The other day somebody asked me about how 'my Feldenkrais' was going. It might seem like an odd question, but it was actually a good one, especially the way they put it.
They'd remembered that I was doing weekly Feldenkrais classes over six weeks at this time last year. Part of me thought the question was a bit odd because I did Feldenkrais a year ago and now I'm on to other things.
Feldenkrais is a method of improving the dignity of human body movement, and our psychological state, through focus on connections between the brain and body.
My friend was wondering about the lasting impact of my Feldenkrais classes on my life. Whether I'd made it my own and it had in fact become 'my' Feldenkrais.
I'd like to think that the answer was 'yes', but I'd have to admit that it is half way between 'yes' and 'no'.
It's curious that, unlike dieting to reduce weight, all you need to do to enjoy the benefits of Feldenkrais is to bring it to mind. That's because Feldenkrais is essentially mindful movement. If you're able to make a habit of bringing it to mind - effortlesslesly, of course - there's essentially nothing more to do. It helps if you've done the course and can recollect what you did in at least some of the classes.
As if it's exercise for the lazy, Feldenkrais involves no special effort or anything that resembles pain. In fact my teacher Margaret would say that if what you're doing hurts, it doesn't heal (perhaps a subtle dig at other body wellness methods such as yoga that some people find 'punishing').
I have not heard it pitched like this to the lazy, but I'm fairly sure that Margaret would not entirely disagree with me, even though I think she would baulk at my suggestion that it's for lazy people.
She used to encourage us to think about it in our own way in order to make us conscious of our own movement. I remember she approved when I described Feldenkrais as 'artful movement', which is a phrase that meant something to me. While sitting in a chair, I sometimes ask myself whether I'm sitting 'artfully', or if I am slouching like an out of shape rag doll.
I remember that I was about to take a long distance flight to Europe and had the idea that I could turn my 25 hour captivity in my economy class seat into something more blissful and at the same time improve my bodily and psychological wellbeing. So I downloaded Margaret's audio recordings of her Feldenkrais meditation about sitting and, while inflight, listened to it on a loop for as long as I felt it was working for me.
My point about making Feldenkrais my own is that many people do dozens or more wellness or self-improvement courses during their lives and then promptly move on after each one of them. But if we're able to bring to mind some of the insights we gained, it's likely that we will enjoy their benefits all over again.