Product Reviews
Click on any title below to be taken directly to the review.
CD Review: The Feldenkrais-Pribram Discussion
~Carl Ginsberg, Certified Feldenkrais Trainer
The year was 1975, and we were in the early weeks of the first
Feldenkrais® training held outside of Israel. The air was vibrant with
excitement as we began to explore the unique lessons and wisdom of
Moshe. On June 20, 1975 Moshe invited professor Karl Pribram of
Stanford University to a dialog in front of the class. We were just
becoming familiar with the thinking involved with what we were doing,
as Moshe understood it. Much of it was new and radical to those of us
attracted to finding out what this work was about. We were pioneers in
a very new endeavor to experience ourselves in a unique process. [Click here to read the entire review]
DVD Review: On Awareness
~ Jeff Haller, Ph.D., Certified Feldenkrais Trainer
In 1973 Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais gave a lecture to dancers and theater
arts people at New York University. A video tape of this lecture was
donated to the New York Public Library by Daniel Nagrin, formerly of
the NYU Dance Department. The IFF obtained permission from the library
to create a DVD of the lecture to sell for fundraising.
Before I begin this review of Moshe's lecture, I will simply tell you,
“Buy this DVD from the IFF.” Not only will the sale of this
DVD go toward the preservation and digitization of Moshe's materials,
but also this is simply one of the clearest lectures I have heard Moshe
give. The joy of this lecture is that the topic is Awareness. [Click here to read the entire review]
Amherst Training on DVD
~ Jeff Haller, Ph.D., Certified Feldenkrais Trainer
Amherst, The Value of Studying Moshe’s teaching.
I was pleased to hear the Amherst material has been converted from tape to DVD. I have advocated that happening for a long time. I believe it is important for all practitioners to own for their own study Moshe’s teaching through his recorded materials. Now comes the hard part. How to study the materials? It would be an injustice to the material to simply do the lessons and memorize them so you have something to teach. Larger questions need to be asked in order to dig into the depth of what was presented day by day in Amherst. For example, you could ask, “How does Moshe go about teaching to 220 people, his notion of the potent posture? That it is biologically correct for human beings be able to move from any one position to another without hesitation or preparation.” How did he go about getting every person at Hampshire College the approximate ability of moving from any position on the floor to another orientation? What was the thread of lessons he taught to bring his class to being “fit for living”. In my estimation, practitioners who go beyond conceptualization and intellectually speaking about “potent posture”, and embody this foundational pillar in their lives, will be more effective as practitioners.
There are so many ways to look at the material. One could study how each lesson given was physiologically correct and see how he utilized, reciprocal inhibition, balance and counter balance, force and counter force, reversibility, even distribution of tonus, in each lesson to create a quality of effortless efficiency for his students. You could look at the material and see how he taught class from the point of view of physics, biology, psychology, mysticism, educational or systems theory. The lectures he gave are a study within a study and stand on their own in their use for the serious student.
One could dive into the inner dynamics of each lesson given
by Moshe, seeking to find the essence of the lesson resting there, or one could
expand their view into an overview to see how all the elements were threaded
together to create the outcomes that were generated. It is a complex study to
enter into each lesson and discover the rough jewel hidden within and then see
how the lessons are threaded together so one gradually polishes the jewel by
reducing effort, finding support from the floor, reducing unnecessary muscular
action, and using ones ability to image action, to come to simple effective
movement.
So few people in the Feldenkrais® community met Moshe personally. Most practitioners in the world were trained by a trainer who has offered their interpretation of what they heard and understood from Moshe. Or perhaps, at this point, someone who is a second or third generation trainer who never met Moshe, trained them. Take the time and make a comparative study of Moshe’s teaching with of what you learned and came to believe in your training. Triangulate your learning. Hear from him through the DVD’s and correlate what you heard in your classes with what you hear him say. It will make you a better teacher and improve your clarity immeasurably. If you want to master the Feldenkrais Method®, the study of the Amherst materials will move you well along that path.
