This article is part of a series on
Alternative medicine
General information Alternative medicine History Terminology Alternative veterinary medicine Quackery (health fraud) Rise of modern medicine Pseudoscience Antiscience Skepticism Scientific Therapeutic nihilism
Fringe medicine and science Acupressure Acupuncture Alkaline diet Anthroposophic medicine Apitherapy Applied kinesiology Aromatherapy Association for Research and Enlightenment Auriculotherapy Bates method Biological terrain assessment Black salve Bodywork Bone-setting Bowen technique Breathwork Fake COVID-19 treatments Camel urine Cancer treatments Charcoal cleanse Chiropractic Chiropractic treatment techniques Vertebral subluxation Christian Science Chromotherapy Colloidal silver Colon cleansing Coffee enema Colorpuncture Conversion therapy Craniosacral therapy Crystal healing Cupping therapy Dental amalgam controversy Detoxification Foot detox Dry needling Ear candling Energy medicine Correactology Esoteric energy Reiki Therapeutic touch Estrogen dominance Fabunan Antiviral Injection Facilitated communication FasciaBlaster Feldenkrais Method Functional medicine Hair analysis Herbal medicine Holistic dentistry Hologram bracelet Homeopathy Bach flower remedies Hydrotherapy Hypnotherapy Ionized jewelry Iridology Jilly Juice Lightning Process Lymphotherapy Magnet therapy Manual therapy Medical intuitive Megavitamin therapy Mesmerism Mind–body interventions MMS Myofascial release NAET Naturopathy Oil pulling Orgone Orthomolecular medicine Orthopathy Osteomyology Osteopathy Ozone therapy Parapsychology Phrenology Postural Integration Psychic surgery Psychodermatology Quantum healing Radionics Rapid prompting method Reflexology RBOP Rolfing Scientific racism ThetaHealing Thought Field Therapy Urophagia Vaginal steaming Vegetotherapy Vision therapy Vitalism Young blood transfusion Zero balancing
Conspiracy theories Big Pharma conspiracy theories HIV/AIDS denialism OPV AIDS hypothesis Anti-vaccinationism in chiropractic Vaccines and autism MMR vaccine and autism Water fluoridation controversy COVID-19 misinformation Turbo cancer
Classifications Alternative medical systems Mind–body intervention Biologically based therapy Manipulative methods Energy therapy
Traditional medicine African Muti Southern Africa Ayurveda Dosha MVAH Balneotherapy Brazilian Bush medicine Cambodian Chinese Blood stasis Chinese herbology Dit da Gua sha Gill plate trade Long gu Meridian Moxibustion Pressure point Qi San Jiao Tui na Zang-fu Chumash Curandero Faith healing Hilot Iranian Jamu Kayakalpa Kambo Japanese Korean Mien Shiang Mongolian Naftalan oil Prophetic medicine Shamanism Shiatsu Siddha Sri Lankan Thai massage Tibetan Unani Vietnamese
Alternative diagnoses Adrenal fatigue Aerotoxic syndrome Candida hypersensitivity Chronic Lyme disease Electromagnetic hypersensitivity Heavy legs Leaky gut syndrome Multiple chemical sensitivity PANDAS Vertebral subluxation Wilson's temperature syndrome
v t e

The Feldenkrais Method is a form of somatic education ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]} "that integrates the body, mind and psyche through an educational model in which a trained Feldenkrais practitioner guides a client (the ‘student’) through movements with hands-on and verbally administered cues," according to Clinical Sports Medicine. ^[8] Also studied as an exercise therapy, it was devised by Israeli Moshé Feldenkrais during the mid-20th century. The method is claimed to reorganize connections between the brain and body and so improve body movement and psychological state. ^{[9] [10]}

There is limited medical evidence that the Feldenkrais Method improves health outcomes in rehabilitation of people with upper limb complaints ^[11] and lower back pain. ^[12] For other conditions, "there is no solid evidence base on which to make recommendations", and the cost-effectiveness is unknown. ^[13] Researchers do not believe it poses serious risks. ^[14]

Description

The Feldenkrais Method is a type of alternative exercise therapy that proponents claim can repair impaired connections between the motor cortex and the body, so benefiting the quality of body movement and improving wellbeing. ^{[9] [15]} The Feldenkrais Guild of North America claims that the Feldenkrais method allows people to "rediscover [their] innate capacity for graceful, efficient movement" and that "These improvements will often generalize to enhance functioning in other aspects of [their] life". ^[16]

The Oxford Handbook of Music Performance describes FM as "an experiential learning process that uses movement and guided attention to develop and refine self-awareness." It notes that FM is "increasingly used among high-level performers, such as musicians, actors, dancers, and athletes." ^[17]

Feldenkrais lessons have two types, one verbally guided and practiced in groups called Awareness Through Movement, and one hands-on and practiced one-to-one called Functional Integration. ^[18] Moshé Feldenkrais wrote, "The purpose of these sensorimotor lessons is to refine one’s ability to make perceptual distinctions between movements that are easy and pleasurable and those that are strained and uncomfortable, which results in the discovery of new movement possibilities as well as potential for further improvements." ^[17]

Five Principles

FM operates broadly within five principles: ^[17]

1. Learning is a process: "relies on sensory and kinesthetic information that one experiences through interactions with the environment"
2. Posture as dynamic equilibrium: "the ability to regain equilibrium after a large disturbance"
3. Exploratory versus performative movement:" the ability to make distinctions in the ease and quality of movement and to try out movements that may be unfamiliar"
4. Whole versus part learning: "exploring component parts of an action as well as the whole"
5. Repetition and variation: "introducing novelty in learning in order to expand possibilities for choice"

Effectiveness

In 2015, the Australian Government's Department of Health published the results of a review of 17 natural therapies that sought to determine which would continue being covered by health insurance; the Feldenkrais Method was one of 16 therapies for which no clear evidence of effectiveness was found. ^[13] Accordingly in 2017 the Australian government identified the Feldenkrais Method as a practice that would not qualify for insurance subsidy, saying this step would "ensure taxpayer funds are expended appropriately and not directed to therapies lacking evidence". ^[19]

Proponents claim that the Feldenkrais Method can benefit people with a number of medical conditions, including children with autism, and people with multiple sclerosis. However, no studies in which participants were clearly identified as having an autism spectrum disorder or developmental disabilities have been presented to back these claims. ^[20]

A 2017 systematic review in the Polish Annals of Medicine found that a: "positive effect following FM among neck and [ low back pain] disorders was reported by all of the studies, some of good quality, it is concluded that FM proved to be effective, but not in all people with musculoskeletal disorders." ^[12]

There is limited evidence that workplace-based use of the Feldenkrais Method may help aid rehabilitation of people with upper limb complaints. ^[11]

Criticism

David Gorski has written that the Method bears similarities to faith healing, is like "glorified yoga", and that it "borders on quackery". ^[16] Quackwatch places the Feldenkrais Method on its list of "Unnaturalistic methods". ^[21]

History

From the 1950s till his death in 1984, Feldenkrais taught in his home city of Tel Aviv. He gained recognition in part through media accounts of his work with prominent individuals, including Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. ^{[22] [23]} In David Kaetz's biography, Making Connections: Roots and Resonance in the Life of Moshe Feldenkrais (2007), he argues many lines of influence can be found between the Judaism of Feldenkrais's upbringing and the Feldenkrais Method – for instance, the use of paradox as a pedagogical tool. ^[24]

Making Connections described Feldenkrais' approach:

Feldenkrais was critical of the appropriation of the term 'energy' to express immeasurable phenomena or to label experiences that people had trouble describing ... He was impatient when someone invoked energy in pseudoscientific 'explanations' that masked a lack of understanding. In such cases he urged skepticism and scientific discourse. He encouraged empirical and phenomenological narratives that could lead to insights. ^[24]

Beginning in the late 1950s, Feldenkrais made trips to teach in Europe and America. Several hundred people became certified Feldenkrais practitioners through trainings he held in San Francisco from 1975 to 1978 and in Amherst, Massachusetts, from 1980 to 1984. ^[25] Cybernetics, also known as dynamic systems theory, continued to influence the Feldenkrais Method in the 1990s through the work of human development researcher Esther Thelen. ^[26]:1535

See also

• Alexander Technique
• Rolfing
• Yoga
• Tai Chi

References

Further reading

Contemporary

• Elgelid, Staffan; Kresge, Chrish (4 May 2021). The Feldenkrais Method: Learning Through Movement. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN  978-1-912085-70-5.
• Sholl, Robert (28 January 2021). The Feldenkrais Method in Creative Practice: Dance, Music and Theatre. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN  978-1-350-15839-9.

Classic

• Feldenkrais, Moshe (28 June 2011). Embodied Wisdom: The Collected Papers of Moshe Feldenkrais. North Atlantic Books. ISBN  978-1-58394-419-6.
• Feldenkrais, Moshe (23 April 2019). The Elusive Obvious: The Convergence of Movement, Neuroplasticity, and Health. North Atlantic Books. ISBN  978-1-62317-335-7.
• Feldenkrais, Moshe (1990). Awareness Through Movement: Health Exercises for Personal Growth. Arkana. ISBN  978-0-14-019257-5.

External links

• International Feldenkrais Federation (IFF)