Should we call it the “Feldenkrais Method” or the “Feldenkrais Message?” Lately, I’ve been going through recordings and transcripts of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais teaching workshops to the public. I had listened to some before but was often dissuaded from continuing because of poor recording quality, long talks, and thinking that to fully appreciate the lessons,

What is Natural Movement?

In my last post (click here to read), I talked about how seemingly natural movements are not necessarily so natural. I also said that I would write about how to make your movement practice more natural, or effective. However it’s taken me quite some time to get this post ready because defining what is natural movement for humans is not so easy as we are capable of learning and developing a vast array of movements. If you compare the movements of a ballet dancer, to a strong woman competitor, to a surgeon to a musician, you will find high levels of vastly different skill sets and abilities.

What I can glean from researching articles and advertisements from natural movement proponents is that natural movement is the ideal movement from our evolution as a species. The reasoning goes like this: Our species reached its highest level of movement development as hunter/gatherers and since that time, with the advent of agriculture and later, the industrial revolution and now smart phones, we’ve been declining in strength and ability ever since. Therefore, in order to regain our optimal health, we need to return to doing things like our ancestors did. So that means, the dancer, the strong woman athlete, the surgeon and the violinist should all possess some common movement abilities, as should the rest of us.

What are those basic movement abilities?

In response to our modern lifestyle, with all the conveniences that “save us time and energy,” and  destroy our collective health, there are a growing number of “natural” or “primal” based fitness methods sprouting up all over the fitness landscape. From my perspective as a Feldenkrais practitioner, this is a welcome and long overdue development.