Modern life tends to lead us towards very sedentary habits. If you look like most people in the West, even if you feel that you are responding to the demands of everyday life on many battlefields (work, family, community, etc.) the truth is that, in practice, your body is tending to get used to the same movements and the same postures . Let’s consider, for example, how many hours a day we spend sitting, and what posture our trunk adopts when we do it. Monotony and passivity are constants in the life of most of our muscle groups, and this is something that takes its toll on our quality of life.

Fortunately, there are ways to reactivate our body to be the versatile and reliable machine that for millennia has been shaped by evolution. Both in the world of fitness and in the world of health and medicine, it is becoming increasingly important to expand the possibilities of movement that sedentarism has been shortening since our childhood.

The Feldenkrais method is one of these action calls.

What is the Feldenkrais method?

The Feldenkrais method proposes a way to learn (or re-learn) the functioning of one’s own body based on movement patterns and the generation of certain mental states . In his sessions, an expert indicates how to perform certain movements while the practitioner performs them and concentrates his attention on these. The aim of this is for the brain to record well the associations between the movements, the muscles that are activated and the sensations that this produces, so that these movements become part of the habitual repertoire and are performed automatically, without the need to concentrate on them.

The main objectives of the Feldenkrais method are the improvement of posture, range of motion, coordination and flexibility, as well as optimizing the efficiency in the use of muscle groups .

In short, the Feldenkrais method is a system of somatic education that poses the need to make the most of the possibilities of movement and strength of one’s body, in order to be able to function in any situation without unnecessary effort and tension.

How is it done?

There are two basic modalities in which the Feldenkrais method can be followed: group and individually . However, both set the same objectives and both propose exercises centred on movement and directed attention.

The sessions consist of the repetition of series of movements that are easy to execute. The practitioner usually does this while lying on a mat, although some series are done standing up. During the sessions it is necessary to follow instructions that refer both to the observable movements and to the mental states of the practitioner, with the basic objective that the attention is totally focused on the movements so that in the future they can be performed automatically in all types of situations that require it. The movements used in the Feldenkrais method do not involve any effort or pain, since the joints and tendons are not abruptly forced.

The fact that the emphasis is on the physical aspect (movement) and the psychological aspect (attention) is an example of the philosophy of the mind from which the Feldenkrais method starts: it assumes a corporal component and a mental component that must work harmoniously so that the whole system (the person) functions as it should. It is a dualistic approach mind-body in which the particularities of each of the two components must be recognized so that both can be well integrated.

Criticism from science

The Feldenkrais method places interesting objectives in its focus from the point of view of fitness and health, taking into account that we often understand that physical fitness consists of having a lot of strength and little fat and we ignore issues such as flexibility or energy efficiency to our movements and postures.

However, and despite the fact that Feldenkrais began his studies on the subject decades ago, it is considered that there is not enough empirical evidence to support his principles with the backing of science and that, in any case, further studies are needed to prove his effectiveness. Adding to this the fact that the Feldenkrais method does not consider the need to achieve externally measurable objectives but rather places progress in the subjectivity of the patient (since it is a personal process), it often tends to be associated with pseudosciences and New Age culture.

On the other hand, many of the benefits that the Feldenkrais method is said to have have have nothing to do with the functional aspects of strength and movement, since they are rather cognitive aspects, such as the ability to seek new solutions, and even subjective ones, such as the improvement of self-esteem. These are assumptions that for the moment are based more on theory than on empirical evidence, and that are not derived from a consolidated theoretical framework either .

This does not mean, however, that the practice of the exercises proposed in the Feldenkrais method does not bring any kind of benefit. On the one hand, it can be understood that beyond improving or not improving the range of movement and postural habits, following this system can lead to an increase in satisfaction or provide other positive aspects associated with the placebo effect . On the other hand, it is also possible that some functional and measurable aspects of the human body are improved , and that the lack of independent and well-designed studies on the subject is hiding these advantages. We will only know this as more research is done on the Feldenkrais method.