The Feldenkrais Method is an educational method based in neuroscience, physics, child/human development and sensory-motor learning.
Its founder, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc. (Doctorate in Science), was a scientist, engineer, martial artist, and pioneer in the area of sensory-motor learning and neuroplasticity.
As an educational method, it is based on learning. This is different than exercise, training, or stretching.
Instead of looking to perfect one movement, or improve one specific skill, it improves your ability to make more refined perceptual discriminations about yourself in action. You become more self aware through a clearer knowledge of the complex relationships of all aspects of yourself. This knowledge is felt in a personal, immediate, concrete, tangible, way.
This not only improves your ability to move with greater fluidity, natural grace and ease, it also opens you to moving in more varied, adaptable and creative ways without losing your sense of wholeness, coherence and harmony.
More importantly the Feldenkrais Method enriches your capacity to engage in the learning process.
You begin to know how to learn with more ease and effortlessness. This enhances the way you engage in the process of life. Utilizing and trusting your sensations informs your learning, relating and decision making processes throughout the whole of your life, not just in movement.
As Feldenkrais said:
“Movement is life. Life is a process. Improve the process and you improve ones life.”
In other words, movement, or more accurately, learning and developing awareness through movement improves life.
So, rather than aiming to improve one specific skill or action, the Feldenkrais Method improves ones ability to learn any and all skills or actions a person may wish to or need to learn.