E MOTIONS Feldenkrais |oumal no.4 I EDNTOR'S PAGE rrlze l88 Dear Colleagues, The subject of this fourth edition of the Feldenkrais@ )ournal, "Feldenkrais and the Emotions," is, I believe, a timely one for our communiry. We received more of a re- sponse to this ]ournal, in the form of articles and inquuies, than any other to date. It was also a pafticularly interesting issue for me to edit. I disagreed with many of the articles we received and the whole process has greatly stimulated my thinking on the subject! I trust that it will also stimulate yours and generate discussion, controversy/ clarification etc. This summer in Montreal the North American Guild's Annual Con- ference will continue these discussion by focusing on "Feldenkrais and the Emotions" as its theme. I was heartened by your responses to the last |oumal in the form ol letters to the editor, many of which I have printed here. Please keep the letters coming. Although I do appreciate your thanks and support I am particularly interested in letters that comment on the content of the |ournal and/or specific articles' I hope that this issue will especially inspire your comments. I want to thank Mrchael Brikey, Larry Goldfarb and |ack Heggie for their ongoing help and support in the putting together of this issue. There have also been many others who have been very helpful along the way with copy editing and proofreading and I hope that they know how much this is appreciated. The next edition o{ the }ournal will focus on the subject of Feldenkrais and the Arts. If you have any experience in this area, i.e. teaching or doing dance, different forms of visual arts/ acting/ etc., please consider submitting an article, poem/ personal experience, photo, drawing, etc. I especially need help with graphics. If we had more photos and drawings I think the ]ournal would be more interesting. Do any of you draw or take pictures? Take a risk. Send me somel As alt'ays, articles on any Feld- enkrais related subject wil1be considered no matter what the theme of a particular issue. I believe that this issue of the |ournal raises many issues and I expect that the next issue will include articles in response to those printed here continuing the "emotional" theme. If you are considering writing an article, please write to me or the Guild office and request a copy of the guidelines for articles submitted. I hope that you enjoy this issue. Sincerely, /--/ e'L/ Elizafr.thBerrngf Edit6r / FEt DE TKRC,/S /CURATAZ /SS[.IE ArUAdtsER FCUR CONTENTS The Feldenkrais |ournal is published armually by Letters to the Editor 2 the Feldenkrais Guild Ior its members. Material for From Body Oriented Therapies to Feldenkrais: publication can be sent to: The Feldenl<rais Guild, A Psychologist's Loop P.O. Box 11145, San Francisco, CA 94101 USA. Yvanloly...... 4 Additional copies of this |ournal are available Emotional Learning: through the Guild oIIice lor S5.00 US each plus Developing Emotional Intelligence $1.00 US for postage and handling. Bulk rate {ees are available on request. Back issues of |ournai Frank Wildman 8 No. 3 are also available for the same price. The Roots of Functional Integration: Part Il-Communication and Leaming The deadline for submissions to the upcoming Carl Ginsburg. 13 foumal is May 1, 1989. The subject is leldenkrais and the Arts. Please write to the Guild office or A Case Study the editor Ior a copy of our wnter's guidelines Ior Paul Rubin. 20 inJormation about format, length, computer A Lesson With Tears: compatibility, etc. Functional Integration or Psychotherapy? Feldenkrais@, theFeldenlrais Guild@, the Feld- Robert Spencer 23 enkrais Method@, Functional lntegration@ and Emotions: Awareness Through Movement@, are all registered An Undeveloped Dimension of the Feldenkrais Method servicemarks of the leldenkrais Cuild. )osephDelagrotte ...26 PLEASE NOTE: Functional Integration ahd the Feeling-Sense The watercolor on page 34 of |ournal # 3 RalphStrauch ......30 was by LizaWeaver Elements of Psychotherapy in the Feldenkrais Method Matt Frie4 Ph.D. . 36 Kinesthetic Accessing Andrew Gaines. 40 Research Report 43 Editor: Elizabeth Beringer Editorial Advisors: Michael Brickey, Larry Goldfarb, fack Heggie Design: Margery Cantor General Editorial Assistance and Proofteading: Steve Duke, Matt Fried Sharon Lamb, Elizabeth Lynn, Paul Rubin, Michaela Roessner-Herman, Maura Daly Drawings: Michaela Roessner-Herman Feldenkrais |oumal Issue # 4 Page2 I.ETTERS 7TO TN]IE EDNTAR Dear Elizabeth: what for most of us is so difficult to ex- to be a misapplication of the work could I read |oumal #2 word for word. I plain. The article retailed the profound help others in thrs community. I wish to was fascinated by the stories of Moshe, humanness of Functional Integration cast no aspersions on your work in India got ideas {or my classes, and reading it while at the same time pailtilg a pic- nor on your anicle, wlrich was both generally stimulated me and got me ture of EI's precision. It is an invaluable inJormative and inspirational. I wish talking about my work in a whole new article. Thank you to Cari for his efforts only to request a more complete ac- context. I appreciated the work both you in writing it and thank you, the editor counting of your experiences there. and Dennis did on that publication. of the ioumal, {or making it available Perhaps I am choosing a sma1l point on I also read Journal #3 cover to cover. to us. which to pontificate, but the broader Mark's case study read like a good FI question I am tryiag to address is Respectfully yours, feels! The other articles were equally whether we as a community wish to Cheryl S. Reinhardt interesting. It's so helpful to me to hear share only good news, or all the news. anecdotes and interventions. They give Dear Elizabeth: David King me new ideas, remind me of o1d ones In response to your request for letters and rein{orce present ones. I humbly submit these few thoughts. Keep those joumals comingl I only Where is the fun stu{fl All the good wish there were more oI them. stuff that I enjoy so much in the check- Best regards, out lines at the supermarket? I didn't luliet McCoy-Needham see one conversation with a space alien in the whole magazine. Surely someone Dear Elizabeth: must know Moshe's opinion of Elvis First I'd like to say how much I and Priscilla. enioyed Issue #3. It was professional in Another thing, the little geometric layout, had style, and was easy to read. graphics are great, but imagine my There is a great need for a joumal of this chagrin when I tried to work them out type in the field. It conveys the ongoiag- as mazes and kept dead ending. I think ness of ideas irr the Feldenkrais world you need more o{ the Sunday Comics and establishes that there are care{ul genre of games. I did a great shade-in- and interestiag practitioner-thinkers up the-dotted-parts picture il the Chron and about. iast week. Personally I most enjoyed the articles But seriousiy, as Bob Hope says in by Mark Reese, the Delmans, and Carl jest, I wanted to address a question to .::€ Girrsburg. As far as constructive citi- the Evans-Delman team. Why do you cism: Perhaps the article on dance could dwell so briefly on your work in Bodhi have been written more anecdotally or Gaya? Surely negative data is iust as inf- as a case study rather than presented as ornative as any other. AI examination a'study'. I think the N was too small to of what in your brief description seems warant such a categorization. Second, the article on skiing could have used more content/ more specific techniques, more of the author's thilking. The article stayed very much on the surface compared to the other writing. I hope the above feedback is help{u1. Matt Fried, Ph.d. To the Editor: I want to thank you {or Carl Ginsburg's article on Functional Inte- gration. Carl managed to write in words Feldenkrais |ournal Issue # 4 Page 3 ]LETTERS 7'C TN]IE EDNTC]R Dear Elizabeth: teachers' professional processes in I'm amazed that you have received evolving successful practices. For exam- virtually no mail about the Feldenkrais ple, what are people doing "out there?" ]oumal! I am so grateful to have the Are they working alone? Are some in copy we received at our traiaing last centers? Are some in institutions? week, and I'm enclosing a check for I'd be interested in essays by experi- the two previous issues. I Like the size, enced teachers in which they share layout, t1pe, and color of the paper. I their visions for expanding and develop- find the grammatical errors a minor irrg the present scope of Feldenkrais annoyance... work: Lr the community, the culture, I enjoyed every contribution to this the world. I'm iaterested in how the issue, each in a diIferent way. I am work is given and received in different thrilled that CarI Ginsburg has taken it cultural eontexts. There must be some upon himself to write his much needed diJferences. The Delmans article cer- fl:*i+ essay, "The Roots of Functional Inte- tainly attests to this. I'd be i-nterested in Fl.,fl.8 gration." Carl's abfity to combine book reviews, or brief lists of books cur- :.-i=+.-==1-4E=5' literacy, science, and human warmth rently being read by a few teachers, or :E in his essay is real1y gratifying and I briei lists of books that they found J=- can tell you that many of us here have especially useful or important in their been reading the essay over and over. development {preferabiy books that are i would love to read articles not only currently in print and availabie). about work with individuals and I could go on and on with things I'd groups, but subjective experiences of Like to read. As it is, I hope you are in- personal change and development, and undated with letters in resporrse to yoru editor's page/ the |oumal and the gener- osity of your commitment and energy. Sincerely, Anna Smukler To the Editor: Thank you, Elizabeth, for continuiqg your excellent and dedicated work into this third issue. I also wish to erq)ress my appreciation to you, your past co- editors, editorial advisors, designers, fr staff, and all the contributorc to the three premier issues of the Feldenkrais |ournal for providing the community with such a valuable service. In our San Francisco trairriag Moshe described the third "approximation" as being able to express the learning pro- cess in words. This is what the joumal is all about. Through the power of the word the journal contributes substan- tidly to the entrance of our maturing profession into the society at large. Yours sincerely, Mark Reese Feldenkrais |ournal Issue # 4 Page 4 YVAN FROM BODY.ORIENTND PSYCHOTHERAPIE,S ?O FELDENXNEIS loLY A PSYCHOLOGIST'S LOOP About Body-Oriented Therapies pists or psychotherapists who work experience, and to your inner life pro- 'with the body' may encourage a client cess? Is it not rnvolved? Surely not in WHrN I FIRST ENCouNrrrEo Moshe's or patient to directly and voluntarily the way described here--or perhaps so! work in the early seventies, t had breathe more or differently than he or And iJ such 'psychological' events do already been exposed, since the late she usually does. This can be done not occur with that intensity, what is sixties, to a plethora of approaches (e.g. through a variety of techniques, in- the 'psychological' value of the FeId- Gestalt, Bioenergetics, Psychomotor, to cluding hands-on work. By auSmenting enkrais lessonsi And if they do occur, mention a few) where the emotional the volume or intensity, by changing what can be done about it, if anything? condent of bodily experiences was the rhythm or range, the client fiads revealed, enhanced, acted out, analyzed him or herself out o{ his or her hatritual From Body-Oriented Therapies to and'therapeutized'. The embodiment pattem. A {requent e{fect is the emer- Feldenkrais: A Culture Shock of the 'psychological selJ ' was experi- gence of sensations/ the expression of enced and discovered. Indeed, as is now emotions/ the production o{ images, and CorvrrNc FRoM BoDy-oRTENTED therapies obvious to many of us, our whole life the creation of cathartic experiences. and psychotherapy I vinually had a experience is reflected irr our tonal and Memories may be brought back to con- cultural shock rn m,v first contacts with movement habits. sciousness and traumatic events may be the Feldenkrais Method. My fust ATM relived in the here-and-now. Relational lessons \/ere a real chaLlenge in being Like plants we grow according to issues may be reactivated. Under the com{ortable with m1.sel{. I struggled light and nourishment sources. We heading of 'transference', the client rnay with headaches, alxrety, and waves of twist ourselves in adaptation to life's reenact his inner experience with par- emotion. Obviousll'I could not inte- requirements, seeking a{fection, strug- ents, friends, or spouse. The therapist or grate this experience rvith my back- gling with sicknesses, recuperating some other person in the therapeutic ground: When r.r'as there gorng to be from accidents, etc. We do or do not context may then serve as a projection time to express ourselves, ta1k, relive, resolve our conflicts and tensions with screen fcrr previously experienced rela- understand? I could not comfortably our envirorrment and with our'close- tional pattems. This reliving of past ex- stay il this realm of easy movement. others'" The way we do or don't resolve periences is olten connected to anxiety, our life situations determines our atti- pain, and resistance Irom the client. One of my iirst fI lessons was with tudes, our postures/ our character. In This is quite understandable, since the an experienced IsraeLi teacher trained fact, our 'seU' is the result of all these person is brought within the proximity by Moshe. I remember that I immedi- experiences: We are what we have ex- o{ feelirrgs, behaviors, and memories ately associated the expenence with perienced. Breathing, for exampie, is which he or she has, often very la- motherly caring, which, by the way, did centrally related to our patterns o{ boriously, tried to suppress or avoid. not leave me emotionally neutral! feeling and living. It is invoived in eve- 'Sharing' with the teacher afterwards, I rything we do. We learn to breathe the As the material of the client's inner lsalizsd she was very surprised that I \^/ay we do in part through imitation of Ii-fe emerges, the therapeutic process would experience and even talk about signilicant others. We aiso sculpt our can be applied. For some approaches, such an intimate event. I myself was breathing organization, both postwally the mere emergence of the unconscious even more surpnsed thar an experi- and functionally, through events of our material to the conscious mind and its enced teacher working 'with the body' lives. We thus grow a repertoire of discharge or expression to the therapist would not be familiar with such reper- breathing options amonS the innumer- or to the group have therapeutic value. cussions: Culture shock in its literal able variety o{ possibfities. From the For others, the interpretation, symboLi- and broad sense, fust simple breathing pattems of infan- zationt verbal or movement expression, cy, we find sensory, emotional/ concep- or the living-with-new-outcomes, are Needless to say, when the first year tual, and socially acceptable choices, essential. of the Amherst training started, I was and we avoid restricted, unused or yet- totally unprepared for two months of unknown options. Now, what happens in your Feld- non-verbal, non-expressive rolling on enkrais erperience? When you lie on the floor with more than two hundred Now, to pursue our example about the floor or on the table for a lesson, other anon).rnous/ apparently non- breathing, some body-oriented thera- what happens to your breathing feeling often zombie-Iike trainees. Feldenkrais |ournal Issue # 4 Page 5 EROM BODY.ORIENTED PSYCHOTHERAPIES TO FELDENXNEIS I could not stand or understand that slammed at, il Moshe's usual style. On What I later learned to call 'functional Moshe lvas lgading this first year of Monday a{temoon, finally, Moshe took integration' was missing. What needed training without even recognizing the the question out of the pocket of his to be leamed was how to develop a relationship of body movement to the etemal blue shin and staned to nag: sense of possibilities and ease. In short, inner life process, and without acknowl- "A question from experts," he said, a long way to go for us and our profes- edgi.g a 'whole person' kild of aware- "psychologists. " Basicnlly, relying on sional outlook. ness. I spent seven of the first nile my biased memory, he said something weeks wondering how I would suJ{er iike this: ln the very notion of therapy, as well through this ordeal and i{ I would stay All these discomt'orts in your as rn healing, there is a reference to a at all to see the end. Was this man inner Tives are manifestations paradigm, an ideal platonic model of really unaware of all this inner experi- of your powerlessness and how thiags should be. Being sick is ence that his movement sequences insecurity. Leam to make yow- 'gettilg away' from the model. Most raised in us----or at least il me and a few self seatre. therapies and most medical models of my kind? Moshe rarely gave personal deal with problems, diagnosis, propo- support, nor did he inquire about our Either Moshe was out in the blue sis, and treatment plans i:e order to put 'process'. I particularly resented the faet about psychology or he was porntrrg to things straight, back to the ideal model. that there were some two hrindred and a major new aspect. So, to do psychotherapy, one needs to twenty of us and that we received no find the psychologrcal problem. Com- personal attention, recogrution, or per- From Therapy to Learning paratively, leamirrg deals with the de- sonal cariag. In fact, Moshe created the velopment of new skills, new possibili- perfect setting to keep everythiag of the Ir rOor rrrE e whole year to massage in ties. It puts less accent on the experi- innsl pslsenal life in the background, in this message. As I am writilg this now, encing, the amplification, the interpre- the unconscious/ in the not-said. (As it I have lived long enough with the quest- tation and the expression of the fgslings turns out, such a settixg may also be ion and with Moshe's pointer to realize related to the restriction. The learning the best one for people to learn how to that through my troubled tral:rag I dis- strategy concentrates on the creation of take care of themselves, by themselves.) covered the di{ference between therapy alternate ways to get what we want. and leaming. What some of us experi- After seven weeks of thrs circus, enced in ATM was discomfon with our Pain, recurring emotions of frustra- Marcia Germaine Hutchinson {another innsl lifg processes. There{ore we tion, obsessive behavior, failure in re- psychologist 'under the influence') and I looked for therapy, from a therapeutic lations, psychosomatic symptoms, to courageously wrote Moshe a very direct point of view. The more we &d what name a few examples/ are corrlrnon question: we did in the way we did it, the more maniJestations of not getting what we Dear Moshe: Why are you not we had therapy material entering into want. The original reason, the context saying anything about what is our picture, and the more we su{{ered within which we produce the undesired provoked in ourselves by the from powerlessness. On the other hand, result or cannot produce the desired movement! What should we do Moshe alluded to the fact that our com- result, can be amplified and studied. By about all these phenomena; free- pulsive behavior created the discomlort. comparison, the leaming approach flo ating anxiety, out - of - cont ext We were facing our own powerlessness creates situations where the system can eruotions, confusion, r e app e ar - to give ourselves 'better' inner qualities. develop the required skills to move ance of asauned-to-be-bwied old What we experienced was the result of towards his or her intended result. patterns of behavior, such as ob- our own actions. Our discomjort with When in our ATM or F[ we progress in sessional thoughts, food uavings, all our symptoms was therefore a pro- movement with a general sense of com- etc.; also unusual perceptions of voked discom{ort, and partly the result fort, Iooking, and sensing, for pleasure oneself, of the world, and finally o{ good training in dealing with prob- and ease and harmony, our inner life vadous bodily symptoms: nausea, Iems and restrictions. Our di{ficulties does not 'bother' us. We feel less afraid head a ches, disturb e d sle ep, were a rcflection of our wanting to go or less concemed, less powerless. Our pimples, to mention only a few. too quickly, too directly, without know- inner life reflects our harmony il ing how to take care of ourselves. Even doilg, rather than reflecting our'prob- It was noon on a Friday. The week- if we tried our besr, we were repeating a Iems'in not doing. We can cope with end went by slowly. Marcia and I felt strategy that simpiy amplified our dis- what we experience, without the com- quite anxious. We knew we would be comfort and our emotional 'charge'. pulsion to share or the necessity for Feldenkrais |ournal Issue # 4 Page 6 FROM BODY-ORIENTED PSYCHOTHERAPIES TO PELDENKRAIS therapy. (In fact, some therapists, modes of action, new behavior, then the body is the mind." The progress of mainly psychoanalysts, stop their pa- Feldenkrais has something reaily irrter- one is the progress of the other. Thus, tients from doing Feldenkrais exactly esting to offer: A concrete way to do one can choose any point of view of a for that reason: The problems tend to just that. person. He who is aware of the fuII self disappear, the anxiety tends to reduce, will not believe he is doing psychother- the projections tend to be reappropri- From Psychotherapy apy, physical education, psychosoma- ated. So where has the therapeutic ma- to Organic Learning tics, or movement education. Some terial gone? Understanding ow prob- people, some teachers or therapists, are ) lems and their origin, expressing our A ruw rrloNrHs AGo I was visited at my more comiortable with such or such felt diJficulties, symbolizing them, are studio by an old acupuncturist who, aspect of their person. But it is the frrll ali possibilities, and surely better ones reading the sign "Centre Feldenkrais", person that is 'organically'Ieaming or than behaving as i{ our limitations decided he would come in. I had a few healing. [n iact, Moshe Feldenkrais was were not there. Many of the approaches minutes between iessons so we began one of the {irst to express with such from the Human Potential Movement chatting. "Feldenkrais?" he asked. clarity the rnseparable integrity of our- of the 60's, and most therapeutic forms, "Isn't he the man who wrote Ia selves: Al1 of ourselves, including all have helped us to be in touch with our Conscience Du Corps!" (Awareness the parts of our 'body' and all the feeling selves. I know of nothing better Through Movement, in French.) "Yes," aspects of our 'mrnd' are involved in than an analytical process to under- I answered. "Oh, wonderful," said the everything we sense/ ieel, think and do. stand and interpret our present behav- acupuncturist. "I used to recommend Ciarity of such an intention on the part ior from our past history. Much as med- his book to my trainees as an essential of a teach:r, practitioner or therapist icine and physiotherapy can be help{u1 reading. This man has reconciled the may make a big diiference both in for healing, psychotherapy can also be body and the mind." I sat there, very a\vareness and learoing strategy. When helpful for healirrg. But leaming how to impressed that only from readiag working like this, one can access the not trigger our 'problematic behavior' Moshe's book, this man had figured it person from their voice, their teeth, and getting better at succeeding in get- out so clearly. their emotions/ their handwriting, or ting what we want for ourselves and their dreams. OnIy one "handle for the making ourselves secure is also another But what did the acupuncturist suitcase" is needed: A security-giving possibility, and perhaps a most relevant figure out when he said that Moshe and interest-raisilg one for the one if our interest lies in new behavior. reconciled the body and the mindl He teacher-and, most of all, an appropri- Such a leaming perspective does not realizgd through readiag Moshe that a ate one for the student. eliminate the ups and dowas of life (as person is always a fuII person and that someone said: One cannot hide from we cannot cut him or her in pieces. About Moshe's Bias for the Iife"), nor do the inner experiences as- You don't just lift a head; you move a Movement of the Body, sociated with the taming of novelty and person from his or her head. Anything and About Alternative Biases the shaking of habits disappear. But the that affects ourselves af{ects our Feldenkrais approach is to leam with psyche. One cannot really do 'psycho'- FlsroRrcarrY, MosuE pavoneo the ease and grace throuSh ease and grace therapy or'body' therapy. Or perhaps movement of the body as a main access (the medium is the message, the peda- we should say, i{ the therapy works, it to the person. Movement is indeed cen- gogy is the learning). This is quite a is because it is a fuil-person ieaming of tral to all liIe and action. Also, the body step away from wanting to become the organic sel{, not just a'psycho'- is very concrete within the physical en- better by working on our limitations. therapy or'body' therapy. vironment. Moshe described in his The direct-to-the-problem way may be book, Awareness Through Movement necessary or useful in many situations, Many people nowadays think that his vision of action. Action, or we and most disciplines know how to do they discovered that the psyche affects could say 'behavior', involves sensing, that well. But in Feldenkrais, it is not the body, that "the mind can heal you." feeling, thinking and moving. Each our specialty, nor our pufpose, nor are Another discovery is that "the body component also implies the others. we traiaed {or it. As I often tell my teaches the mind." This is another in- Moshe's choice in concerning himself students; If you cut your finger off, terpretation of Moshe's contributions: with body movement is theoreticdly don't come here. Put the finger in ice the body-to-rnind effect. But the next well justified. It is also the reflection of and go to your micro-surgeon. But i{ discovery, the'real' Ieldenkrais discov- a personal preference of his. His inter- you are interested in leaming new ery, is that "the mind is the body and ests in )udo, sports and physics mani- Feldenkrais |ournal Issue # 4 PaEe 7 EROM BODY-ORMNTED PSYCHOTHERAPIES TO EELDENKRAIS fest this. A )ewish male of his era Now, once the organic leaming ap- dressed lfusrrgh this learning approach, would probably be less likely to choose proach is 'invented', we also do not not as a 'psychotherapy', but as an inte- emotioual enpression as a favored have to do it in the same personal and gral part of Ieaming behavior. access to ttre person. cultural way as the innovator. Some of us may be more comfortable, more irr- The Loop in a Short Metaphor I had a rather brutal insight on the terested, and better traiaed in dealing cultural bias and background of Felden- erplicitly with emotional expression MaNv BEGTNNTNG TENNTs players ex- krais when, one day in Israel while and intimacy. The Feldenkrais ap- perience effort and overwork in the trahir& I was working with a woman proach reaches all aspects of action and early stages of their attempts to leam who had on her left arm the tattooed behavior. One does not need a'bad how to play. But the experienced player number from a concentration camp. I shoulder', physical discomfort, or some flows with artistic elegance. What is realized immediately that doing ther- intriguing neurological disease to bene- the value of experiencing and express- apy of the regressive form would be a fit from Feldenkrais. In fact, it is unJor- ing the frustration, anger, despair and stupid thing to do. I was so happy I tunate that in our Feldenkrais profes- pain of not knowing how to play? If knew iust enough Feldenkrais to focus sional trainings the vast majority of you learn'comfortably'how to play on how to be more comlortablg how to case examples come from the physical 'comfortably', where will the dilficult move more easily rather than fish for kind of complaint. Why not study re- inner experiences go? How long must emotiond expression and regressional quests for learning in human relations, one work hard to leam artistic easel In e:rperiences. One cannot cleanse the in sexual behavior, in coprng with arxi- fact, not very long, if from the begin- past, though some of us can try by ety attacks, as well as in sports situa- ning you go easily and you leam to do feeling and expressing our feelings for tions and artistic processes? From my more with the ease. years. This may be helpful up to a point of view, i{ the practitioner/ point. But to change what we feel we teacher has the availability to hear such Note: can only act differentln adding new ex- requests comfortably, the FI or ATM This article has gone through many periences and letting ourselves heal process can remain quite orthodox! I approximations. I want to acknowledge naturally, organically. (By the way, I am often receive requests, feedback and here my colleagues in the Montreal in no way minimizing the importance reports of the 'psychological' kind and community for their participation in an of the ability of errpressing what we I nevertheless approach it through quite ongoing conversation on these subjects feel. My point, which I will develop in simple FI situations. (But the way to go and to mary others who assisted with a further article, is that emotional ex- about this is yet another subiect for the their editorial coslments and feedback. pression has to be considered function- fonhcoming article.| ally, in context. If someone stE)s on your foot, how much expression do you In Short... need? It may vary a lot, but the intent is to free your foot, isn't it? Or are we MosHE's APPRoACH ro action and interested in er<pression of feeling?| behavior takes as its main focus our body movement. This in itsell is a great Moshe had a cultural context that contribution: Reachiag our fuIl person somewhat forced the invention of a with sensing, feeling, and thinking new way, "t}rough movement." This inciuded through movement. Further- tre\f, way is now theoretically and prac- more, Moshe brought an accent on tically available to us for leaming. We leaming behavior, rather than healing can find tremendous value in approach- behavior. This way of doing can be ap- ing our difficulties in behavior from the plied not only through movement, but point of view of movement and leam- also through any other component of rng. Even if in the beginnhg we may behavio4 sensing feeling and thinking. have very little to feel good about, we AII aspects are always present in behav- can look for ways of feeling better and ior. They are indirectly reached if there making ourselves more secure. This is is awareness through movement. an approach very different from the Awareness through sensin& feeling, ones that work on our problems. and thinking can also be directly ad- Feldenkrais )ournal Issue # 4 Page 8 FRANK EMOTIONAL I,,EARNTNG WILDMAN DEVELOPING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE There is an old nously beneath the thin membranes give a shape to our personality as we Buddhisttaleabout a containing life. We slap a veneer over give shape to all the unified processes saake that orgues our awareness of the fragility of life and involved in our body, from the meta- between its head and spend most of our time in a state that bolic and cellular to the imagistic and its tail over which end the philosopher Martin Heidegger cerebral. should lead. called forgetfulness of being, surrender- Tuhneti lt athile chlienagds gtoiv eas t rieae. iindgle tcoh tahtete re vaenrydd tahye wdoivreldrs, ioimnsm eorfs leifde ,in it Itlhoawt epveeorp, lei- f cwaen alerea mso tuo nmifoievde whoiwtl is The tail then leads the mostly contemplating the way things grace, ease and sensitivity, and show a snake into a pit of fire. are-not thatthey arc. high degree of self-awareness about their bodies, but have an almost com- The.re is another One of the maior developmental plete absence of awareness of how to version more apt for struggles of a child is leaming to deal make emotional coatact with others or Western culture. In with the terrifying fear of annihilation. with themselvesl How is it that some- this tale the head bites This leaming of the interdependence of one c4n breathe well but cannot the tail uatil the tail Iife and death is part of the task every breathe with another? How do people surrenders confrol. child partakes of in order to organize leam to compartmentsl izg Strgmsslves and control its movements, and to and become numb to their emotionsl The head then leads the orient itself in the world. How this is miserably wounded snake into a pit of fire done, the style with which a child I remember Moshe talkirg about a to end its woes. leams to cope with such a basic and gyrnnast in Israel who moved with frightening reality, will determine great control, and showed such a much about how the adult will learn to pleasing ability to leam that he was a WnrNrvr,n wE coNTACT another person cope with other stressors, and develop a pleasure to work with. The athlete we are in contact with their emotional self-image that is relatively full, hrnc- only expressed one difficulty-he was self. It is unavoidable. When we touch tional and authentic, or is e:rperienced completely impotent. Moshe pondered someone's flesh, we enter their mind; as fragile, stunted or undeveloped. on how someone could organize them- and we are in contact with the well- selves so well and yet not be able to do springs of their personality. Another primary task of leaming is such a basic and simple activity. to create an order in perceptud and As life itself is inseparable from the motor systems. Especially for the chil4 In Body and Matwe Behauior, Moshe great geochemical processes of the this immense ordering process is linked discussed the difficulty of becoming a earth, so are our most intimate feelings with leaming to cope not only with the completely mature human being. He inseparable from the most basic biolog- awareness of death but more often with felt the obstacles along the road to ical processes of our cellular life. Our grief, anxiety, isolation, emptiness, maturity were enornous. He focused noblest thoughts, our most inspired ac- overstimulation, and Moshe's notion on this ttreme recrurently, both in the tions, the uniqueness of ourpersonali- of omnipotence and insignificance. We San Francisco and Amherst trainings as ties and orrr perceptions all arise from don't just leam to increase our sensory- well as in his public workshops. One the organic processes of our cellular motor awareness or to access the envi- of his brilliant insights was his under- life. We cannot escape except by death ronment better. We simultaneously in- standiag of how the developing person- death is a primary fact of life. volve our entire soma in leaming to ality was linked to movement. Feld- -and Iove and care for ourself and for others, enkrais u/as not satisfied with knowiqg The awareness of death exerts a vast to communicate our desires and needs, that a child had completed "normal" influence upon all of human experience to become generous, autonomous, and developmental movement pattems. I and conduct, and hence both the awate- spontaneous. The way we have leamed remember him in my San Francisco ness of and fear of death play a maior to breathe and organize ourselves re- training saying what ifiotic thinking role in the formatiou and organization flects our ability to access humor, this was because otherwise why are of oru body-image. Death is a primor- courage, purposefrrlness and many there $o many "normal" adults who act did source of anxiety that whirls conti- other vital feelings. \[e continuously like infants. Feldenkrais fournal Issue # 4