Critical Times

Exercise! It’s screamed from every social
pulpit imaginable.

If you don’t do it you’ll be
unhealthy, fat, lazy, die young and probably
develop deeply immoral tendencies.

But what is it people are actually doing
when they power walk, push weights in
gyms, sweat on a treadmill, hone, sculpt,
and regiment their bodies? Most exercise
systems rely on the maxim of no pain
no gain. Even in the more progressive
approaches this attitude often prevails
because the belief that “the body” must be
made to do its work through will, muscle
and force is deep in our cultural, economic
and social structures. This view of the human
body goes hand in hand with the idea of the
body as a machine and like a machine bits
break down and must be fixed.

The mechanical view of the human body
developed over a long period but has
prevailed in Western cultures since the
Industrial Revolution turned the vast
majority into wage slaves. For many of us
in a contemporary capitalist society, we
face the further problem of our working
and home lives becoming more and
more sedentary and our play passive. The
“winners” are stressed from over-work and
the pressure to succeed and maintain their
status ;the “losers” are stressed from being
under-valued, poor and, often, vilified by the
culture at large.

The cost of such a culture to the quality
of life is well documented-people become
disconnected from themselves and the
organic, spontaneous way we learnt to
move and interact with our environment
as children is replaced by a plethora of
ailments, fatigues and pains, or simply a
feeling that something of our chutzpah has
been lost.

That we carry the effects of a dysfunctional
culture within us, in the very fibres of our
musculoskeletal system and its relationship
with our brains, requires a process that goes
beyond or runs in parallel to the solutions
handed out by the exercise industry.
Dr Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984) was a
Russian-born scientist whose personal
experience led him to a lifelong investigation
of the structure and function of the human
nervous system and of the processes within
us which make us truly and uniquely human.
His contention was that the mind-body
dichotomy prevalent in Western cultures
had posed more problems than it solved
and set out to prove that the oneness of
mind and body was not only a philosophical
supposition but an objective reality.

The Feldenkrais Story

When Feldenkrais sustained a serious knee
injury in a soccer match, he was told that
whilst surgery had a 50% chance of success,
failure could confine him to a wheelchair for
the rest of his life.
He didn’t like the odds!
In a search for his own answers he began
an extensive study of human anatomy,
neurology, child development, anthropology
and psychology.
Integrating this knowledge
with his training in mechanical engineering,
physics and martial arts (he was the first
Westerner to receive a Black Belt in Judo)
and through years of experimentation with
movement he developed the means to cure
himself . Over time and with the realisation
that his insights could also help others the
Feldenkrais Method® emerged.
It is now taught by trained Practitioners throughout
the world and practised by people from
many walks of life.

About the Method

The Method makes powerful use of the
human capacity for lifelong learning and
an understanding of the body’s innate
design for effective action. The aim is not
only to achieve more effortless movement
but to bring about a better organisation
of thoughts, feelings and senses. This
enables people to more easily do what
they want to do in their lives.
The gentle, innovative lessons are designed to build the
individuals awareness of their current habits
of movement, where these are restricting
them and what other options are available.
It is relevant to all human activity from work
to recreation, from performing and visual
arts to injury rehabilitation, from sport to
everyday actions like tying your shoelace or
reaching for a cup.

The Benefits

• Increase your flexibility, ease of movement
  and co-ordination.

• Improve your stability, strength and
  balance.

• Release pressure on muscles and joints,
  reducing pain and stiffness.

• Stimulate your thoughts and feelings.

• Recognise
  and release
  mental and
  physical
  tension.

• Deepen
  relaxation
  while
  increasing
  alertness and
  spontaneity.

How is it taught?

Through individual lessons known as
Functional Integration (FI) lessons.
Clients usually lie or sit, comfortably clothed, on a
low padded table. The practitioner guides the
client through a series of movements with a
light, skilled touch. The nature of the lesson
is determined by the client’s individual needs
and what they wish to improve.

Group classes, known as Awareness Through
Movement (ATM) are also available. A
Feldenkrais Practitioner verbally guides
the participants to explore a sequence
of movements, designed to increase self
awareness and evoke new movement
patterns.

Who benefits?

• People of all ages, children to elders.

• Performing artists and sportspeople
  seeking to improve their performance.

• People whose work has challenging
  physical requirements (eg computer users).

• People wanting relief from stiffness,
  pain, strain or injury.

• People with neurological difficulties or
  learning problems.

• People who simply want to inhabit their
  bodies more fully and pleasurably.

Eileen Darley is a Feldenkrais Practitioner living
and working in the Semaphore / Port Adelaide
area. Eileen is an actor with over twenty years
experience working in theatre and film. While
her background is in the Performing Arts
Eileen is committed to bringing the Feldenkrais
community to all who may find it useful.

For further information about the Method,
to enquire about one-on-one lessons or to
attend classes please ring her on 84496828.