The Feldenkrais Method was developed by Moshe Feldenkrais (1904–1984), a
Russian-born Israeli physicist, mechanical engineer, and judo expert. After suffering
crippling knee injuries, Feldenkrais used his own body as his laboratory and taught
himself to walk again. In the process, he developed a system for accessing the power
of the central nervous system to improve human functioning.
All Feldenkrais practitioners must complete 800–1000 hours of training over a period
of three to four years. The main purpose of the training is for practitioners to
develop a deep understanding of movement, to become aware of their own move-
ment, to become skillful observers of movement in others, and to be able to teach
other people to increase their awareness and improve their skills of movement.
The Feldenkrais Method consists of two parts—awareness through movement and
functional integration. They are convenient labels for doing essentially the same
thing in different ways. Awareness though movement is more like conventional
exercises in format, with the teacher guiding a group class with words rather than
by personal manipulation. The lessons consist of comfortable, easy movements that
gradually increase in range and complexity designed for all levels of movement
ability. Functional integration is a hands-on lesson that usually lasts 45 minutes to
an hour and is performed with the client fully clothed and standing, sitting, or lying
on a table. The practitioner touches and moves the client in gentle, noninvasive
ways. The intent of this touch is to explore the person’s responses to touch and
movement, and then suggest alternative ways of moving.
Feldenkrais exercises are small, gentle movements, such as pelvic tilts—slowly and
deliberately lifting the spine from the coccyx to the waist, one vertebra at a time. To
be effective, the movements must be effortless. If exercise becomes painful, no learn-
ing takes place, because the brain is too focused on how to stop doing the painful
activity. Feldenkrais exercises are said to improve flexibility, posture, range of
motion, relaxation, ease of movement, physical performance, vitality, and well-
being. They are also said to relieve joint pain, stress, muscle tension, low back pain,
neck and shoulder pain, jaw pain, and headaches.The Trager Approach
Developed in the early 1930s by Milton Trager, the Trager Approach was based on
Trager’s years of experience as a boxing trainer. He spent the next 50 years, first as a
lay practitioner and later as a physician, expanding and refining his discovery. It is
a method of movement reeducation designed to produce positive, pleasurable feel-
ings and tissue changes by means of sensory-motor feedback loops between the
mind and the muscles.252 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOALTERNATIVE MEDICINE