At the start of a Feldenkrais class you will be asked to lie down on your back, from there you are guided through a way of paying attention to yourself that monitors how you make contact with the ground. By taking your body out of its usual upright position you gain the possibility of greater sensitivity, this is because the muscular system is no longer working overtime to hold you up against the continuous pull of gravity.
As you give your muscles the opportunity to rest your also provide the senses a chance to feel more.
This fact is well known in physics and is summed up by the Weber Fechner law:
The premise of this law is that there is a signal to noise ratio in our senses, and the greater the noise the harder it is to 'hear' the signal.
The meaning this gives to our self-use is that when we are working too hard, when our muscles overly engaged, we become less sensitive, and we are less able to make distinctions.
The ability to make distinctions is an essential part of the learning process.
If you can't tell the difference between two things, then you can't make a choice, and it is in being able to choose better outcomes that we are able to make improvements in our actions and learn new behaviours.
This is why the Feldenkrais method is presented as a learning modality, rather than a form of exercise.
It creates the conditions for each person to learn about themselves through movement. This provides a clear route for making improvements in our own lives so that we can live in a way that feels right to our own standards.
"Movement is life. Life is a process. Improve the quality of movement and we improve the quality of life itself." - Moshe Feldenkrais
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