The Feldenkrais Method and Neck pain
The Feldenkrais method of somatic movement education is more a philosophy than a method. It is a way of looking at ourselves. We tend to limit ourselves in all walks of life. We do not give ourselves options and tend to act in a repetitive fashion.
The Feldenkrais method teaches us to break away from this repetitive way of living and shows us that we do have choices. At first we may only allow ourselves one or two alternative ways of moving or reacting to a situation, but with practice we get closer to the good habit of never repeating ourselves and our movement patterns.
The Feldenkrais movement lessons that Moshe Feldenkrais named Awareness through Movement take us on a journey of self discovery that leads us to freedom from limitations. We focus on the way we do things, on the way we initiate a movement, on the way we carry the movement on until we understand what it is that we are doing, so that we can do otherwise.
Until we understand what it is that we are doing, we have no choice but to move and act the way we do habitually. These lessons are done usually on a soft carpet on the floor and last from 30 minutes to one and a half hours. They are conducted by a trained Feldenkrais practitioner that has undertaken a rigorous 4 year training. In this training the future practitioner does all the lessons herself so that her body images becomes more clear and therefor she can pass that knowledge onto other.
As the Feldenkrais method deals with body image and breaking away from limited movement patters, the “side effects” are that the body begins to function more harmoniously and so the skeleton and muscles are used in a more efficient manner. This reduces strain on bones and muscles and results in aches and pains reducing. The
The head hold all our Teleceptors and so is constantly moving about. It is therefor the area which is most prone to accumulating stress and strains. The Awareness Through Movement lessons help balance out the muscular tonus and allows us to let go of a lot of the unnecessary tensions that we hold onto. It is this letting go of unnecessary tension and allowing ourselves to use a wider range of movements that end up helping us with our neck pain.
We have to be careful here, because we have accumulated a lifetime of bad habits and so we cannot fool ourselves into believing that our aches and pains will magically vanish after an hour of work. The Feldenkrais work is something that we should do on a regular basis and make part of our lives. In this way we will increase our movement capital and move more functionally.
