasitic efforts". While you agree with the necessity of that, you argue that it is not helpful in case of a muscle compensating for the failure of another muscle, but you ignore the heart of the principle, that we reduce unnecessary muscular efforts, not just muscular efforts. Muscular efofrts are neccesery to the amount they contribute to movement, either by joint rotations or stabilization of joints. So in case of muscular failure, for example due to atrophy, if another synergetic muscle companste for it, this is the mvment pattern we will work with because that's what the person is capable of at the moment and there is no point in trying to reduce its efforts. But if your quad is weak you can not compensate for it for most of the time, with your hamstrings. so if your hamstrings is activated where your quad should have been activated and it's not, then this is a parasitic efforts, which actually fail you to use what you can use from your quad. So the goal of the feldenkrais method is not merly relaxation, but restoring healthy and helpful balance of muscular efforts. Is that a scam? mayber, but I don't think you have a good argument for that.
I studied Fledenkrais in acting school. The idea for paying for what you can get from a $15 book is insane. I use it to check in with my body and to focus on my movements.
Same, had Feldie movt classes as well as weekly Alexander sessions. Always floated afterwards and thought to myself, "Where have you been? Why do you always keep 'running away'??!!" Haha
After a painful injury 20 years ago, Feldenkrais helped me when PT could not. It made me enjoy living in my body in a way that I now feel younger in my 60s than I did in my 30s. I think when you apply Feldenkrais principles to your movement you will find that your whole life begins to operate from a sense of being "unified" and in more integrity. Decision making changes and elevates. While it may not be a panacea, it deserves a worthier question than the clickbait "Scam" implies - I appreciate the deep dedication that Feldenkrais brought to the exploration of human potency.
I like it, it hasn't cured my problems yet, but it helps. I use it as part of my week's exercise. I like it because my brain blocks some movements after injuries and Feldenkrais gives my body nothing to fight or resist which makes it easy and pleasant to follow the exercises. Interesting to hear a knowledgeable view.
I wonder if this will help, but Moshe Feldenkrais called his lessons "lessons", not "exercises" because the very word "exercises" conjures the idea of "effort" rather than "exploration". (I am a Practitioner myself).
You completely miss key principles with feldenkrais. Main one is using your bones for support. Dig into this concept further and it will help your practice.
I completely agree with you. I have been practicing Feldenkrais for almost 30 years, and now when I am nearly 70 years old, I am free of pain. However, I have been also sometimes practicing yoga, weightlifting, Zumba, functional training, and so on. I have injured myself doing yoga and also while working in the field, I went to a physiotherapist, but also some series of Feldenkrais sessions helped me free myself from the pain. When I lift weights , I am perfectly aware of which muscle I am working and how far I should go to avoid injury and prevent fatigue thanks to body awareness. Currently, I do Feldenkrais with recordings when I have any pain, feel tense, want to relax or looking for any uncommon solution for a problem. However I am aware, that Feldenkrais is not the only way to address psychosomatic issues, but it is a tool that I always have at hand and that always provides me with relief
We are in our 70’s and age pension and really appreciate your free utube program to keep us strong and healthy and a big thanks to those who can afford to financially support it.
I did ballet for 22 years and somatics for 10. You absolutely develop strength with enough progress. You won't get it from 2 sessions. I find your cynical attitude about it really off putting, a product of the times. A big part of how you achieve results is your willingness to be open. It's not just about relaxation it's incredibly complex. I agree strength training would be needed for someone with a serious injury but it is true that people have done that with somatics. Not everyone's out to get your money, some of us just know it's the best but you have to put in the work.
I deeply appreciate the Feldenkrais technique. I took a few "Awareness Through Movement" classes years ago and had some private sessions. The book, "Relaxercise" written by Feldenkrais Practitioners, David Zemach-Bersin and Mark Reese really helped my neck and shoulders. I have been a Licensed Massage Therapist since 1985 so I have encountered lots of different techniques. I benefit from your insight, devotion, and UA-cam channel as well, Matt! 🛐
Thanks for summarizing different approaches. Regarding Feldenkrais - my comment: - Is there one of the mentioned or possible approaches from Yoga to PowerPlate that does NOT improve because you do FELDENKRAIS? - Would that be possible to confirm the other way round? 🤩🤩🤩 Hope you enjoy my video on doing Feldenkrais ;-)
In the process of figuring out which exercise program(s) available to me I need to start with to get back into shape (all fell apart in the last 2 years) at the age of 75. And after 2 heart attacks and one major surgery. Sigh. I have been looking for a place to start and am now thinking that Feldendrais probably isn't my best option. I've always been strong and in good shape but the last few years, and my age, have taken a toll. What you are saying is 'just use your muscles' which is how I got strong and stayed in pretty good shape all these years. So back to the gym, and the pool I'm thinking. And a good walking schedule sounds good.
It sounds so disparaging when you associate words like whoo-whoo, hippie, patchouli and armpits with Feldenkrais. I am first encountering it in S America in a high-end quasi-therapeutic setting. Zero of what you describe. This helps me realize that you could separate your feelings about the sort of people you associate with Feldenkrais from the technique itself. It certainly began before hippies were a thing and mind body awareness is not whoo-whoo in the least. I’d welcome a review that didn’t feel biased in a way that doesn’t seem relevant to the technique or its effectiveness or whether or not it is a scam, as stated in the title.
Im a therapist of 30 years , I find it hard to believe anyone would make a vid with this title as Feldencrais in my opinion should be free on demand as one of the most powerful ways for people to soothe their own nervous system and gain bodily awareness .Many of us live in a toxic culture where food drugs and booze are use in excess for self soothing .
Awareness can absolutely help you leverage the strength you actually have though. This is the theory of the case in some traditional martial arts where you can generate more force by alignment. I agree that stronger is better and Feldenkrais isn't strength training, but optimal alignment can absolutely increase your strength. Also, there are many free and cheap feldenkrais options it's not always thousands of dollars.
I like how Feldenkrais seems to use quite a lot of femoral rotational strength training. It seems to me that rotational strength in the legs is very important and difficult to develop in the usual walk, run, cycle, climbing stairs. I am getting a lot of mobility improvement from strengthening my rotational muscles. No knee pain, no hip weakness, running up hills.
My experience with Feldenkrais it helped me find relief after years of pain post accident. It’s subtle, it’s a great, effective tool to regain/achieve optimal functioning. It’s one of many tools, no one method, PT ,acupuncture,etc does it all.
Was watching a lovely video of the Feldenkrais method for rib cage pain, and saw the title of your video on the sidebar, so decided to watch. Sadly, you have very limited, if any, understanding of what Moshe Feldenkrais was setting out to do, and frankly, your spin, and added bunk about it being developed in the hippy days, was simply insulting. What, I wonder, makes you qualified, equivalent to Moshe, to the point that you think you can "evaluate" his work? I never trust people that critique truly amazing systems, putting their own "spin" on said systems while doing so. I will spare you my 45 years of success with the method, and leave you with suggesting that you see some kind of practitioner than can bring you up to a level of "awareness" about your own shortcomings.
Sorry, but your emphasis on muscles and strength suggests that you completely failed to understand what the Feldenkrais method is all about. Also, there are great free online lessons on YT, no need to pay “thousands of dollars” as you claim. Still can’t understand all those references to “hippies”, Moses Feldenkrais had nothing to do with the hippy movements as far as I know.
Matt, I very much enjoyed your discussion of Feldenkrais. Fair, balanced, persuasive: it was all three. Before I saw your UA-cam, what "Feldenkrais" meant to me was a segment of my morning workout: standing at attention with hands on hips, hinging forward from the hips, lowering hands to touch fingertips to the floor, squatting and raising the arms to form what I call the skiing posture, pushing up from the heels to stand at attention...repeat four to six times. This is the second segment of a routine that begins with a bit of Qi Gong to warm up and continues with a bit of yoga and some Upright Health hip mobility exercises. I am 79, diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, and working on what is now approaching a fifty-day streak completing all three rings (movement, exercise, and stand) on my Apple Watch's Activity app.
I do not understand what you are writing about. The "segment of morning workout" you describe has absolutely nothing to do with Feldenkrais. Absolutely nothing at all.
Totally agree! I love Feldenkrais when I need to recover from exercise or daily stress. However, where strength and function are concerned, it seems like Feldenkrais takes for granted that you already have normal strength. If this is not the case because you've been sidelined due to injury, pain etc - then a strengthening program is essential.
Feldenkrais does not take anything for granted. If you have injury, etc, you need to go and see a Practitioner. If you buy a set of tapes, well, that would be for the general public, but the explanations would recommend to see a Practitioner if you have a specific issue, if you've had an accident, etc. I'm a Practitioner, and each lesson is "tailored" to the student. (The lessons are "lessons", NOT exercises, and clients are "students"). If you go an a public class of ATM lessons, then the instructor will do his/her best to help but cannot humanly focus on only one person with problems, so he/she will certainly recommend a private session!
I’ve had chronic pain most of my life and been fortunate enough to try out a boatload of different modalities. Each of the good ones give you a piece or two of the puzzle of understanding the body. I never tried Feldenkrais, but Alexander technique (AT) was huge for me as it massively increased my awareness of unnecessary tension in my mind as well as body. Strength training with compound movements has been equally helpful, and I am certain the awareness gained from practising AT has helped me train better, although lifting in itself massively increases body awareness when you pay attention to what your muscles and joints are doing. Egoscue method is another interesting one
While physical therapy is important, i find it odd how they only see one piece of the puzzle. Same with LMTs. They are into massage and ignore PT. This is why so many people are still messed up even after going to PT. Somatics and Feldenkrass, along with bodywork and PT and eating right are the entire puzzle. Who is paying for Feldenkrass? I get the videos for free on UA-cam
I have book called Somatics by Thomas Hanna. One of the exercises was developed by Moshe Feldenkrais and it is amazing for loosening up tight muscles. There also seems to be group classes which aren't going to be too expensive
Totally. I am a martial artist. I was invited to try some Feldenkrais training "because it's a lot like martial arts." Well, yes and no. I have found it very complementary to martial arts training, because it is all about the very important aspect of proprioception, but without the aspects of sport. Lots of people wanna hit stuff, but are incapable of developing technique, because they have so little body awareness/connection. I recommend Feldenkrais as a lowdose side salad to the entrée. (Zumba, too, BTW, to loosen the hips and development fluidity in movement.)
Mind body connection is crucial for bodybuilding and I think Feldenkrais gives people a framework to help with that. Very complementary to strength training.
I think investing a PT for a few sessions to check form is maybe a better way to go, which is what I've done in the last few months, i asked that the programme include this kind of thing as i wanted to not just get stronger (at 54, i need to think about these things!) but also pay attention to being balanced, which means paying attention to my body while I'm moving. Having done that for a while now, it starts to become automatic to notice how you move and where some kinks may need ironing out
I have had to do that too, . See my comment above. I really learned alot and got stronger. I am a little older than you. It hit home with me when Matt describes what happens when you just start sitting - with your bones and muscles.. I developed a good kinesthetic awareness and proprioception with a good DPT. thankful... yes, agreed about form. a good many ppl were not really dong their exercises correctly....
So true. I suffered from chronic back pain for many years after injury in the gym. I completely eliminating all activity and as a result, the pain went away, but the muscles all atrophied, the functionality became low. Now I'm trying to return a little, using the correct patterns of movements.
I've used feldenkrais on and off, mostly home exercises (I'm bad at keeping it up) and it's definitely helpful for me. I have a tendency to develop a lot of stiffness in my shoulders and neck for instance. The one problem I have with it is not about the exercises, but when it comes to the theory, in a lot of it, there's a sort of anti physical exercise strain throughout, . typified by a common quote that goes something like this "if you lift a heavy weight you wouldn't be able to feel a fly landing on it" - obviously you wouldn't, but this sort of thing is used not just to explain why feldenkrais (or something similar focused on micro movements) is not just a useful complement to more strength-based exercise program (which it certainly is) but really superior to it. And I agree completely with you that you can't use it to cover up weak muscles, you might learn how to sit with your back in an optimal arc with feldenkrais, but without the strength (in various muscles) you can't maintain it.
To be honest it resolved my issues magically more than the regular stretching exercises that you thankfully presenting in your respectful youtube channel The concept is based on the brain that saved all movements you have done in your history and you need to insert new movements gently with awareness you are giving to your brain that it is ok to accept this kind of movement safely and so on but it need to be very slow and gentle It targets the brain in the first place and the brain will direct the muscles It needs gentle repetitions
Thank you for your honest opinion. I think that yoga, tai chi, qi gong also bring awareness about posture and most important about your breath and is more accesible to everyone
I think you may not have had a great deal of experience with the Feldenkrais Method. It is a cliche to describe it as 'rolling around on the floor relaxing' etc. There are over a thousand lessons and ways you can combine them and many, many of them will 'build strength' ( standing on your head, balancing on one leg and the back of your head etc). But first it may be more useful to ask you what your definition of strength is? Here you just reiterate the obvious, that it is practicing( ie exercising) the contraction and release/ shortening and lengthening of particular muscle groups in particular positions. Would that be right?
@@Uprighthealth Exactly, and maybe, for the viewer you asked the question Feldenkrais might teach her something that was not relevant for you. Personally, I never tried Feldenkrais, but I took lessons in Alexander technique and read some books on it, and it helped me a great deal about how the body and the mind are connected, and how maladaptive movement habits are directly related to psychological and emotional habits - that could have not been solve by just being aware while doing strength training and stretching. By the way, I didn't mean to come across as snarky, I enjoy your videos and learn from them :)
Hi Matt, what a great channel and thanks for sharing your knowledge- I enjoy learning from you. What are your views on qi gong (dao yin, dong jong, jing gong etc.)? There are of course many forms but overall for me it can fulfil what you prescribe, and what Feldenkreis, Rolfing, Pilates, Alexander Technique etc admirably offer as a whole but they don’t talk about the energy flow of course. Feldenkreis, Alexander, Pilates, etc that came out of the early C20 were some of the first somatic body/mind movements that the West developed and do indeed serve some people well. Best wishes, Darren
Feldenkrais with Taro, a channel here, has an energy very similar to yours. I’ve followed some of his routines. I wish there were more non-profit, multidisciplinary group practices for all body movement therapies. None has the entire answer, not even “always think muscles”. Overlapping treatments could shorten the amount of time so one is struggling with body pain. I think it is awful that people who would really benefit cannot get access. But the people perfecting their skills in different modalities have a right to earning a good living. The trick is to not be chauvinistic, believing that whatever someone selling you is the only answer.
Also, while I have only interacted with a couple of Feldenkrais providers, they were both generous in sharing their knowledge very affordably. The sessions you did may not have covered them but body weight exercises are definitely a part of it. Usually in those things there are a couple of “pre-sessions”, to get a baseline. This video is a little beneath you TBH.
Thankfully I had a wake up call due to an si / hip injury. Took a very Good DPT who pushed me with with strengthening, stretching and challenging my muscles. Showed and taught me good body mechanics and muscle activation.... Two DPTs told me I had good kinesthetic awareness and proprioception. So with your description with what happens when you don't do resistance training, I know what I need to do.... I have small hand weights , they will gradually be incorporated into my PT workout and light cardio. Thx. Matt. Well explained.
Feldenkrais practice brings a dynamic muscular balance. It recognizes the myofascial principles and every session should be planned by the practitioner to improve muscle balance in each person either through Functional Integrations (one on one intervention) or an Awareness Through Movement intervention which is usually a collective class. The practitioner should perform an individual kinetic analysis and an interview to understand the movement context and needs of the client. Thank you for your thoughts and video.
HI Matt, I have followed your stuff for years and think you have a lot of great things to say. Sadly, this video was not helpful and you clearly don't really understand the Feldenkrais Method. If you are examining Feldenkrais Method solely in comparison to corrective exercise therapy with an eye on whether it can accomplish the same thing you do in your practice and teaching, thats one thing, but the commentary in your video came across as frankly sarcastic and disparaging of a practice and method that has helped and continuous to help people to grow, heal and live fuller lives. Not helpful my young friend. Not helpful at all
Feldenkrais helped me a lot with my joint pain. I have a connective tissue disorder and a severe proprioception deficit. I do manual labor so I am not deconditioned. I have muscle wasting in my hands and feet due to peripheral neuropathy. My work is excruciating. Feldenkrais helps me manage the pain.
Also I saw absolutely zero hippies when I took the Feldenkrais classes. The man who developed it (Mr Feldenkrais) had a really interesting back story though, well worth looking into. From a different time than hippies. The hippies were an admirable movement that cared about human rights and loving thy neighbor. But it’s apples and oranges as far as Feldenkrais. Completely separate topics. To question if Feldenkrais is a scam is actually pretty disparaging. And this is also disparaging to hippies. I hold them in high regard.
I would suggest consulting with a state licensed or Board Certified therapist than trusting my health with someone ( practitioner) that took some classes and all of a sudden they are instructing people who may have serious underlining or pre existing conditions that can be exacerbated with wrong instruction.
First of all, I’m curious what you’re gonna say, but at 1:41 I can tell you this: Fendle Christ has changed my pain level from 100% of the time, to 97% of the time: Pain Free. I’ve been in pain since 1989, and this Fendle stuff has helped me immensely I’m a mental health therapist, and I think it could be a really good tool for emotional regulation and integrating various things I’m also trained as a speech therapist, and it’s very useful for helping people use their body in a more appropriate way, which can include all kinds of preventative as well as therapeutic interventions that involve the breathing mechanism and speech (Parkinson’s?) So from what I’ve gathered, it’s some kind of special practice that I don’t know a lot about, but I watch some of the videos, and I find them very helpful for realigning myself and teaching myself how to move My range of motion is increased. My flexibilities increased. My pain level is gone down so much. It’s almost unbelievable. I will say, after watching the FK videos: You might want to pull your shoulders back further and when you lift your head, you push your shoulders forward and you are you arch neck too much When you take a step, you land too heavily on your heel, and you have limited range of motion in your right heel In order to correct that you need to keep your feet flat on the ground and do what we used to call skiers exercises and trying to go down in a balanced way and you’ll notice what they teach you in Fendel is that you’re leaning too far on one side or the other and you’re not balanced over the top of your body and your spines not neutral and then you start to do everything wrong and 40 years later you are really hurting. What you seem to be missing is that you’re not comparing this found in Christ Feld in Christ whatever that’s called with every other type of movement which is a model-based system Every other tai chi or whatever it’s called martial arts or ballet you can do all the same things but you’re a model and you’re trying to achieve some goal as if that person is the ideal What you’re missing is that you are the center of it all and getting in touch with your body at that level whether you move fast or slow is not the issue but you slow down in order to feel the micro movements Your muscles are firing at the rate of thousands of times per second and by slowing down you can feel where the tension is in your own body and you use your own body as a reference And all other systems, use someone else’s body or some ideal position as a reference, such as yoga, for example. Having bodily awareness is not something that comes naturally as Arnold Schwarzenegger showed us by making sure he worked out in the gym that had mirrors on every single wall You look at bodybuilders in their typically hunched over, and they make this front muscle pose in the mirror, and they arch their body forward, and they tighten up their abdominals You almost never see them, put their arms up high and high or spread their arms out like Arnold did You almost never see them, put their arms out and pull their elbows back, even with their shoulders as they do a back pose So you can focus, even if you have mirrors Having somebody give you feedback after you’ve been addicted to oxycodone for 30 years is worth it and you don’t understand that because you’re young and you don’t hurt yet You have no idea how many thousand of dollars I would’ve paid if somebody told me hey do this for three months and 97% of your back pain will go away I would’ve said that’s ridiculous. I’ve been to seven chiropractors and two physical therapists and I hurt 100% of the time. I don’t take drugs because I don’t like them and I just deal with my pain I’m the one who hang gliding I’m the one who went down the side to do I’m the one who rode the mountain bikes I’m the one who did the water skiing in the snow skiing and I deserved every single injury that I ever earned ripping myself apart But somehow I lived past and dammit at that age dude you hurt so bad just getting up Do you realize that the lady who invented architecture that’s used in modern buildings, now put sticks on her arms and sticks on her legs and did things to limit her range of motion to become like an elderly person, and that’s how we went away from door knobs to doorhandles, because this genius, young lady Put herself in the perspective of an old person who had arthritis You’re not getting yourself in the perspective of another person you’re judging it from the outside and that’s why you’re judgment is flawed You’re entitled to your opinion, but you’re not even looking at it correctly you don’t see what it’s about it’s internally driven practice that can help reduce your pain significantly and restore, flexibility, and range of motion that’s been lost for decades, and I can say that as an elite athlete whose uncle was in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics as the number two cyclist in the USA I promise you man I’m an athlete still, but I’m in pain all day every day And watching my pain level go down in the last three months has made me a believer. It don’t matter what nobody says.
What did you learn from this video? Got more questions? Drop me a comment! 🤙
Rebuild your body at home! uprighthealth.com/diy 💪
Learned the point of view from your video, but the comments are even better.
My experience has been through a few horseback riding "courses" and we're specifically designed to help a rider be aware of imbalance in their own body which would imbalance the horse. I don't currently have a horse or ride, but once upon a long long ago I did, so the course was interesting, and I tried the exercises. My surmise is that it would require a very alert professional trainer to notice all the various tensions and know which needed primary attention and even which primary attention would be most helpful. Trainers also need a selection of approaches because very little is "one exercise to rule them all".
Feldenkrais teacher here👋. First of all congrats on this video. Very good examples and explanations. I‘d like to share a few thoughts. I think many people who have some kind of pain, have it because of bad movement and posture patterns. Feldenkrais can help you change that. Your take on muscle strength is spot on. If your muscles become weak, other muscles do the work which would be less functional. You are a very skilled movement practitioner (probably more skilled than 99,9% of Feldenkrais teachers) and so I can understand that you were not blown away by your Feldenkrais sessions😉. I experienced my favorite Feldenkrais moments when I was trying to improve difficult movements and positions like the headstand. So if you ever happen to take another Feldenkrais Session, think about an advanced movement that you cannot do yet and ask your practitioner to help you achieve it. Kind Regards
I think you have completely missed the points and benefits of doing Feldenkrais.
I have done a lot of Feldenkrais and I really love how I feel during and afterwards. It takes me right out of my overactive and obsessive thinking and brings me back into my body. Now in my mid seventies, I have no joint or muscle pain at all and I think Feldenkrais has really helped me avoid all that. And no, it does not build muscle but it does help with alignment and freedom of motion. That's my experience with it.
I think its amazing. It cured pain almost immediately that PT did nothing for.
So I am a Feldenkrais Practitioner for the last 30 years and I’m an avid athlete. I compete and I have not lost any muscle mass. I don’t do any strength training. Feldenkrais IS NOT about. “RELAXING “ muscles. One part of Feldenkrais is learning about how you inhibit contractions patterns of muscles and groups of muscles, which I believe you conflate with relaxing. It is also about learning to use the appropriate muscles that you haven’t been using or contracting ones that not been contracting well, even stronger. you can only do this by having a sensory feedback loop allowing the nervous system to recognize the in efficiency. To be able to recognize this, you have to one, slow the movements down, and two reduce the effort so the coordination of those muscles relating to a movement patterns turns into a more coordinated effort.That is why Ron Guidry, who was 165lbs dripping wet ( old NY Yankees pitcher) could throw a baseball 95 mph, Feldenkrais allows people to improve the coordination of their intentions. You can’t do that by doing the old pattern of strength training over and over and over again. That’s Einstein’s theory of insanity and I for one who founded not helpful.
So it is HOW you strengthen train that is important and learning how the coordination of that training helps you in whatever your intentions are.
There is much more to say but so the sake of this platform I hope. This helps
Rich Goldsand
Guild Certified Practitioner
My partner paid for me to have five sessions after a hip injury. Five sessions of someone gently touching and slightly moving me, occasionally. Imagine my surprise when it did absolutely nothing to help. The professionally qualified physiotherapist I visited afterwards, however...
@@MrPlannery I’m not sure your point, did your partner feel better? I hope so. Does that take away from the effectiveness or methodology of the Feldenkrais method? I don’t believe it does. unfortunately, I didn’t hear much back from the author of the video about my comment and I didn’t hear you say anything about what my comment stated. Do you agree? Disagree is so how I’m interested in learning.
thank you
@@kueichenglee7583 What are you thanking me for? It. Might be that you were not prepared to answer the questions that came back to you or comment on the responses you received..let me know if you have either
@@rsgoldsand It's not the same person who thanked you.
There are many misunderstandings about what the Feldenkrais Method is and is not.
The Feldenkrais Method is not about awareness. The term "Awareness Through Movement" for the group classes suggests that it's all about awareness. It's only one ingredient but not the main. The Feldenkrais Method is more about learning. It's about "Improving skills and abilities". That was the original name Feldenkrais used to name his classes in Hebrew.
Motor learning science makes clear that learning is about task-space formation, task-space exploration, task-space (de-)composition and task-space differentiation. (which is of course not possible without some awareness.)
The Feldenkrais Method is not about relaxation. It's about better movement organization, better coordination. Because many people are not very well organized and use too much force for simple every day tasks they feel more relaxed after a Feldenkrais class. But I've done Feldenkrais classes where I felt stronger afterwards! And I've done resistence training where I could feel how my bones spontaneously aligned for better support : better coordination!
The Feldenkrais Method is not for integrating "more movement" into your life. Doing Feldenkrais only and spend the rest of your life on the couch is not a good idea! Go for walks, swim, dance, run, work daily in your garden, do resistance training.... whatever you like and enjoy. If you ADD Feldenkrais to that practice, you might experience more progress and maybe even more fun when moving.
I'm a Feldenkrais Practitioner and am often upset how the complexity of that Method is overwhelming even my professional colleagues. And by reducing this complexity to some simple concepts you loose the essence.
The Feldenkrais Method is about flexible minds not about flexible bodies!
And by focusing on flexibility of mind, it achieves flexibility of body! :)
@@brigitteheusser8274 Where can someone find a certified and true Feldenkrais teacher/therapist?
If I had to choose only one thing to make my life better, it would be Feldenkrais - it has changed my life, and continues to. Notwithstanding Wikipedia telling me to ignore my own experience because there are not double blind studies or some shit.
I agree. Thank you for saying this " ignore my own experience because there are not double blind studies or some shit". People want to justify their own skepticism. Can you image how this would turn the medical industry on its head. Of course no one is funding this study.
I agree. Problem with Wikipedia is, anybody can go and edit it. On the other hand, the good thing with Wikipedia is, anybody can go and edit it. So I think when we notice a page that spouts rubbish, we can go and input our own real life experience. Even if "scientists" think it has no value - which is frankly absurd and NOT a scientific attitude AT ALL.
@@SKLightenUpNow This. I remember when science (and medicine) was about advancing humanity forward. Now it's about dogma and people feeling the need to justify their existence/degrees and fear that much of what they spent their life learning and basing their identity might be wrong.
@@thealignedalchemist Actually the history of science shows that paradigm shifts exist precisely because dogma sets in and there will always be inevitable resistance to change.
Feldenkrais was actually a nuclear physicist who got his PhD in the lab of Irene and Pierre Joliot-Curie. He came up with the technique after he injured his knee doing judo (which he helped introduce in France) and needed to manage walking on slippery ship decks while doing sonar research with the British during WW2. His mother once joked that he could have won a Nobel prize, but he became a massage therapist instead. He worked with stroke patients, people with cerebral palsy (which is a brain problem, not a muscle one), and even one extraordinary case of a woman who was born missing a third of her brain. However people make thousands of dollars through teaching feldenkrais sessions now, he was no film-flam artist, he was a neuroscientist before the term was invented.
Exactly. He was very scholarly and an Israeli national treasure
Grateful to see this comment, i started reading this book brains way of healing.... And I randomly started reading about feldenkrais charm and work.
The Wikipedia entry on this is brutal.
Inconvenient facts.
@@subplantant "Accordingly in 2017 the Australian government identified the Feldenkrais Method as a practice that would not qualify for insurance subsidy, saying this step would "ensure taxpayer funds are expended appropriately and not directed to therapies lacking evidence"
The Feldenkrais Method is promoted with anecdotal claims it can help children with autism and other developmental disorders, but such claims are not backed by reputable supporting evidence.
There is limited evidence that workplace-based use of the Feldenkrais Method may help aid rehabilitation of people with upper limb complaints.
David Gorski has written that the Method bears similarities to faith healing, is like "glorified yoga", and that it "borders on quackery". Quackwatch places the Feldenkrais Method on its list of "Unnaturalistic methods".
I think that method is just about a basic part of existence, awareness and paying attention to oneself. Something that many people can do naturally, but others forget to do. Relaxation, yoga, qiqong, many ancient methods take these realities into account...
I observed a client use the basic beginning exercises presented in the book published by Alfons Grabher “Getting Better Day by Day” straighten her spine in ten weeks of twenty minutes of daily Feldenkrais practice. She has before and after X-rays. Her spine was like a DOUBLE mark of Zorro. Her surgeon told her that she was beyond surgery with a collapsed spine. It was too late to help her. Feldenkrais worked for her, and I charged her nothing. Your emphasis on “awareness” is complete crap and a total misunderstanding of Feldenkrais.
I have been doing somatic movement almost every morning for about 3.5 years now. It does not substitute for strength training, but it’s my foundational movement practice. I do it every day because it deliciously resets my body and if I miss a day I am more prone to drift back into compensatory movement patterns from my prior injuries. My experience is different than you describe. I don’t focus on muscle action, I don’t try to fix anything. I notice how various parts of myself react to movements and my relationship to gravity. Am I holding tension that prevents my body from reacting as an interconnected whole? I let my much smarter subconscious brain figure out which muscles need to work and/or relax. A session of Somatics effortlessly hits the RESET button like nothing else. Without conscious effort I get much closer to “neutral”, a much happier place for my body to do things like strength training. And it doesn’t cost me thousands. Most of what I know of Feldenkrais I learned for free from Alfons on the UA-cam channel Improving Ability. My typical Feldenkrais AHA is doing simple but unusual movements that unlock my brain-body connection in an unexpected way, like side bending on my belly unlocks my shoulder? Huh? It was Feldenkrais that restored my full range of motion after frozen shoulder syndrome when years of many other exercise and healing modalities failed. I also do Hanna Somatics. I took a 6-week online course with Martha Peterson of Essential Somatics that really started my daily practice. Plus my own somatic exploration. It was taking the Hanna Somatics course and doing the many lessons on the Improving Ability channel that taught me how to tap into my somatic intuition. Like any skill it takes regular practice to improve. After almost 4 years I feel like I’m just now beginning to really “get it”. It’s not for everybody. In my experience, for Somatics to work takes slowing down - way, way, down. Most of us are trained to bang out 3 sets of 15. I had to get out of that mindset before Somatics could work its magic on me. But I am grateful every day that I made the transition.
Hi Tracy, i have a question - Do you prefer feldenkrais or hanna somatics? I am during Hanna Somatics currently (just started), and have never done feldenkrais. Wanted to know the difference between the two. I know Mr. Hanna worked with Feldenkrais himself for a time. I'm mostly doing this to unlock my body and help treat chronic stress/anxiety, along with improving my posture
@@infinitepossibilities337 I don’t prefer one over the other, they build on each other in my experience. Both have helped me, as you say unlock my body, and have been invaluable for my stress management and learning where my neutral is (key to posture IMO). Yes, Hanna studied with Feldenkrais so they’re similar but different, and play beautifully together. Feldenkrais lessons will focus on one movement pattern. You will do different movements in order to improve that lesson’s focus (which is sometimes a surprise - oh! THIS is where we’ve been heading the whole time!), and it does reset my whole body, but it’s a deeper dive into improving one particular movement. Whereas Hanna has a set sequence of a limited number of movements/“exercises”. I love Feldenkrais but I wanted a somatic sequence I could do every day and Feldenkrais is just not designed for that. The repertoire of lessons that Mr. Feldenkrais created is huge and wide-ranging and the practice is welcoming of improvisation - which is fantastic. But. I’m not a trained Feldenkrais teacher, I’m only a student, so I couldn’t wrap my head around how to start building it into a regular practice. It was learning the Hanna sequence (from an online course I took with Essential Somatics) that got me to build my daily practice. Once I had that framework I could sprinkle in Feldenkrais nuggets to deepen the experience. I do full Feldenkrais lessons with Alfons on the youtube channel Improving Ability - highly recommended. Feldenkrais is what really got me to experience my relationship to gravity, and my body’s relationship to itself. And it’s given me the tools to listen to what my body needs and to improvise on my own and, perhaps most importantly, how to S-L-O-W D-O-W-N. And all of that has improved my Hanna practice. Lastly, I love the integration of the body’s natural stretch reflex into the Hanna repertoire. Pandiculation is how nature designed us to stretch IMO. So I’d say start with Hanna, learn his very efficient whole body reset sequence. But also experience the sometimes surprising exploration of Feldenkrais. Enjoy the ride!
This is an oversimplified explanation of a complex method. Feldenkrais is about MORE than the two words you repeated throughout your video. It is more than “awareness and relaxation “. What it CAN do is improve HOW you do what you do. It’s more about movement efficiency than relaxation and awareness. Awareness is the primary tool. A full experience with a broader scope of THOUSANDS of available lessons would inform you of more of how strength is built from organized movement. The depth of these lessons would educate you to the fact that we are NOT just lying around on the floor in an ongoing state of atrophy. For your consumers, it takes more than an introductory class to give you a full sense of what The Method has to offer.
Oh bravo Beth, well said!
It's not even an oversimplified explanation, it's a misunderstanting.
I danced ballet for over a decade when I was young. Constantly using mirrors to correct body positions: exercising both sides equally... rules I never forgot.
I'm 70 now, retired to a small rural property. Pastures & woodlands with gardens, orchards, goats, chickens, ducks & rescued cats/dogs. I still check my body's symmetry & get plenty of exercise, eat well & love my simple life.
to be focused on symmetry and looking at oneself in the mirror is very common for dancers and it's the opposite of what Feldenkrais method is about. Feldenkrais method focuses on how the movement feels to you and looking to improve quality of movement (ease, speed, strength) not the way it looks. Focus on symmetry/looks leads to correcting anything that does not match desired shape, and corrective adjustments don't integrate fully into daily life, because they don't emerge from experience, but from an idea of what movement should look like. Nothing is wrong with either choice, I just feel it's important to make a distinction. It is also possible to blend the two approaches.
@@IgorShteynberg Yes, it's a game-changer to be able to rely on what you feel of your body from the inside, rather than depending on something external like a mirror. Also to use sensation of ease as a measuring stick, rather than forcing oneself into symmetry.
Looking in a mirror is very helpful to me to get feedback about where I am positioning my shoulders & other joints. I have absolutely no sense of where my body is located in space. I have a severe proprioception deficit. If I don’t watch every single move I make with my eyes, then I will bang into walls, knock things over, trip on the floor, etc. I have to touch objects as well as look at them. I’ve been told I should always walk with a cane because of this problem, but I don’t want to become dependent on it. I only use a cane in ice and snow. Feldenkrais helps me a lot, and mirrors help me when I’m exercising.
feldenkrais with taro iwamoto here on youtube showed me a simple and easy way to release neck tension. in that one instance at least it was very good.
I have found Feldenkreis to be extremely helpful.
I'm not drawn to bodybuilding approaches,especially now at age 75.
I do some yoga along with Feldenkreis,some qi gong for the bones and joints(Lee Holden) and tai chi.
Feldenkreis is certainly NOT a scam.
I'll stick with Feldenkreis,despite this forceful advice.
Feldenkrais is not simply using relaxation and awareness (as you say) to create movement possibilities. It's using your nervous system, and your brain's ability to sense and feel differences of effort in a complex kinesthetic realm. When you learn/feel a newer easier movement pattern, new muscles fire automatically. The necessary muscles for more ideal movements can be strengthened over time through more organized integrated movement. Feldenkrais can definitely make you stronger! But you wouldn't know that, because you don't know anything about Feldenkrais!!! Also, strong muscles does not equal better posture or movement. Movement is created by the brain, not muscles. Muscles support the movement, but the movement is not made via muscles, it's made via intention, sensation, habit...While building strength is great and helpful, it's not a complex enough solution to most people's functional movement problems , and the field of somatics is way ahead of the curve in fleshing this out, especially Feldenkrais. And finally, Feldenkrais lessons are extremely affordable, often free, all over the internet, accessible to many bodies, abilities, ages… Why are you making an entire video evaluating a method about which you clearly know almost nothing? It's also extremely prejudiced/superficial to refer to the entire field of somatics as 'hippy' 'patchouli' stuff. Maybe it would be be better to not answer a question if you dont really know the answer, or not tell everybody else what you think of something you've done for a total of 3x. That would be like me telling everybody not to bother eating too much spinach, because I ate it 3x, and I didn't think it made a big enough difference.
your comment certainly provides some good explanations that should have been part of the video👍🏻
Feldenkrais has helped me when other actions did not. Still it is not a panacea, rather an excellent tool in the toolbox of optimal health. Definitely has its place in my life. Well done with explanation of repetitive patterns and ways to make different neural connections.
Of course it's not a complete system. No one claimed for it to be. Of course you still need cardio and strength. But, if you're doing cardio and strength without awareness, good luck not getting injured. For me. I am a Hawaii Ironman finisher, my quads were huge and every PT told me to "engage your glutes". After making Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons part of a daily habit (free online lessons, by the way...not paying thousands of dollars). My glutes now engage (and I have a nicer booty), and my quads aren't so huge...because my muskoskeletal system reorganized. But, I do a ton of cardio and strength training that builds on my daily ATMs.
A. I mostly enjoyed this video. You clearly have a strong appreciation for strength and body awareness. It makes me curious about what you have to offer (this was my first time watching your content). Part of why I appreciated is the skepticism with which you approve this topic.
B. That said, the snarky comments about hippies and patchouli -- feels cheap and dismissive. Just stick to the facts and offer your honest critique and you'll do a great job. I say this and I fully agree that a lot of the new "healing modalities" warrant strong skepticism.
C. I don't think 2-3 official sessions is a sufficient range of experience to offer the very confident analysis that you deliver. I'm not suggesting that you/we shouldn't be skeptical, but many "experiential" modalities (hope that doesn't trigger a hippie comment!) require more investment and training to "click" and work for people. Yoga does wonders for me. But it only really started clicking for me in a deep way after 15 years of practicing on and off. Does that mean that you shouldn't offer an opinion after 2-3 sessions? No, but maybe a more qualified opinion would seem more balanced.
As someone with genuine hyper mobility issues, I find approaches like Alexander technique does help with my 'daily living'. Strangely, it actually helps to prevent you overthinking your movements - something people with these kind of conditions can get obsessive over. But it has to be coupled with strength and resistance training for a fully functioning 'me'. Personally , pilates is more beneficial to me than yoga due to the stability and strength focus, but I still incorporate elements of yoga where beneficial. Your approach of weakness masquerading as tightness has really helped as have videos of other practitioners. Crux of it is, one size rarely fits all and some people benefit more from a buffet of approaches opposed to a set menu. How's that for a food analogy 😜
Curious choice of title, topic, and angle. I wonder what brought you to that? For sure wasn’t an easy upload, I suppose. Great video quality and editing as always! Btw, all my Feldenkrais-inspired videos are free to watch.
very good point. Feldenkrais is only expensive if you are doing the professional training program. And if you compare it to the longterm costs it will save you by not needing the doctor so often and by being able to help your family members the money spent is totally worth it. Thank you for your work Alfons!
Yes, and your lessons are great! Thanks Alfons!
Feldenkraise has been part of giving me more mobility than I've ever had in my life at my late 40s. I have connective tissue disorder, still pinpointing through genetics, CPTSD. Between feldenkraise and yoga nidra I feel such better proprioception so balance, strength, less pain, less joints jamming which all helps my nervous system be less triggered.
Feldenkrais combined with upright health made me start walking again. Still have a long way to go, but the combination is mindblowing. I need both! Each one separately failed for me but together, I began doing stuff. I am 31 years old but had a bad situation 2 years ago and i lost the ability to move.. now i have hope.
@@baderqassim3248 How are you doing now?
The goal of Feldenkrais is Not The Awareness itself but Improving Ability and Refining Function. Feldenkrais lessons are part of the programs in professional dance schools, conservatories and also in training programs of athletes.
Yes, see the comment above by @brigitteheusser8274
5 months ago
There are many misunderstandings about what the Feldenkrais Method is and is not.
The Feldenkrais Method is not about awareness. The term "Awareness Through Movement" for the group classes suggests that it's all about awareness. It's only one ingredient but not the main. The Feldenkrais Method is more about learning. It's about "Improving skills and abilities". That was the original name Feldenkrais used to name his classes in Hebrew. (I won't copy the whole comment here, but it is well worth reading!)
As far as thousands of dollars go, it only cost around $15-$20 dollars/hr for an ATM (Awareness Through Movt) session, usually with up to maybe 10 other people. That's basically the same as yoga and Tai Chi rates. The FI (Functional Integration) sessions are one on one on the table with a practitioner which will cost similar to other private types of bodywork. By the way, Feldenkrais and Alexander Technique (especially AT) are taught at most major Drama and Music Conservatoriums around the world...ever wondered why classical musicians have such great posture for hours?
Right, and after a while, once you learn the sequences and what to sense as your do them, you can even do Feldenkrais lessons on your own at home for free! And for those times when you reach a plateau or need additional help recovering from the muscular aftereffects of an injury or illness, an occasional series of Feldenkrais Functional Integration sessions one on one with a practitioner can be super helpful. But of course, as Matt says in the video, Feldenkrais works best in combination with strengthening exercises and other physical activities. It is through a physically active lifestyle that you can really apply what you've learned in a Feldenkrais lesson and incorporate it for the long term.
@@scyuditsStrengthening exercises will also work better if you do not use un-necessary effort!
I wrote this, then I saw the excellent comment by @flexible-mind below.
@flexible-mind
5 months ago
Of course it's not a complete system. No one claimed for it to be. Of course you still need cardio and strength. But, if you're doing cardio and strength without awareness, good luck not getting injured. For me. I am a Hawaii Ironman finisher, my quads were huge and every PT told me to "engage your glutes". After making Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons part of a daily habit (free online lessons, by the way...not paying thousands of dollars). My glutes now engage (and I have a nicer booty), and my quads aren't so huge...because my muskoskeletal system reorganized. But, I do a ton of cardio and strength training that builds on my daily ATMs.
Feldenkrais was a Jiu-jitsu/Judo pioneer in France during the 1930s. He had learned the basics and written a book on jiu-jitsu while fighting with the Jewish haganugh in British Palestine in the 1920s. He took the judo concept of 'maximum efficiency" and started applying it to all kinds of body movement and recovery since he had a knee injury that plagued him all his life- at the same time he was learning physics at the Sorbonne and had to flee France during WW 2. In England he trained home guard units, wrote a book on unarmed combat and worked in sonar research for the UK government.... So he was combining solid science with sophisticated movement to design his system which he was codifying by the 1950s. What in the world does this have to do with flaky hippy stuff from the late 1960s????
Well said.
Sir, I have no idea why you felt the need to produce this video! Surely we humans are quite able to discover our own paths without listening to your comments, which I might say were bordering on sarcasm much of the time! I have found you unnecessarily rude about a genuine movement practice, that not only aids the physical but will also in time aide with the mental/emotional bodies.
After ten years of doing Feldenkrais, earlier in those years in a class, more today from the generosity of practitioners doing videos for UA-cam, I feel able to say I have benefited 100% from learning this mode of movement.
It is a great misunderstanding that the Feldenkrais method is about relaxation. It might be a side effect of many of the lessons, but really it is about improving coordination and functionality. No one ever claimed that it is a replacement for sport or strengthening exercises. If you point out the importance of the latter, and there ist certainly a good reason to do so ( yes, and you will still also need to go to the toilet and to eat, no matter how much Feldenkrais you do), then do strengthening exercises in addition. The Feldenkrais method is a very good basis for doing it more efficiently and safely, because you will be able to make finer distinctions between movements that are good for you and those that will cause wear and tear. You will be able to do your exercises with a more balanced muscle tone and improved coordination of agonists and antagonists, so your muscles will interfere less with each other and instead will be trained more effectively, and you will be able to wake up sleepy muscles that are otherwise hard to control if you never learned how to address them. You can greatly benefit from the Feldenkrais method to achieve this.
Not a good title for this video. Not an in-depth video, either. But the comments are great.
Having gone through the 800 hr Feldenkrais training and a lifetime of chronic pain...i tried everything, but coudnt relax. it wasnt till the FM that i found relief and am almost painfree in my neck. I can now do your PT and build up my weak muscles. No one modality is right for every situation. I now can listen to my body & use qigong, Feldenkrais, Exercise, & body work to improve myself. I think Feldy is very effective for trauma & chronic pain since it calms the nervous system. I am so grateful i found the Method and also your wonderful Upright Health. Bravo🎉 Thank you.
i found your title ,”Is the FM a Scam” to be disrespectful. The way you framed the discussion in your blurb,”Is the Feldenkrais Method (FM) right for you?" is more appropriate and respectful.
It is common for individuals who are not deeply familiar with a particular practice to compare it to what they know, as you did with personal training. However, it is important to understand that the Feldenkrais Method is unique and not directly comparable to personal training. In my observation, individuals in personal training often benefit more from their training if they have also been exposed to the principles and techniques of Feldenkrais work.
Therefore, it is worth considering whether incorporating aspects of the Feldenkrais Method into personal training sessions can enhance the overall outcomes for individuals seeking to improve their physical well-being and movement patterns.
I learned about Feldenkrais 20 years ago but didn’t give it a serious try. Now in my early 80’s, it has my appreciation and attention. After a recent fall I found my muscles and nerves couldn’t communicate. I felt frozen in pain and anxieties. The program has been very helpful and my awareness gives me a good basis to begin a strengthening program.
Feldenkrais, Method, Alexander Technique and Pilates were all developed before the ''hippie era"
Well Joseph Pilates (which I like and learned from) borrowed a lot from yoga, so well before lol.
Well, while Feldenkrais certainly does not belong to the hippie generation, he actually developed his method in the fifties and started training people in the sixties, so it coincided with the hippie era and was picked up enthusiastically by many from the hippie movement. Interestingly though, when he was young, he had learned Jiu Jitsu and Judo and integrated some of their movements into his method. He also developed some basic concepts of self-defence, which were integrated into what we know as Krav Maga today.
I wondered if he was referring to Alexander as one of the comparable “hippies”. It was extremely helpful to me.
oops matt.
Who ever said the hippy era was bad anyway? Have a look around...mindless consuming anyone?
I don't think you have represented Feldenkrais properly. It is not just 'awareness and relaxation' .. as the lessons develop and you practice more, you find yourself getting stronger and better organised in a fully balanced way. There are approx 10,000 lessons challenging your habits, thoughts, attitudes to yourself and your environment and your movement. Also, it reminds you in every lesson that you are whole - one part of you affects and is affected by every other part of you. I have never anything better on offer anywhere.
0:00: 🤔 The video discusses the Feldenkrais Method and whether it is effective or a waste of money.
3:09: 🧠 The video discusses how mental shortcuts can be unreliable and lead to negative consequences.
6:45: 🧘 The speaker discusses their experience with feldenkrais and feldenkrais adjacent sessions, focusing on body movement and muscle usage.
9:48: 💪 Developing awareness of your body's position and state can be helpful, but addressing muscle atrophy and stiffness is necessary for overall health and energy.
12:45: 💪 Resistance training involves being aware of your body's sensations and cues to improve efficiency and cleanliness of movement.
Recap by Tammy AI
I get Feldenkreis free as part of a pool membership. I'm 72, an MD, very aware of bone-muscle interaction. I've added Feldenkreis to my total regimen because of the ah-ha moment it gives almost every time.
Each session starts with simple isolated movements...to which I invariably think...this is stupid...why am I here. By the end of the hour, everything has built one on top of the next...to the ah-ha where all the parts show the elements of a major movement. The biggie for me was the rolling to the side then to a sit. Simple? But fraught with potential to injury
Thousands of bucks? No, find a UA-cam video
Exactly ❤
"Improving ability with Alfons" "Stewart Hamblin" "Maria De Souza"........UA-cam; all free!!!!
😅I saw Moshe Feldenkrais at age 80 throw Dennis Leri 30 feet through the air in a judo demonstration. Yes, he was strong. Many PTs became Feldenkrais trained because of the effectiveness of the method. No, it’s not a be all end all, but it has helped many people to function more pain free.
Wow! Mr Feldenkrais is so inspiring 🙏
I am 64. I could never do push-ups before. I learnt it through Feldenkrais. You tried it a few times with an attitude. In general you missed the essence of the method that should be taught in schools to children in order to develop good movement patterns in physical and mind bodies.
Hi Matt, I love your work and get so much from it, and I absolutely believe that building and maintaining muscular strength are key to efficient movements. But in this case, I think it premature of you to do such a strident critique of Feldenkrais, using the frustrated/shocked voice you use to refer to many harmful orthopedic approaches, especially after having experienced just TWO sessions.
I don't think you are fully grasping the Feldenkrais method, in fact, I believe you are setting up a straw horse and ignoring a ground-breaking and extremely powerful approach. The purpose of Feldenkrais is for more efficient muscles use, with less compensation patterns, leading to better alignment and less wear and tear on the body. It is also profoundly relaxing to the nervous system. In my case, it absolutely improved all of those areas, but in an innovative, gentle, and brilliant way. It has become an essential component of my healthy movement program.
The Feldenkrais Awareness through Movement technique is certainly not the Be all and End all, and does not advocate, to my knowledge, that muscle-building activities are unnecessary and should be avoided. On the contrary, it helps prepare the body for more efficient and more aligned loading activities.
Secondly, Feldenkrais is not just about awareness of specific muscles- on the contrary it is all about the entire body working in synergy.
Thirdly, to assert Feldenkrais is about "relaxing" specific muscles reflects a poor understanding of this powerful method. The slow and tiny approach of Feldenkrais, while very foreign to those trained in 'exercise' approaches, achieves deep communication between the Brain and the muscles/tendons/joints, with very powerful, positive, whole-body effects on subconscious movement patterns.
Personally, as one who was essentially crippled for over ten years, I have had HUGE benefits from Feldenkrais, both from one-time lessons and from regular practice. I strongly believe that if I had not practiced Feldenkais Awareness-through Movement audio or video lessons (which can be found for free on line, or purchased for a reasonable fee), complemented by hands-on Functional Integration sessions, that I would be in a wheel-chair today.
Feldenkrais, along-side muscle strengthening activities, is a core component of my Better Movement program. I LOVE your approach and Channel, and I LOVE Feldenkrais, and consider them both essential and complementary. ( By the way, Hannah Somatics, and Bones for Life, both approaches developed by students of Feldenkrias, are also very powerful and effective approaches that are ALSO part of my movement practices.) In short, please don't embarrass yourself, or urge your subscribers to have a suspicious attitude toward Feldenkais, by coming out swinging on this one before you have a chance to explore the method in far more depth.
I'm not sure why you think I came out swinging on this. I specifically said it's worth trying but don't put all your eggs into the one basket. It can be quite powerful for some, but it won't build the strength you need to confidently handle all of life's challenges. Not sure if you watched the whole video?
@@Uprighthealth Yes I watched the whole thing but your tone sounded skeptical, dubious. I also think you show a poor grasp of the method, hence my comment about Straw Horse. I would suggest you go alot deeper into Feldenkrais before essentially warning people about it. Your title "Is Feldenkrais a SCAM?"seems pretty out there as well. How about something more like: "Is Feldenkrais worth trying?" My answer would be: Yes, absolutely it's very innovative, effective and powerful method, something everyone would get substantial benefit from, and extremely complementary to strength building activities which are also needed.
I think you've missed the point - Feldenkrais is not just about moving with awareness - and I don't think it claims to 'fix' you or work with your muscles. In my experience it's more oriented to working with bones and alignment, thinking of how your body works as a whole system and crucially offering options- new ways of moving to get you out of old patterns that are leading to aches and pain. Once you've taken those lessons on board you can do exercise without injuring yourself. I love how well grounded, balanced and ready for action I feel after doing Feldenkrais. There's also Bones For Life courses to ward off or deal with osteoporosis. I'm sure for some adding strength building exercise could be beneficial but that doesn't give you an excuse to slag off Feldenkrais as some hippy awareness practise rolling around on the floor. You're trying to compare chalk and cheese. Me thinks YOU would benefit from getting back to class and learning what it's really about.
It's almost like you want to fight even though we agree. 🤔
@@Uprighthealth No! even though I agree, mostly, with you, you present Feldenkrais in an (underhand) slightly derogatory way. Probably not what you meant. Reading all the comments under your video will give you a better idea about what Feldenkrais is about and how it helped many people. Otherwise I like your UA-cam channel.
you called this video: is Feldenkrais a scam - that's quite an insult. @@Uprighthealth
oh dear, you miss the whole point of this method, which is about neuroplasticity, movement patterns and body-mind work. Moreover, Feldenkrais is not meant to replace other kind of training
You haven't done any research on Feldenkrais method.
It is not from the hippie era… he developed his approach many years b4 hippie era by watching babies as they develop and move through typical developmental movement patterns. Awareness is first step of Changing your movement and postural patterns.
You have missed the main point of the method!!! Learning how to learn... Babies get strong enough to do what they wanna do because they are learning and regulating in this way... Think progressive overloading in the most organic way. Also the method claims nothing, unlike you 😉❤
Like you, I believed that we need to contract muscles to add resistance and strength, until 2003, when I was introduced to fascia, tensegrity and how everything connects to everything. There are no individual muscles, the body is not a biomechanical lever system. Fascia is the soft matter matrix, a web that is CONTINUOUS. It doesn't just wrap around muscles but interpenetrates. Muscle fibers (individual muscle cells) are held together by the fascial matrix. A mix of collagen, elastin and ground substance or extra-cellular matrix. It has a viscoelastic and auxetic property. Which means it expands to absorb shock. To optimise this shock-absorbing property fascia needs to be soft and supple. So we need suppleness, not resistance training as we age. Supple enough to go from standing to sitting on the floor with ease. Suppleness is the absence of stiffness and strain. Which is why movement is essential as we age. Movement does not have to be strenous. What we do need to consider is the person as whole not just the body as a mechanical structure.
Tensegrity in biology is a great resource that helps us understand the difference between biomechanics, individual muscle model and biotensegrity, the soft matter (fascia) that shapes our structure as a whole.
Biomechanics - The body is a set of levers moved by individual muscles and held upright like a column. 2-dimensional musculoskeletal. Compression model. Where you're working against the force of gravity
Biotensgrity - our body is shaped into a pre-tensioned, energy efficient structure formed by soft matter (Fascial matrix). Independant of gravity. Force is transmitted throughout. When you move everything moves. Strain in one area affects the whole.
Integrity - the absence of strain. Standing should feel effortless, with no need to fire any muscle or engage the core.
The purpose of somatic movement practices like Feldenkrais is to calm the stress and strain response caused by prescribed movements, trauma, living life on autopilot and lack of movement. He began this self-exploration from his own need to recover from injury. I'm a fascia-informed somatic movement educator with a background in Fitness, Pilates and Yoga.
If you are only taking ATM (Awareness Through Movement group classes) you might have to take a few to feel the benefits. A friend of mine took one class and she swore by it. I had to take a few, but I remember the day when it clicked. I merely THOUGHT about raising my arm and it was up, so smoothly and coordinated with zero effort. As the months and years went by, I became more graceful physically and also softer with myself inside. There are many psychological components that are improved with this practice. This stuff works, and the more awareness you bring to it, the more it will reveal in yourself.
I don't think this would work on what troubles me. I have this pressure in my head that moves around and affects my vision, my balance and gives me tremendous brain fog. Nothing has turned up on any MRI's/MRA's and ultrasounds. The neurologist said it was mental and I should go to a Chinese Medicine Clinic.
In 2014 I was introduced to a 30 minute set of Feldenkraise movements my Callanetics instructor dubbed The Daily Stretch. I’ve used them sporadically since then, (still working on that “Daily” thing) and always use them as the warmup to a Callanetics session. They’ve had a profound effect on my ability to reduce tension and free up movement. Callanetics is my strength training, to increase bone density and keep the body aligned. The Daily Stretch is my rock, the stabilizing force that opens up all the energy channels in a quiet, gentle, peaceful, almost spiritual way, connecting my brain and body as I prepare for what’s ahead. I know the Feldenkraise influence has deepened my understanding of the Callanetics movements. It’s a potent combination that keeps this 69-yr old body energetically engaged with life.
Nice video with a nice provocative title, but unfortunately you are using a "straw man" rhetorics.
One of the tools of the Feldenkrais method is reducing *unnecessary* Muscular efforts, what Moshe Feldenkrais called "Parasitic efforts". While you agree with the necessity of that, you argue that it is not helpful in case of a muscle compensating for the failure of another muscle, but you ignore the heart of the principle, that we reduce unnecessary muscular efforts, not just muscular efforts. Muscular efofrts are neccesery to the amount they contribute to movement, either by joint rotations or stabilization of joints. So in case of muscular failure, for example due to atrophy, if another synergetic muscle companste for it, this is the mvment pattern we will work with because that's what the person is capable of at the moment and there is no point in trying to reduce its efforts. But if your quad is weak you can not compensate for it for most of the time, with your hamstrings. so if your hamstrings is activated where your quad should have been activated and it's not, then this is a parasitic efforts, which actually fail you to use what you can use from your quad.
So the goal of the feldenkrais method is not merly relaxation, but restoring healthy and helpful balance of muscular efforts. Is that a scam? mayber, but I don't think you have a good argument for that.
I studied Fledenkrais in acting school. The idea for paying for what you can get from a $15 book is insane. I use it to check in with my body and to focus on my movements.
Same, had Feldie movt classes as well as weekly Alexander sessions. Always floated afterwards and thought to myself, "Where have you been? Why do you always keep 'running away'??!!" Haha
That was my thought too, why not just buy the book, I did.
After a painful injury 20 years ago, Feldenkrais helped me when PT could not. It made me enjoy living in my body in a way that I now feel younger in my 60s than I did in my 30s. I think when you apply Feldenkrais principles to your movement you will find that your whole life begins to operate from a sense of being "unified" and in more integrity. Decision making changes and elevates. While it may not be a panacea, it deserves a worthier question than the clickbait "Scam" implies - I appreciate the deep dedication that Feldenkrais brought to the exploration of human potency.
I like it, it hasn't cured my problems yet, but it helps. I use it as part of my week's exercise. I like it because my brain blocks some movements after injuries and Feldenkrais gives my body nothing to fight or resist which makes it easy and pleasant to follow the exercises. Interesting to hear a knowledgeable view.
I wonder if this will help, but Moshe Feldenkrais called his lessons "lessons", not "exercises" because the very word "exercises" conjures the idea of "effort" rather than "exploration". (I am a Practitioner myself).
You completely miss key principles with feldenkrais. Main one is using your bones for support. Dig into this concept further and it will help your practice.
I completely agree with you. I have been practicing Feldenkrais for almost 30 years, and now when I am nearly 70 years old, I am free of pain. However, I have been also sometimes practicing yoga, weightlifting, Zumba, functional training, and so on. I have injured myself doing yoga and also while working in the field, I went to a physiotherapist, but also some series of Feldenkrais sessions helped me free myself from the pain. When I lift weights , I am perfectly aware of which muscle I am working and how far I should go to avoid injury and prevent fatigue thanks to body awareness. Currently, I do Feldenkrais with recordings when I have any pain, feel tense, want to relax or looking for any uncommon solution for a problem. However I am aware, that Feldenkrais is not the only way to address psychosomatic issues, but it is a tool that I always have at hand and that always provides me with relief
We are in our 70’s and age pension and really appreciate your free utube program to keep us strong and healthy and a big thanks to those who can afford to financially support it.
I did ballet for 22 years and somatics for 10. You absolutely develop strength with enough progress. You won't get it from 2 sessions. I find your cynical attitude about it really off putting, a product of the times. A big part of how you achieve results is your willingness to be open. It's not just about relaxation it's incredibly complex. I agree strength training would be needed for someone with a serious injury but it is true that people have done that with somatics. Not everyone's out to get your money, some of us just know it's the best but you have to put in the work.
It clearly shows that you have missed what is being conveyed in FM.
I deeply appreciate the Feldenkrais technique. I took a few "Awareness Through Movement" classes years ago and had some private sessions. The book, "Relaxercise" written by Feldenkrais Practitioners, David Zemach-Bersin and Mark Reese really helped my neck and shoulders. I have been a Licensed Massage Therapist since 1985 so I have encountered lots of different techniques. I benefit from your insight, devotion, and UA-cam channel as well, Matt! 🛐
Thanks for summarizing different approaches.
Regarding Feldenkrais - my comment:
- Is there one of the mentioned or possible approaches from Yoga to PowerPlate
that does NOT improve because you do FELDENKRAIS?
- Would that be possible to confirm the other way round?
🤩🤩🤩
Hope you enjoy my video on doing Feldenkrais ;-)
In the process of figuring out which exercise program(s) available to me I need to start with to get back into shape (all fell apart in the last 2 years) at the age of 75. And after 2 heart attacks and one major surgery. Sigh. I have been looking for a place to start and am now thinking that Feldendrais probably isn't my best option. I've always been strong and in good shape but the last few years, and my age, have taken a toll. What you are saying is 'just use your muscles' which is how I got strong and stayed in pretty good shape all these years. So back to the gym, and the pool I'm thinking. And a good walking schedule sounds good.
It sounds so disparaging when you associate words like whoo-whoo, hippie, patchouli and armpits with Feldenkrais. I am first encountering it in S America in a high-end quasi-therapeutic setting. Zero of what you describe. This helps me realize that you could separate your feelings about the sort of people you associate with Feldenkrais from the technique itself. It certainly began before hippies were a thing and mind body awareness is not whoo-whoo in the least. I’d welcome a review that didn’t feel biased in a way that doesn’t seem relevant to the technique or its effectiveness or whether or not it is a scam, as stated in the title.
Im a therapist of 30 years , I find it hard to believe anyone would make a vid with this title as Feldencrais in my opinion should be free on demand as one of the most powerful ways for people to soothe their own nervous system and gain bodily awareness .Many of us live in a toxic culture where food drugs and booze are use in excess for self soothing .
Awareness can absolutely help you leverage the strength you actually have though. This is the theory of the case in some traditional martial arts where you can generate more force by alignment. I agree that stronger is better and Feldenkrais isn't strength training, but optimal alignment can absolutely increase your strength. Also, there are many free and cheap feldenkrais options it's not always thousands of dollars.
I like how Feldenkrais seems to use quite a lot of femoral rotational strength training. It seems to me that rotational strength in the legs is very important and difficult to develop in the usual walk, run, cycle, climbing stairs. I am getting a lot of mobility improvement from strengthening my rotational muscles. No knee pain, no hip weakness, running up hills.
My experience with Feldenkrais it helped me find relief after years of pain post accident. It’s subtle, it’s a great, effective tool to regain/achieve optimal functioning. It’s one of many tools, no one method, PT ,acupuncture,etc does it all.
Was watching a lovely video of the Feldenkrais method for rib cage pain, and saw the title of your video on the sidebar, so decided to watch. Sadly, you have very limited, if any, understanding of what Moshe Feldenkrais was setting out to do, and frankly, your spin, and added bunk about it being developed in the hippy days, was simply insulting. What, I wonder, makes you qualified, equivalent to Moshe, to the point that you think you can "evaluate" his work? I never trust people that critique truly amazing systems, putting their own "spin" on said systems while doing so. I will spare you my 45 years of success with the method, and leave you with suggesting that you see some kind of practitioner than can bring you up to a level of "awareness" about your own shortcomings.
Sorry, but your emphasis on muscles and strength suggests that you completely failed to understand what the Feldenkrais method is all about. Also, there are great free online lessons on YT, no need to pay “thousands of dollars” as you claim. Still can’t understand all those references to “hippies”, Moses Feldenkrais had nothing to do with the hippy movements as far as I know.
Matt, I very much enjoyed your discussion of Feldenkrais. Fair, balanced, persuasive: it was all three. Before I saw your UA-cam, what "Feldenkrais" meant to me was a segment of my morning workout: standing at attention with hands on hips, hinging forward from the hips, lowering hands to touch fingertips to the floor, squatting and raising the arms to form what I call the skiing posture, pushing up from the heels to stand at attention...repeat four to six times. This is the second segment of a routine that begins with a bit of Qi Gong to warm up and continues with a bit of yoga and some Upright Health hip mobility exercises. I am 79, diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, and working on what is now approaching a fifty-day streak completing all three rings (movement, exercise, and stand) on my Apple Watch's Activity app.
I do not understand what you are writing about. The "segment of morning workout" you describe has absolutely nothing to do with Feldenkrais. Absolutely nothing at all.
It works for me so I will continue to do this with Taro. Thank you 🙂
Totally agree! I love Feldenkrais when I need to recover from exercise or daily stress. However, where strength and function are concerned, it seems like Feldenkrais takes for granted that you already have normal strength. If this is not the case because you've been sidelined due to injury, pain etc - then a strengthening program is essential.
They work best together.
Feldenkrais does not take anything for granted. If you have injury, etc, you need to go and see a Practitioner.
If you buy a set of tapes, well, that would be for the general public, but the explanations would recommend to see a Practitioner if you have a specific issue, if you've had an accident, etc. I'm a Practitioner, and each lesson is "tailored" to the student. (The lessons are "lessons", NOT exercises, and clients are "students").
If you go an a public class of ATM lessons, then the instructor will do his/her best to help but cannot humanly focus on only one person with problems, so he/she will certainly recommend a private session!
I’ve had chronic pain most of my life and been fortunate enough to try out a boatload of different modalities. Each of the good ones give you a piece or two of the puzzle of understanding the body. I never tried Feldenkrais, but Alexander technique (AT) was huge for me as it massively increased my awareness of unnecessary tension in my mind as well as body. Strength training with compound movements has been equally helpful, and I am certain the awareness gained from practising AT has helped me train better, although lifting in itself massively increases body awareness when you pay attention to what your muscles and joints are doing. Egoscue method is another interesting one
While physical therapy is important, i find it odd how they only see one piece of the puzzle. Same with LMTs. They are into massage and ignore PT. This is why so many people are still messed up even after going to PT. Somatics and Feldenkrass, along with bodywork and PT and eating right are the entire puzzle.
Who is paying for Feldenkrass? I get the videos for free on UA-cam
I have book called Somatics by Thomas Hanna. One of the exercises was developed by Moshe Feldenkrais and it is amazing for loosening up tight muscles. There also seems to be group classes which aren't going to be too expensive
thomas hannam amazing books. such a good author.
Totally. I am a martial artist. I was invited to try some Feldenkrais training "because it's a lot like martial arts." Well, yes and no. I have found it very complementary to martial arts training, because it is all about the very important aspect of proprioception, but without the aspects of sport. Lots of people wanna hit stuff, but are incapable of developing technique, because they have so little body awareness/connection. I recommend Feldenkrais as a lowdose side salad to the entrée. (Zumba, too, BTW, to loosen the hips and development fluidity in movement.)
Well-balanced analysis. Thank you!
Mind body connection is crucial for bodybuilding and I think Feldenkrais gives people a framework to help with that. Very complementary to strength training.
I think investing a PT for a few sessions to check form is maybe a better way to go, which is what I've done in the last few months, i asked that the programme include this kind of thing as i wanted to not just get stronger (at 54, i need to think about these things!) but also pay attention to being balanced, which means paying attention to my body while I'm moving. Having done that for a while now, it starts to become automatic to notice how you move and where some kinks may need ironing out
I have had to do that too, . See my comment above. I really learned alot and got stronger. I am a little older than you. It hit home with me when Matt describes what happens when you just start sitting - with your bones and muscles.. I developed a good kinesthetic awareness and proprioception with a good DPT. thankful... yes, agreed about form. a good many ppl were not really dong their exercises correctly....
So true. I suffered from chronic back pain for many years after injury in the gym. I completely eliminating all activity and as a result, the pain went away, but the muscles all atrophied, the functionality became low. Now I'm trying to return a little, using the correct patterns of movements.
I've used feldenkrais on and off, mostly home exercises (I'm bad at keeping it up) and it's definitely helpful for me. I have a tendency to develop a lot of stiffness in my shoulders and neck for instance. The one problem I have with it is not about the exercises, but when it comes to the theory, in a lot of it, there's a sort of anti physical exercise strain throughout, . typified by a common quote that goes something like this "if you lift a heavy weight you wouldn't be able to feel a fly landing on it" - obviously you wouldn't, but this sort of thing is used not just to explain why feldenkrais (or something similar focused on micro movements) is not just a useful complement to more strength-based exercise program (which it certainly is) but really superior to it. And I agree completely with you that you can't use it to cover up weak muscles, you might learn how to sit with your back in an optimal arc with feldenkrais, but without the strength (in various muscles) you can't maintain it.
I love your approach and explanation. It’s all about awareness of what’s happening to your body and mind.
So whilst slamming other methods for slamming other methods, you quotation marks.. slam them....hmm
The best bit of advice I've had in years ...thank you 🙏
To be honest it resolved my issues magically more than the regular stretching exercises that you thankfully presenting in your respectful youtube channel
The concept is based on the brain that saved all movements you have done in your history and you need to insert new movements gently with awareness you are giving to your brain that it is ok to accept this kind of movement safely and so on but it need to be very slow and gentle
It targets the brain in the first place and the brain will direct the muscles
It needs gentle repetitions
I love Feldenkrais, both while doing it and the results.
same. I try to tell everyone about it. Sadly most people have never heard it it. This video is inaccurate in it's description of it.
Thank you for your honest opinion. I think that yoga, tai chi, qi gong also bring awareness about posture and most important about your breath and is more accesible to everyone
I think you may not have had a great deal of experience with the Feldenkrais Method. It is a cliche to describe it as 'rolling around on the floor relaxing' etc. There are over a thousand lessons and ways you can combine them and many, many of them will 'build strength' ( standing on your head, balancing on one leg and the back of your head etc). But first it may be more useful to ask you what your definition of strength is? Here you just reiterate the obvious, that it is practicing( ie exercising) the contraction and release/ shortening and lengthening of particular muscle groups in particular positions. Would that be right?
Exactly. He said it took a few sessions and has not decided he is enough of an expert to make a video about it.
Great assessment and hilarious!
So you have a problem with hippies?
Nope. If I did you'd never see me at an ecstatic dance session. 😉
So ... Feldenkrais and other "body awareness methods" are good but they miss something - but you have the ultimate method that does not miss anything?
No. There is no ultimate method. The ultimate method is LEARNING and USING your own body wisely.
@@Uprighthealth Exactly, and maybe, for the viewer you asked the question Feldenkrais might teach her something that was not relevant for you. Personally, I never tried Feldenkrais, but I took lessons in Alexander technique and read some books on it, and it helped me a great deal about how the body and the mind are connected, and how maladaptive movement habits are directly related to psychological and emotional habits - that could have not been solve by just being aware while doing strength training and stretching. By the way, I didn't mean to come across as snarky, I enjoy your videos and learn from them :)
Hi Matt, what a great channel and thanks for sharing your knowledge- I enjoy learning from you.
What are your views on qi gong (dao yin, dong jong, jing gong etc.)? There are of course many forms but overall for me it can fulfil what you prescribe, and what Feldenkreis, Rolfing, Pilates, Alexander Technique etc admirably offer as a whole but they don’t talk about the energy flow of course.
Feldenkreis, Alexander, Pilates, etc that came out of the early C20 were some of the first somatic body/mind movements that the West developed and do indeed serve some people well.
Best wishes,
Darren
Feldenkrais with Taro, a channel here, has an energy very similar to yours. I’ve followed some of his routines.
I wish there were more non-profit, multidisciplinary group practices for all body movement therapies. None has the entire answer, not even “always think muscles”. Overlapping treatments could shorten the amount of time so one is struggling with body pain.
I think it is awful that people who would really benefit cannot get access. But the people perfecting their skills in different modalities have a right to earning a good living.
The trick is to not be chauvinistic, believing that whatever someone selling you is the only answer.
Also, while I have only interacted with a couple of Feldenkrais providers, they were both generous in sharing their knowledge very affordably.
The sessions you did may not have covered them but body weight exercises are definitely a part of it.
Usually in those things there are a couple of “pre-sessions”, to get a baseline.
This video is a little beneath you TBH.
Taro is good. I second your reference.
Thankfully I had a wake up call due to an si / hip injury. Took a very Good DPT who pushed me with with strengthening, stretching and challenging my muscles. Showed and taught me good body mechanics and muscle activation.... Two DPTs told me I had good kinesthetic awareness and proprioception. So with your description with what happens when you don't do resistance training, I know what I need to do.... I have small hand weights , they will gradually be incorporated into my PT workout and light cardio. Thx. Matt. Well explained.
Love your common sense approach!
Start with the Alexander Technique. Best way to discover what you are doing unconsciously . Basis for all other exercise
Alexander and Feldenkrais emerged independently and around the same time. You can try both and choose what works for you.
Feldenkrais practice brings a dynamic muscular balance. It recognizes the myofascial principles and every session should be planned by the practitioner to improve muscle balance in each person either through Functional Integrations (one on one intervention) or an Awareness Through Movement intervention which is usually a collective class. The practitioner should perform an individual kinetic analysis and an interview to understand the movement context and needs of the client. Thank you for your thoughts and video.
HI Matt, I have followed your stuff for years and think you have a lot of great things to say. Sadly, this video was not helpful and you clearly don't really understand the Feldenkrais Method. If you are examining Feldenkrais Method solely in comparison to corrective exercise therapy with an eye on whether it can accomplish the same thing you do in your practice and teaching, thats one thing, but the commentary in your video came across as frankly sarcastic and disparaging of a practice and method that has helped and continuous to help people to grow, heal and live fuller lives. Not helpful my young friend. Not helpful at all
Feldenkrais helped me a lot with my joint pain. I have a connective tissue disorder and a severe proprioception deficit. I do manual labor so I am not deconditioned. I have muscle wasting in my hands and feet due to peripheral neuropathy. My work is excruciating. Feldenkrais helps me manage the pain.
Also I saw absolutely zero hippies when I took the Feldenkrais classes. The man who developed it (Mr Feldenkrais) had a really interesting back story though, well worth looking into. From a different time than hippies. The hippies were an admirable movement that cared about human rights and loving thy neighbor. But it’s apples and oranges as far as Feldenkrais. Completely separate topics. To question if Feldenkrais is a scam is actually pretty disparaging. And this is also disparaging to hippies. I hold them in high regard.
I would suggest consulting with a state licensed or Board Certified therapist than trusting my health with someone ( practitioner) that took some classes and all of a sudden they are instructing people who may have serious underlining or pre existing conditions that can be exacerbated with wrong instruction.
I just love your videos!
Great video! Balanced approach in physical maintenance is essential. 👍
This video is amazing. Thank you!!!❤
First of all, I’m curious what you’re gonna say, but at 1:41 I can tell you this: Fendle Christ has changed my pain level from 100% of the time, to 97% of the time: Pain Free.
I’ve been in pain since 1989, and this Fendle stuff has helped me immensely
I’m a mental health therapist, and I think it could be a really good tool for emotional regulation and integrating various things
I’m also trained as a speech therapist, and it’s very useful for helping people use their body in a more appropriate way, which can include all kinds of preventative as well as therapeutic interventions that involve the breathing mechanism and speech (Parkinson’s?)
So from what I’ve gathered, it’s some kind of special practice that I don’t know a lot about, but I watch some of the videos, and I find them very helpful for realigning myself and teaching myself how to move
My range of motion is increased. My flexibilities increased. My pain level is gone down so much. It’s almost unbelievable.
I will say, after watching the FK videos:
You might want to pull your shoulders back further and when you lift your head, you push your shoulders forward and you are you arch neck too much
When you take a step, you land too heavily on your heel, and you have limited range of motion in your right heel
In order to correct that you need to keep your feet flat on the ground and do what we used to call skiers exercises and trying to go down in a balanced way and you’ll notice what they teach you in Fendel is that you’re leaning too far on one side or the other and you’re not balanced over the top of your body and your spines not neutral and then you start to do everything wrong and 40 years later you are really hurting.
What you seem to be missing is that you’re not comparing this found in Christ Feld in Christ whatever that’s called with every other type of movement which is a model-based system
Every other tai chi or whatever it’s called martial arts or ballet you can do all the same things but you’re a model and you’re trying to achieve some goal as if that person is the ideal
What you’re missing is that you are the center of it all and getting in touch with your body at that level whether you move fast or slow is not the issue but you slow down in order to feel the micro movements
Your muscles are firing at the rate of thousands of times per second and by slowing down you can feel where the tension is in your own body and you use your own body as a reference
And all other systems, use someone else’s body or some ideal position as a reference, such as yoga, for example.
Having bodily awareness is not something that comes naturally as Arnold Schwarzenegger showed us by making sure he worked out in the gym that had mirrors on every single wall
You look at bodybuilders in their typically hunched over, and they make this front muscle pose in the mirror, and they arch their body forward, and they tighten up their abdominals
You almost never see them, put their arms up high and high or spread their arms out like Arnold did
You almost never see them, put their arms out and pull their elbows back, even with their shoulders as they do a back pose
So you can focus, even if you have mirrors
Having somebody give you feedback after you’ve been addicted to oxycodone for 30 years is worth it and you don’t understand that because you’re young and you don’t hurt yet
You have no idea how many thousand of dollars I would’ve paid if somebody told me hey do this for three months and 97% of your back pain will go away
I would’ve said that’s ridiculous. I’ve been to seven chiropractors and two physical therapists and I hurt 100% of the time.
I don’t take drugs because I don’t like them and I just deal with my pain
I’m the one who hang gliding I’m the one who went down the side to do I’m the one who rode the mountain bikes I’m the one who did the water skiing in the snow skiing and I deserved every single injury that I ever earned ripping myself apart
But somehow I lived past and dammit at that age dude you hurt so bad just getting up
Do you realize that the lady who invented architecture that’s used in modern buildings, now put sticks on her arms and sticks on her legs and did things to limit her range of motion to become like an elderly person, and that’s how we went away from door knobs to doorhandles, because this genius, young lady Put herself in the perspective of an old person who had arthritis
You’re not getting yourself in the perspective of another person you’re judging it from the outside and that’s why you’re judgment is flawed
You’re entitled to your opinion, but you’re not even looking at it correctly you don’t see what it’s about it’s internally driven practice that can help reduce your pain significantly and restore, flexibility, and range of motion that’s been lost for decades, and I can say that as an elite athlete whose uncle was in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics as the number two cyclist in the USA
I promise you man I’m an athlete still, but I’m in pain all day every day
And watching my pain level go down in the last three months has made me a believer. It don’t matter what nobody says.
You dont understand what is Feldenkrais: what a pitty!!!