Courtesy of Kelly Feder
“Lie on your back,” begins the instructor.
A dozen or so people lie on mats—eyes closed, arms stretched out—breathing slowly.
Kelly Feder, who’s leading the class, walks them through a pattern: Turn to one side. Reach forward, reach up, twist back, extend. Palms together. Repeat. For many in the class, each repetition enables slightly more natural movement and a slightly expanded range of motion.
“Don’t go as far as you can,” says Feder. “Go just in a direction that feels smooth, and then come back.”
They’re practicing Feldenkrais, a form of movement she describes as “sensory puzzles for the brain.” Practiced correctly, the movements challenge the brain to consider habitual motions—then change those habits through awareness and conscious practice.
The class members roll to their other side, and the instructions change: This time, don’t move. Just imagine yourself moving in that pattern. Think. Perform the movements in your brain. Then move.
I’m trying it myself, following along. It’s incredibly soothing, and after a few minutes of imagining, I find an immediate improvement in my ability to twist and elongate my spine.
“I can’t believe that just imagining it worked,” says one attendee, a first-timer. I agree, a little shocked myself.
Feder had a similar experience, years ago. “I was one of those athletes that tended to injure themselves,” she says. She blew out her knee playing soccer, then again in college. After multiple surgeries, she lost range of motion. Physical therapy and exercise programs didn’t work. “I limped for 15 years,” she says. Between chronic pain and decreased mobility, “I was in my 30s and felt like I was 80.”
So she tried something new. “Doing three months of Feldenkrais rocked my world.”
Feder’s experience with the Feldenkrais method inspired her to learn how to teach it herself. Now, she’s taught Feldenkrais for more than a decade and runs her own classes at Feldenkrais Movement Academy of STL.
The method is based on the neurological fact that “all movement is learned,” she explains. “Over time, as adults, we develop patterns and habits that limit the palette of possibilities.”
Evidence has shown that staying active, even by walking or stretching gently, decreases both physical and mental effects of aging. This is partially because it engages both the brain and body, slowing decline. Many have argued that increasing cognitive training could slow aging or Alzheimer’s. Feldenkrais follows a similar line of thinking: “If we continually challenge our brains,” says Feder, “we don’t lose capacity as much as if we are sedentary.”
But Feldenkrais also takes that thinking a step further, applying it to movement. A class takes students through a repetitive, easy process. “You’re not gonna work up a sweat; you’re not gonna stretch; you’re not gonna be in pain in a Feldenkrais lesson,” says Feder. “We’re gonna invite you to move slower, smaller.”
A yoga class might require you to consider balance, strain, and a specific motion, a new skill. Here, the focus stays on how the body moves naturally. “It’s more challenging the brain,” says Feder. “It’s not just mindless movement. It’s movement with attention.”
You start with a simple process—say, turning your head to the left—then complicate it by adding new conditions (such as placing your hands on your face and keeping your elbows and chest facing forward while repeating the same turning movement). Then think about breathing. Then look with your eyes, without moving your head. Then move your muscles, your cheeks—things you don’t normally move. I try this one myself and find that my range of motion while turning my head has about doubled after a few minutes.
“That wasn’t stretching your muscles; that wasn’t strengthening anything,” Feder points out. “It was working with your nervous system and how your brain learns.”
Feldenkrais is just playing with a pattern. And, Feder says, it can “make everything you do better and easier,” because by practicing movements, “you create a bigger palette and a bigger range of movement possibilities.” Many students have reported therapeutic results, although Feder stresses that therapy is a side effect, not the goal.
To some, the entire concept sounds somewhat hoodoo-magic-y. But advocates include professional sports players (such as John Kucera of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team), and peer-reviewed medical research has indicated that Feldenkrais may improve “mobility and balance in older adults,” as well as have a variety of other potential and measurable benefits. Feder’s own students have included members of the Big Muddy Dance Company and the St. Louis Symphony.
John Kucera of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team explains why he's a fan of the method.
The method was invented by Moshé Feldenkrais, an Israeli engineer and martial artist who even used it as a therapy to help children with cerebral palsy. Its practitioners have since adapted Feldenkrais to benefit children with autism, people with multiple sclerosis and osteoporosis, and individuals who have experienced trauma.
“Feldenkrais is accessible to anybody," Feder emphasizes, “because it’s gentle. It’s pain-free movement.”
