FELDENKRAIS PRACTITIONER CFP - PHYSIOTHERAPIST
Phone: +61-0419-923-413 Email: sandyleathem@gmail.com Clinic: Health Group
FELDENKRAIS PRACTITIONER CFP - PHYSIOTHERAPIST
Phone: +61-0419-923-413 Email: sandyleathem@gmail.com Clinic: Health Group
BOOKS AND ARTICLES I'VE ENJOYED!
BOOKS:
LEARN to LEARN : by Moshe Feldenkrais D.Sc. (1904-84)
A manual to help you get the best results from your Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement Lessons. Read more here
MOSHE FELDENKRAIS D.Sc. 1904-1984
The FELDENKRAIS METHOD® of somatic education was developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. Born in Russia, Feldenkrais immigrated to Israel at the age of thirteen.
After receiving degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering, he earned his D.Sc. in Physics at the Sorbonne in Paris. He subsequently worked for a number of years in the French nuclear research program with Joliet Curie.
Physically active, Feldenkrais played soccer and practiced the martial arts. He studied with Kano Jigoro, the originator of Judo, and in 1936 became one of the first Europeans to earn a black belt in that discipline. A chronic knee injury prompted him to apply his knowledge of physics, body mechanics, neurology, learning theory and psychology to a new understanding of human function and maturation. His investigations resulted in the formulation of a unique synthesis of science and aesthetics, known as the FELDENKRAIS METHOD®.
Dr. Feldenkrais wrote five books about the method as well four books on Judo. To read more click here
THE ELUSIVE OBVIOUS - by: Moshe Feldenkrais D.Sc. (1904-84)
“Harmonious efficient movement prevents wear and tear. More important, however, is what it does to the image of ourselves and our relationship to the world around us." – This book deals with simple, fundamental notions of your daily life that sadly become elusive. Without knowing it you carry from one activity to another, limiting habits and attitudes of mind that prevent you from functioning at your optimal level … as you once naturally did as a little kid. It is a joyful experience, which works on your body, mind, and feelings simultaneously. The changes are dramatically visible, not only in better functioning but in developing a whole new self image.
http://www.achievingexcellence.com/p-Fel3.html
http://www.ebook3000.com/The-Elusive-Obvious-or-Basic-Feldenkrais_96984.html
THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF - By Norman Doidge, M.D.
Stories of Personal Triumph From the Frontiers of Brain Science. Norman Doidge’s fascinating synopsis of the current revolution in neuroscience straddles the age-old distinction between the brain and the mind … that is crumbling fast as the power of positive thinking finally gains scientific credibility.
The credo of this revolution is neuroplasticity — the discovery that the human brain is as malleable as a lump of wet clay not only in infancy, as scientists have long known, but well into hoary old age. In classical neuroscience, the adult brain was considered an immutable machine, as wonderfully precise as a clock in a locked case. Every part had a specific purpose, none could be replaced or repaired, and the machine was destined to tick in unchanging rhythm until its gears corroded with age.
Now sophisticated experimental techniques suggest the brain is more like a Disney-esque animated sea creature. Constantly oozing in various directions, able to respond to injury with striking functional reorganization, and can at times actually think itself into a new anatomic configuration, in a kind of word-made-flesh outcome far more characteristic of Lourdes than the National Institutes of Health.
So it is forgivable that Dr. Doidge, a Canadian psychiatrist and award-winning science writer, recounts the accomplishments of the “neuroplasticians,” as he calls the neuroscientists involved in these new studies, with breathless reverence. Their work is indeed mind-bending, miracle-making, reality-busting stuff, with implications, as Dr. Doidge notes, not only for individual patients with neurologic disease but for all human beings, not to mention human culture, human learning and human history.
http://www.normandoidge.com/normandoidge/MAIN.html
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X
MY STROKE OF INSIGHT- A Brain Scientist's Personal Story Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.
Jill Bolte Taylor experienced a stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. A brain scientist, she observed her own mind deteriorate in a few hours. As the left side of her brain swung in and out of function, she experienced two realities: the europhic nirvana of the intuitive right brain, as well as the logical awareness of the left brain.
My Stroke of Insight is both a recovery guide for anyone touched by a brain injury and an emotional testimony that deep internal peace is accessible to anyone.
http://www.mystrokeofinsight.com/index.html
http://www.amazon.com/My-Stroke-Insight-Scientists-Personal/dp/1430300612
ARTILCES:
NEUROPLASTICITY AND THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD® – By Eileen Bach-y-Rita, GCFP Your brain loves to learn. In fact it thrives on acquiring new skills such as playing a musical instrument, learning a new dance or a new language. Your brain also thrives when engaged in an inner awareness activity, like a Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement® lesson.
In order to learn anything, you need to focus and pay attention to the task at hand. The focus and practice of new activities causes the brain to morph, to grow new connections between billions of cells, and to create new motor and sensory-motor maps for each new activity. Even when you pretend that you are moving, visualizing your movements in your mind, changes can be measured and seen in PET scans. To read more click here
PUT OUT THE FIRE OF INFLAMMATION pdf.
"Inflammation has been around as long as man.
Acute inflammation is a process that protects us against infection and injuries. But it has a beginning and an end. Chronic inflammation is where inflammation is prolonged, as if the “off” switch has quit working. Would you care to see a list of medical conditions that have chronic inflammation as an underlying cause?
Be warned, this list is staggering…" Click here to read more…
GLUTATHIONE pdf.
You are about to read some of the astounding ways glutathione impacts the way your body works. The metabolic processes described below are all documented by peer-reviewed studies available on the website of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health: http://www.goglutathione.com
GLUTATHIONE AND ENERGY pdf.
You’ve been told that glutathione increases energy on a cellular level. How does it do this? Since glutathione is not the actual fuel for the “engines” or “energy factories” of our cells, what part does it play in the creation of cellular energy? Click here to read more
GLUTATHIONE AND LUNG HEALTH pdf.
We think it’s time to focus a little attention and care on our hardworking and faithful lungs. And we hope this doesn’t come as a surprise: glutathione (GSH) is arguably the most vital, valiant protector of the lungs.
Just think about it. Each breath you take exposes your lungs to pollution, allergens, smog, dust, first- or second-hand cigarette smoke—a lungful of dangerous airborne particles. If any area of the body is under a full-scale attack by free radicals and toxins, it is certainly the lungs. Click here to read more
CONNECTING TO THE EARTH: By Ralph Strauch -Feldenkrais Practitioner
Human beings and our hominid ancestors have walked upright for over three million years — mostly barefoot on natural terrain, in a continuing and intimate relationship with the Earth beneath their feet. That relationship fostered the balance and physical agility — rare in contemporary urban society — that allowed them to walk easily across a log over a stream with things balanced on their heads. It also fostered a deep enduring sense of self, and an accompanying deep sense of psychological and even spiritual security. Read more here
EMOTIONAL STRESS AND BODY ORGANISATION: By Ralph Strauch
Feeling states and body organization are closely intertwined. Your body amplifies your emotions in the same way your stereo amplifier amplifies music. When an emotion arises you subconsciously organize your body to amplify that emotion, and what you actually "feel" is the changed organization. Imagine you're frightened, for example, and notice yourself contract. Imagine sudden anger, and notice how your body responds. Your feeling experience is an ongoing flow of constantly changing body organization. Read more here
BOOKS CLINICAL STUDIES AND RESEARCH
RESEARCH ON THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD®
There is a growing body of research to support the effectiveness of the Feldenkrais Method®. The following summaries and references represent a sampling of the many studies that have been conducted. Read more here
If you are experiencing the Feldenkrais Method®, as a student in classes or in one-to-one sessions, then your learning will be enriched by some background reading. Here are my suggestions for you.
I recommend starting with Grabher’s My Feldenkrais Book, next read Doidge’s chapter on Moshe in The Brain’s Way of Healing and then work your way slowly through Moshe’s own Awareness Through Movement.
INTRODUCTORY
Relaxercise by David Zemach-Bersin, Kaethe Zemach-Bersin and Mark Reese: nice set of simple lessons with very clear diagrams. Also available as audio recording
My Feldenkrais Book (a companion for group classes) by Alfons Grabher: excellent supplementary information for those already attending classes. Alfons gives his version of the principles of the Feldenkrais approach to self-improvement. And some simple lessons, with explanatory photos
Mindful Spontaneity by Ruthy Alon: one of my favourite teachers. In this book Ruthy sets out her philosophies and guidelines for living and moving well. After publishing this book in 1990 Ruthy went on to develop the popular Bones for Life method, another accessible adaptation of Feldenkrais.
By Moshe Feldenkrais
Body & Mature Behaviour (a study of anxiety, sex, gravitation and learning): Moshe’s first articulation of his method. Important work, but not an easy read (it took me several years to finally finish it).
The Potent Self: written at the same time as Body & Mature Behaviour and was directed to the general reader. Was not published till after Moshe’s death as he was striving for credibility at that time and so chose to only publish the more scientific book. Late in life he gave permission for this more accessible book to be made available.
Awareness Through Movement: the classic work and one I recommend to those wanting to start a serious study of the method. Also not an easy read but worth the effort. Also includes step-by-step instructions for 12 classic lessons.
The Case of Nora: his most readable and fascinating work. It’s a case study of his work with a woman severely disabled by stroke. A pioneering work of neuroplasticity.
The Elusive Obvious: his final setting out of his philosophy. Again I found it not an easy read but containing gems of wisdom.
Clinical
If you are a therapist then these are a way to introduce some Feldenkrais thinking into your practice.
The Feldenkrais Method, Teaching by Handling by Yochanan Rywerant: Yochanan was one of the first small practitioner training group that Moshe ran in Tel Aviv in the 1960s. I read this book while I was still practicing as a masseur, before I did the Feldenkrais practitioner training (in Sydney, 1986-1990). It enriched my practice of massage.
The Tellington TTouch by Linda Tellington-Jones: Feldenkrais ideas applied to animals. Linda did some study with Moshe (though I don’t think she completed the practitioner training) and combined Feldenkrais ideas with her own lifetime of working with animals, especially animals, to develop a beautiful, gentle way of healing and training animals.
Neuroplasticity
I’ve been delighted with the emergence of neuroplasticity as a hot topic in recent times because it gives a scientific explanation for what we are doing in Feldenkrais classes and one-to-one sessions. Norman Doidge is the most well known in this field and his second, most recent book, The Brain’s Way of Healingincludes an excellent chapter on Moshe Feldenkrais and his work.
The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge
The Brain’s Way of Healing by Norman Doidge
Phantoms in the Brain V. S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee
Musicophilia, Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks. In fact read anything by Sacks, he’s a treasure, sadly lost to us this year.
Biography
Moshe Feldenkrais, a Life in Movement Volume 1 by Mark Reese. The Feldenkrais community has been very excited to see the release this year of the first volume of Mark Reese’s long awaited biography. Mark, a leading American Feldenkrais trainer and practitioner, researched and wrote this book over many years but tragically died before it was finally published. Close associates of Mark assembled this volume on his behalf. (And they are working on volume 2.)
I’m halfway through reading this big book and am finding it fascinating. Moshe’s life was remarkable and makes for a great story but Mark Reese also cross references Moshe’s life stages with the evolution of his amazing work so it is also a wonderful education on the Feldenkrais Method®.
Happy reading!
A manual to help you get the best results from your Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement Lessons. Read more here
MOSHE FELDENKRAIS D.Sc. 1904-1984
The FELDENKRAIS METHOD® of somatic education was developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. Born in Russia, Feldenkrais immigrated to Israel at the age of thirteen.
After receiving degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering, he earned his D.Sc. in Physics at the Sorbonne in Paris. He subsequently worked for a number of years in the French nuclear research program with Joliet Curie.
Physically active, Feldenkrais played soccer and practiced the martial arts. He studied with Kano Jigoro, the originator of Judo, and in 1936 became one of the first Europeans to earn a black belt in that discipline. A chronic knee injury prompted him to apply his knowledge of physics, body mechanics, neurology, learning theory and psychology to a new understanding of human function and maturation. His investigations resulted in the formulation of a unique synthesis of science and aesthetics, known as the FELDENKRAIS METHOD®.
Dr. Feldenkrais wrote five books about the method as well four books on Judo. To read more click here
THE ELUSIVE OBVIOUS - by: Moshe Feldenkrais D.Sc. (1904-84)
“Harmonious efficient movement prevents wear and tear. More important, however, is what it does to the image of ourselves and our relationship to the world around us." – This book deals with simple, fundamental notions of your daily life that sadly become elusive. Without knowing it you carry from one activity to another, limiting habits and attitudes of mind that prevent you from functioning at your optimal level … as you once naturally did as a little kid. It is a joyful experience, which works on your body, mind, and feelings simultaneously. The changes are dramatically visible, not only in better functioning but in developing a whole new self image.
http://www.achievingexcellence.com/p-Fel3.html
http://www.ebook3000.com/The-Elusive-Obvious-or-Basic-Feldenkrais_96984.html
THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF - By Norman Doidge, M.D.
Stories of Personal Triumph From the Frontiers of Brain Science. Norman Doidge’s fascinating synopsis of the current revolution in neuroscience straddles the age-old distinction between the brain and the mind … that is crumbling fast as the power of positive thinking finally gains scientific credibility.
The credo of this revolution is neuroplasticity — the discovery that the human brain is as malleable as a lump of wet clay not only in infancy, as scientists have long known, but well into hoary old age. In classical neuroscience, the adult brain was considered an immutable machine, as wonderfully precise as a clock in a locked case. Every part had a specific purpose, none could be replaced or repaired, and the machine was destined to tick in unchanging rhythm until its gears corroded with age.
Now sophisticated experimental techniques suggest the brain is more like a Disney-esque animated sea creature. Constantly oozing in various directions, able to respond to injury with striking functional reorganization, and can at times actually think itself into a new anatomic configuration, in a kind of word-made-flesh outcome far more characteristic of Lourdes than the National Institutes of Health.
So it is forgivable that Dr. Doidge, a Canadian psychiatrist and award-winning science writer, recounts the accomplishments of the “neuroplasticians,” as he calls the neuroscientists involved in these new studies, with breathless reverence. Their work is indeed mind-bending, miracle-making, reality-busting stuff, with implications, as Dr. Doidge notes, not only for individual patients with neurologic disease but for all human beings, not to mention human culture, human learning and human history.
http://www.normandoidge.com/normandoidge/MAIN.html
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X
MY STROKE OF INSIGHT- A Brain Scientist's Personal Story Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.
Jill Bolte Taylor experienced a stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. A brain scientist, she observed her own mind deteriorate in a few hours. As the left side of her brain swung in and out of function, she experienced two realities: the europhic nirvana of the intuitive right brain, as well as the logical awareness of the left brain.
My Stroke of Insight is both a recovery guide for anyone touched by a brain injury and an emotional testimony that deep internal peace is accessible to anyone.
http://www.mystrokeofinsight.com/index.html
http://www.amazon.com/My-Stroke-Insight-Scientists-Personal/dp/1430300612
ARTILCES:
NEUROPLASTICITY AND THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD® – By Eileen Bach-y-Rita, GCFP Your brain loves to learn. In fact it thrives on acquiring new skills such as playing a musical instrument, learning a new dance or a new language. Your brain also thrives when engaged in an inner awareness activity, like a Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement® lesson.
In order to learn anything, you need to focus and pay attention to the task at hand. The focus and practice of new activities causes the brain to morph, to grow new connections between billions of cells, and to create new motor and sensory-motor maps for each new activity. Even when you pretend that you are moving, visualizing your movements in your mind, changes can be measured and seen in PET scans. To read more click here
PUT OUT THE FIRE OF INFLAMMATION pdf.
"Inflammation has been around as long as man.
Acute inflammation is a process that protects us against infection and injuries. But it has a beginning and an end. Chronic inflammation is where inflammation is prolonged, as if the “off” switch has quit working. Would you care to see a list of medical conditions that have chronic inflammation as an underlying cause?
Be warned, this list is staggering…" Click here to read more…
GLUTATHIONE pdf.
You are about to read some of the astounding ways glutathione impacts the way your body works. The metabolic processes described below are all documented by peer-reviewed studies available on the website of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health: http://www.goglutathione.com
GLUTATHIONE AND ENERGY pdf.
You’ve been told that glutathione increases energy on a cellular level. How does it do this? Since glutathione is not the actual fuel for the “engines” or “energy factories” of our cells, what part does it play in the creation of cellular energy? Click here to read more
GLUTATHIONE AND LUNG HEALTH pdf.
We think it’s time to focus a little attention and care on our hardworking and faithful lungs. And we hope this doesn’t come as a surprise: glutathione (GSH) is arguably the most vital, valiant protector of the lungs.
Just think about it. Each breath you take exposes your lungs to pollution, allergens, smog, dust, first- or second-hand cigarette smoke—a lungful of dangerous airborne particles. If any area of the body is under a full-scale attack by free radicals and toxins, it is certainly the lungs. Click here to read more
CONNECTING TO THE EARTH: By Ralph Strauch -Feldenkrais Practitioner
Human beings and our hominid ancestors have walked upright for over three million years — mostly barefoot on natural terrain, in a continuing and intimate relationship with the Earth beneath their feet. That relationship fostered the balance and physical agility — rare in contemporary urban society — that allowed them to walk easily across a log over a stream with things balanced on their heads. It also fostered a deep enduring sense of self, and an accompanying deep sense of psychological and even spiritual security. Read more here
EMOTIONAL STRESS AND BODY ORGANISATION: By Ralph Strauch
Feeling states and body organization are closely intertwined. Your body amplifies your emotions in the same way your stereo amplifier amplifies music. When an emotion arises you subconsciously organize your body to amplify that emotion, and what you actually "feel" is the changed organization. Imagine you're frightened, for example, and notice yourself contract. Imagine sudden anger, and notice how your body responds. Your feeling experience is an ongoing flow of constantly changing body organization. Read more here
BOOKS CLINICAL STUDIES AND RESEARCH
RESEARCH ON THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD®
There is a growing body of research to support the effectiveness of the Feldenkrais Method®. The following summaries and references represent a sampling of the many studies that have been conducted. Read more here
If you are experiencing the Feldenkrais Method®, as a student in classes or in one-to-one sessions, then your learning will be enriched by some background reading. Here are my suggestions for you.
I recommend starting with Grabher’s My Feldenkrais Book, next read Doidge’s chapter on Moshe in The Brain’s Way of Healing and then work your way slowly through Moshe’s own Awareness Through Movement.
INTRODUCTORY
Relaxercise by David Zemach-Bersin, Kaethe Zemach-Bersin and Mark Reese: nice set of simple lessons with very clear diagrams. Also available as audio recording
My Feldenkrais Book (a companion for group classes) by Alfons Grabher: excellent supplementary information for those already attending classes. Alfons gives his version of the principles of the Feldenkrais approach to self-improvement. And some simple lessons, with explanatory photos
Mindful Spontaneity by Ruthy Alon: one of my favourite teachers. In this book Ruthy sets out her philosophies and guidelines for living and moving well. After publishing this book in 1990 Ruthy went on to develop the popular Bones for Life method, another accessible adaptation of Feldenkrais.
By Moshe Feldenkrais
Body & Mature Behaviour (a study of anxiety, sex, gravitation and learning): Moshe’s first articulation of his method. Important work, but not an easy read (it took me several years to finally finish it).
The Potent Self: written at the same time as Body & Mature Behaviour and was directed to the general reader. Was not published till after Moshe’s death as he was striving for credibility at that time and so chose to only publish the more scientific book. Late in life he gave permission for this more accessible book to be made available.
Awareness Through Movement: the classic work and one I recommend to those wanting to start a serious study of the method. Also not an easy read but worth the effort. Also includes step-by-step instructions for 12 classic lessons.
The Case of Nora: his most readable and fascinating work. It’s a case study of his work with a woman severely disabled by stroke. A pioneering work of neuroplasticity.
The Elusive Obvious: his final setting out of his philosophy. Again I found it not an easy read but containing gems of wisdom.
Clinical
If you are a therapist then these are a way to introduce some Feldenkrais thinking into your practice.
The Feldenkrais Method, Teaching by Handling by Yochanan Rywerant: Yochanan was one of the first small practitioner training group that Moshe ran in Tel Aviv in the 1960s. I read this book while I was still practicing as a masseur, before I did the Feldenkrais practitioner training (in Sydney, 1986-1990). It enriched my practice of massage.
The Tellington TTouch by Linda Tellington-Jones: Feldenkrais ideas applied to animals. Linda did some study with Moshe (though I don’t think she completed the practitioner training) and combined Feldenkrais ideas with her own lifetime of working with animals, especially animals, to develop a beautiful, gentle way of healing and training animals.
Neuroplasticity
I’ve been delighted with the emergence of neuroplasticity as a hot topic in recent times because it gives a scientific explanation for what we are doing in Feldenkrais classes and one-to-one sessions. Norman Doidge is the most well known in this field and his second, most recent book, The Brain’s Way of Healingincludes an excellent chapter on Moshe Feldenkrais and his work.
The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge
The Brain’s Way of Healing by Norman Doidge
Phantoms in the Brain V. S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee
Musicophilia, Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks. In fact read anything by Sacks, he’s a treasure, sadly lost to us this year.
Biography
Moshe Feldenkrais, a Life in Movement Volume 1 by Mark Reese. The Feldenkrais community has been very excited to see the release this year of the first volume of Mark Reese’s long awaited biography. Mark, a leading American Feldenkrais trainer and practitioner, researched and wrote this book over many years but tragically died before it was finally published. Close associates of Mark assembled this volume on his behalf. (And they are working on volume 2.)
I’m halfway through reading this big book and am finding it fascinating. Moshe’s life was remarkable and makes for a great story but Mark Reese also cross references Moshe’s life stages with the evolution of his amazing work so it is also a wonderful education on the Feldenkrais Method®.
Happy reading!
