Feldenkrais Method - Approach

Approach

Moshé Feldenkrais taught that increasing a person's kinesthetic and proprioceptive self-awareness in the context of functional movement could lead directly to increased function, and could also lead to greater ease and pleasure of movement. Through his method, he sought to "make the impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy elegant". The Feldenkrais Method is therefore a movement pedagogy as opposed to a manipulative therapy. The Method is experiential, providing tools for self-discovery through movement enquiry.

Feldenkrais is used to improve habitual and repetitive movement patterns rather than to treat specific injuries or illnesses. However, because habitual and repetitive movement patterns can contribute towards and in some cases cause injury, pain, and physical dysfunction, the method is often regarded as falling within the field of integrative medicine or complementary medicine. In Sweden the method is practised within the mainstream healthcare system usually by physiotherapists.

Moshé Feldenkrais also asserted that improvements to a person's movement could have a direct influence on cognitive and emotional function: "what I am after is more flexible minds, not just more flexible bodies". In particular, he wrote extensively about the connections between movement and anxiety.