Feldenkrais / Habits / Mental Blocks

As stated before, I do not know too much about Feldenkrais so far, but I do have a question about its view of habits, mental blocks and the relation between them. Is it correct to assume that mental blocks can be addressed via working with (bodily) habits, establishing new ones, from a Feldenkrais point of view? I suppose that there are not only blocks that would affect learning and concentration but that there are also such in the body -- blocks that would not let the energy flow, cause cold hands, make muscles cramp, and so on. It may be difficult in certain cases to distinguish between a (bad) habit and a block, but I think the difference would lie in that habits are just habits while blocks originate from other areas, like stress, fear of disapproval or failure, inferiority issues etc. That sort of trouble might belong to another department really, but maybe Feldenkrais can and does affect some of that stuff "en passant", without specifically addressing it. Thanks for any input, Dominik.

Feldenkrais is excellent for dealing with such "physical" blocks because all of those blocks have a mental origin. Feldenkrais deals with the fine line between thought and movement, shifting back and forth between them to evoke deep changes in the way your brain organizes and prepares movement. The physical is so much more tangible than those other elements, and then it gets really exciting when you see how all those other elements can be approached and improved THROUGH the physical. We need habits, but the habit of parasitic contraction that constitutes a block needs to be educated, or an alternative to it needs to be supplied. Returning to our innate structure and function is a nice way of acquiring a bunch of new and empowering habits.

Thanks a lot for this clarification which goes pretty much in the direction I supposed. The "tangibility" of the physical is a strong argument. Insofar piano playing might also be considered "body work" -- likely having a feedback onto mental processes and issues. Do you say that any disclosing or name-calling of issues is unnecessary, given the obvious physical-mental feedback mechanism? In other words, can the Feldenkrais approach be somehow considered contra-Freudian? I realize this is slightly off-topic (this being a forum about piano technique), but then it isn't since musical expression is highly interwoven with the inner world. Maybe too few therapeutic/healing approaches exist in musical education (considering that most people have issues, big or small). That is why I find your link between Feldenkrais and piano technique so interesting.

Feldenkrais said that the smartest thing Freud ever did was to lie the patient down on the couch so that the overall body tonus would lower and he or she would thus be more amenable to change. Apart from that detail, he didn't really agree with Freud about much. He did feel that the body was the most effective tool for all types of change, including emotional, psychological, what have you. When I myself finished the first year of my Feldenkrais training, I felt that I now had a Self, and that I hadn't known that I had a 'Self' prior to that experience. Very interesting. Moshe also said that there is no mind/body separation, that this is just a construct dreamed up by the psychology guys to create more confusion. I myself on some occasions have had a glimpse of that wonderful process where you really feel that your fingers are simply expressing the thought in your mind at the moment, and in those moments, all the stuff I write about physical organization is really not present in my consciousness (at least not my verbal consciousness) at all. All that is now at the service of something higher. A really graphic experience of mind and body as the SAME THING - very nice! By the way, when I returned to Montreal from that first year of my training, I said to myself, "Great! There is something else I love as much as I love piano!" and I promptly gave up piano altogether. I didn't play at all for several months. I had always felt so much pressure to do it well, and so much inadequacy at not doing it really well, and it was such a pleasure just to not have to struggle with that any more. What a sigh of relief! When I came back to it, it was with a completely different relationship - no more pressure, but rather this kind of speculation - I had a Mozart sonata going around in my head and I wanted to see if I turned the phrase this way or that way, which would sound better. I started fiddling around with it; one thing led to another and a few months later I was in the recording studio. But now it was FUN!!! good night! AFF

Many thanks for sharing your most interesting story. The thing you told about "pressure to do it well" -- I think that's a biggie for many of us, but who can imagine taking such a long break just as you did? The overall Feldenkrais approach sound most interesting and convincing to me, and I am considering having a closer look at it. I will look if I find someone here in Germany. Dominik

I just returned from Düsseldorf where I presented my film and worked "live" with some pianists at the German Feldenkrais Guild Annual Meeting. I have several colleagues in Germany who are both practitioners and students of mine in piano - an interesting combination! I could ask them about a practitioner in Bremen if you like, or perhaps you might like to visit one of them - in Hamm, Wuppertal, Dortmund or Heidelberg...

Yes... if you would do that... much appreciated. I might also do that if there is none in my proximity. Thanks a lot!

My God, I have just discovered I never answered your post! So sorry! There are over 1000 Feldenkrais practitioners in Germany. Your country has one of the most highly evolved Feldenkrais communities around. The German Feldenkrais Guild site has no English version, but I did manage to find a list of practitioners in Bremen: . There are 15 in your home town! Unfortunately I don't know any of them personally, so you might try visiting a few Awareness Through Movement classes of different practitioners until you find a teacher you feel offers what you are looking for. The success of the Method depends a lot on the person offering it. Some people graduate from trainings and gain a lot personally from them but don't really have the mindset to be a good practitioner. Others have a good understanding of Moshe's thought and practice and are living the Method in a way that empowers their students. Good luck, and let me know how it goes! Sorry again for the delayed answer - perhaps you have already found somebody? Best wishes, AFF