In this example, Feldenkrais utilizes a hand-grasping movement-an infantile reflex and embryological "growth action" (Blechschmidt, 1977) -in order to induce hypnotic-like learning. His students are placed in a situation where they learn from their own movements the means to achieve" comfort, elegance, and aesthetic satisfaction." During the past 40 years Feldenkrais developed a somatopsychic discipline incorporating numerous effective techniques that in many essential respects complement and parallel the work of Erickson. Many of us in the Feldenkrais community are drawn to Erickson's work because he so well conveyed certain implicit but unstated insights of Feldenkrais's approach. Similarly, some Ericksonians have discovered in Feldenkrais's work a subtle intelligence about nonverbal behavior, learning, and communication which makes Ericksonian skills more accessible. In this chapter I hope to stimulate reciprocal study and collaboration between practitioners of the two methods- a collaboration which has, in fact, already begun. Furthermore, by understanding certain common principles that are instantiated but differentially applied in the two methods, I hope to promote the emergence of more integrated and effective somatopsychic theory and methods. I begin with an overview of the life and work of Feldenkrais, followed by a discussion of the awareness of movement Feldenkrais and Erickson both learned through personal physical traumas. Then I describe their parallel philosophies of learning and their parallel techniques. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the artistry and experimentalism of Feldenkrais and Erickson.

MOSHE FELDENKRAIS: HIS LIFE AND WORK

Moshe Feldenkrais was born in Russia in 1904 and emigrated to Palestine at the age of 13. Like many innovators, he came to his field by a circuitous route, weaving together numerous influences. As a young man, he was an excellent athlete, a soccer player, and self-taught in jujitsu. He did construction work and tutored problem students while attending night school preparing to study physics. He had an early interest in hypnosis and translated Emile Coue's book on autosuggestion into Hebrew.

In Paris, Feldenkrais earned his doctorate in physics at the Sorbonne and assisted Joliot-Curie. During his university years he met Kano, the originator of judo, and trained with Kano's students to become a high ranking black belt and well-known judo teacher.

Evading the Nazis, Feldenkrais fled to England where he worked in antisubmarine research during the war, wrote scientific papers, trained paratroopers in self-defense techniques, and authored books on judo. On slippery submarine decks he aggravated an old soccer injury to his knees, and began the extended work on himself which led to his discoveries about movement reeducation. After he publicly presented his ideas, people sought his help with their problems. For several years he was an amateur somatic practitioner, first in England and later in Israel where he had returned to work as a research scientist. In the mid-1950s, Feldenkrais gave up his career in physics and devoted himself fully to his work with people. By the late 1960s he was training his first Tel Aviv group to become practitioners of his method, and he trained two subsequent groups in the United States. He wrote four books on his method, and his teaching is preserved in thousands of hours of audio- and videotapes. Moshe Feldenkrais originated two interrelated, somatically based educational methods. The first method, Awareness Through Movement®, is a verbally directed technique designed for group work. The second method, Functional Integration®, is a nonverbal contact technique designed for people desiring or requiring more individualized attention.

As exemplified in the quote above, Feldenkrais's Awareness Through Movement® lessons incorporate active movements, imagery, cues for sensory attention, and various informative and suggestive material. A typical lesson lasts about an hour and combines a few dozen thematically linked movements. Lesson themes may include developmental movements such as rolling, crawling, and standing up; functions such as posture and breathing; systematic explorations of the kinetic possibilities of the joint and muscle groups; and experiments in somatically based imagery and visualization.

These lessons are not "physical exercises" such as calisthenics; they are somatopsychic explorations which foster improvement by accessing inherent neurological competencies, increasing self-awareness, and facilitating new learning. The initial movements are usually very small with an emphasis on ease, comfort, and learning so that gradually one becomes aware of how the musculature, skeleton, and entire personality are involved in every movement. From seedlike beginnings, small movements grow into movements of greater complexity, magnitude and speed. The result is learning to move with greater efficiency and satisfaction.

Awareness Through Movement® lessons often evoke a trancelike state. Unlike a typical exercise class, one is not told where the movements are leading or shown what they look like; thus, what one learns arises organically and as a surprise. Often only one side of the body is physically worked at a time but the other side is worked mentally; that is, in the imagination. This mental practice refines kinesthetic sensitivity to the point where muscular impulses and patterns are clearly felt and differentiated with minimal mobilization. Throughout the lesson, one is guided to integrate and apply one's newly discovered skills by means of verbal suggestions or stories.