From
the introduction by Carl Ginsburg:
In this transcript of Moshe’s
five-day public workshop at Mann Ranch in northern California in 1979, the
full range of his thinking and his teaching style can be explored. All his
major ideas on movement, human development, sensitivity, awareness, and so
forth are presented both as exposition and exploration through movement lessons.
These lessons, part of his unique contribution to human development, are
the key to understanding the Feldenkrais Method®. There are both
old and new lessons presented here. But the lessons that may be familiar
from previous Feldenkrais books are taught in a new way. In a workshop situation,
Moshe inevitably explored his teaching process, both to pace and move with
the group, but also to evolve the ideas he was presenting.
As you read and interact
with this book you may note some very unique aspects of the Feldenkrais® work.
For one thing, Moshe’s emphasis is on the kinesthetic, feeling aspect
of your self-organization. You may become aware as you explore the lessons,
that Moshe guides you away from visualizing or verbalizing what you do until
you have begun to have some kinesthetic experience of yourself in movement
and action. Moshe’s push towards the kinesthetic is based on his observation
in himself and others, that the feeling and proprioceptive senses are the
least trusted and the least attended to in our culture. His further observation
is that profound change in the kinesthetic, feeling image of yourself results
in change in all aspects of your self-organization.
A second unique aspect
of Moshe’s work is his insistence on function. Function, in this sense,
is anything you do such as walking, standing, twisting, and so forth. A function
is integrated when you carry it out with the whole of yourself, without self-interference.
As you explore the lessons, you may become much more aware of the movement
of your own structure in space, and the relation of parts of yourself, your
pelvis and head for example, to the whole of your action. In the transcript,
Moshe emphasizes some of these relationships. They are clues to a functional
integration for yourself. Only your own experience can make his words clear
to yourself. There is no learning in the Feldenkrais® way without
doing: i.e., doing the lessons.
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