The Intelligence of a Body in Movement
“If you know what you are doing, you just do whatever you want”. “Listening to our body in motion, playing with it, is the most effective way to shape our mind”.
The first sentence, far from being a commercial slogan, is a statement used by Moshé Feldenkrais (1904 – 1984) to explain the nature of the psycho-corporeal practice that bears his name. The second thought, in quotation marks, is from the writer, a Feldenkrais practitioner for about 15 years. A thought, the one I expressed, which Moshé declared in multiple and more effective ways than my own. The teaching that summarizes every discovery made by Professor Feldenkrais can be summarized as follows: “Every aspect of our life, including self-esteem, relational capacity and creativity, is closely connected to our posture and the way we relate to our body in motion.”
Personally, this is how I define Feldenkrais. It is a brush to draw and redefine, infinitely, our internal and external image. It is a tool with which we “learn to learn”. In other words, by practicing Feldenkrais, we improve in every area of our lives, because we do it in a more functional way. There is no right or wrong in the practice we are talking about. There is only a more comfortable, easier and more functional way to do it, as we have already said. And the parameter is ourselves.