Series: Feldenkrais Theory and Research

The physics of Feldenkrais

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J. C. Hannon

The topic of posture, and how the individual uses their body is central to most bodywork and movement therapies and approaches. This new series of peer reviewed papers will explore the issues around this core topic from a particular perspective. The reader is invited to participate by communicating with the author, or the editor, with comments, ideas and constructive criticism. Alternative viewpoints will be published in future issue of the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. Editor

John Charles Hannon DC Certied Feldenkrais Practitioner, Private Practice, 1141 Pacic Street, Suite B, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA Correspondence to: John C. Hannon Tel.: 1 805 542 9925; Fax: 1 805 541 2391 Received: October 1999 Revised: October 1999 Accepted: November 1999
........................................... Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies (2000) 4(1), 27^30 # 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd

A brazen truth is that we don't know what we don't know. This series of articles will review some important but often overlooked physical principles underlying all forms of bodywork. Most therapists study kinesiology in school but do they comprehend it in their bones? We may be able to rattle o Newton's Laws but do we nd benet applying them in our own daily practice? These articles will attempt to reconnect our understanding of the role physics plays in enhancing eciency, safety and economy of eort in our therapy. This understanding involves a coherent integration of proprioceptive, tactile, visceral as well as intellectual factors. The irony is that we all have experienced the reality of inertia, momentum, friction and leverage. In our earliest years we cultivate conscious movement by the kind of relentless exploration drives our parents to distraction. It takes years to learn to stand well on one leg but only a few unbalanced milliseconds to feel the power of gravity. Unfortunately, most civilized adults use their bodies ineciently; clumsy sti movements are seen everywhere. Athletes have overuse injuries and repetitive strain disorders proliferate even among bodyworkers. Where do you ache? Underlying ergonomics are the
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physical relationships of forces and resistances that contribute to all movement. The purpose of this series is to explore the basic physics of kinesiology and to point toward practical strategies to improve the way that we, and our clients, use ourselves. The writings of Moshe Feldenkrais lend themselves to this study. He was a qualied engineer and he possessed two certicates attesting to his commitment to learning about movement. Not only did he earn a DSc in physics from the Sorbonne but he also became the rst European to receive a Black Belt in Judo from the Kodokan. His six books and hundreds of pages of transcripts provide a mother-lode from which his thoughts on the science of movement may be mined (Leri 1999). This series will purposefully ignore the neurophysiology of motor control, theories of motor learning, the eect of anxiety upon human behavior as well as kinesiological concepts not directly raised by Feldenkrais. Instead, the material will focus on concrete applications of the physical `house rules' that underline good manual therapy. By uncovering principles of movement science, we all may maintain our health and deepen our practice. Enhanced clinical results with less eort will accomplish both goals.

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Hannon But we must recall a peril in establishing principles to guide our practice. Too slavish a reliance on principles may lead to ignoring the individuality of our clients and applying `cookie-cutter' techniques. Perhaps this is why Feldenkrais would sometimes say in his trainings that the rst principle of his method was that there were no principles. No stranger to controversy, Feldenkrais (1977) also said, during his Practitioner Training class in San Francisco, `We have as our rst principle you have to know all the techniques possible or imaginable on every part of the body and in every combination. This way you are capable of taking out the exact error that hits the bull's eye on that particular person. The thing that is right on that person. Give the thing most needed by that person at that time (Leri 1999). Somehow we need to discover principles that will help us to gauge what `bulls eye' manual techniques look and feel like. It is a premise of this series that the best place to start is by understanding the heft and shape of the eects that gravity has upon our movements. Another premise is that the value of gentleness lies not only in being more ecient but also by enhancing the ability to sense more. Dr Milton Trager's famous comment comes to mind: `Why ask how high you can jump, why not ask how lightly you can land' (Liskin 1996). A principle from Judo that has center stage in the Feldenkrais Method1 is the Principle of Maximal Eciency with Minimal Eort. Let us shorten this to the Principle of Least Eort. This principle will pop up throughout the series; it has many applications. Two exercises to learn more about amount of eort we usually exert, and how the Principle of Least Eort may make our job easier can be found in Boxes 1 and 2. The series will explore, with a maximum of experiential exercises, the importance of awareness in learning new movement skills. If concepts such as the importance of a fulcrum for leverage, (the rotation of the pelvis in the above exercise being an example), help organize your clinical practice for safer and more eective results, it will be time well spent.

Box 1 The inuence of the resting posture upon quality of movement

. Sit on a solid stool about as high as your kneecap.

Fig 1 Rocking the heel in the sitting postion.

. Place your knees shoulder-width apart and your ankles directly below your knees. Your shins should be vertical and your thighs parallel with the oor, the feet parallel with each other. . Now slide your right foot a hand's width backward toward the stool legs and the left foot a hand's width forward. . Your feet should be resting at on the oor. . Using the ankle as a hinge, lift the left foot up in such a way that the front of the foot rises without the toes tensing; in other words, rock the foot as a whole upon the heel. . Try not to have the toe tendons tighten but use other muscles to hoist the foot. Gauge how high the big toe rise and see if you can lift the foot without rolling the forefoot to either side. . Perform the same movement with the right foot. . Naturally, the right foot does not raise as high, but are you using more eort than necessary on the left? . What is the height that you can reach with the right foot using only as much eort as on the left side? . Slowly slide the right foot forward a bit and try the maneuver and see where is the exact point where the eort becomes easy. How is this point on the oor related to the ankle hinge? . Move the feet far away from the stool until the feet rest only upon the heels. . Why is raising the feet easier still in this position?
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The physics of Feldenkrais1

Box 2 Exploring the ischium as another of the body's pivot points

. This exercise is not designed for aerobics or for strengthening; its purpose is awareness so please do not strain. Attempt to use the least eort consistent with the task. When a maximal eort is asked for, ensure that the eort is safe and comfortable.

Fig 2 Rocking upon the ischia with a clasped yet dangling leg.

. Raise a knee and cradle it, ngers interlaced around the kneecap. . Arrange your supporting foot for stability. . The more eort you exert, the less attention to detail you will be able to distinguish. Test this idea by just once exerting maximally: isometrically push the knee oor-ward while clasping the knee to your chest with maximal eort. Do this for a few seconds then rest. . As you rest, notice if you are able to sense if your diaphragm and lower ribs lost some excursion during the eort. . Was there added tension in your tongue, eyes, jaw muscles? . Did your support leg tense or move from its original spot? . Are you still tensed from the eort? . Why was there extra eort and which muscles were required to work for this task? Can you repeat the exercise with only these muscles working? One application to be explored in the series is how our skeleton is designed to carry the gravitational load. If the skeleton is arranged optimally for this task, the support leg need not tighten even during maximal isometric eort of the arms and knee. Interestingly, repose of this leg requires a solid awareness of the best place for the ischial tuberosities to be upon the stool. Just as we saw the eects of moving the feet upon the ease of lifting the soles, there is a relationship of the ischial tuberosities, gravity and the stool to the task of lifting a knee. . Explore the eects of a very small sideways rocking of your ischial tuberosities upon the stool. . Try many positions of the supporting foot until the leg muscles relax, support being provided by the stiness and bulk of the bones of the leg and pelvis. . Last of all, while continuing to cradle the knee, relax the neck, back, arm, chest, the hip exors and any other muscle that is unneeded for this position. . Continue to prune unnecessary eort until you feel the position to be an easy and comfortable one. . If you have found the sweet spot, a slight tilt of your neck backwards should rock your entire upper body backwards upon your ischial tuberosities. . Can you sense which ischial tuberosity participates most fully in this rocking?

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Hannon

Box 2 ^ Continued

. Note that, although sometimes taking months to discover, hip exion eort is not needed when sitting securely . Does your clasped shin swing like a pendulum as you rock back and forth. It is a tiny but very evident feeling . Are your elbows tensing during the rocking upon the stool? If so, you still have not pruned enough excess . Notice another principle: Control follows awareness.
eort away from the task. of swing. with the knee held clasped.

REFERENCES
Feldenkrais M 1977 Training transcript: San Francisco Year III. Portland: The Feldenkrais Guild, 11 Feldenkrais M 1992 Body and Mature Behaviour: A study of anxiety, sex, gravitation and learning. International Universities Press, Madison, 13

Leri D 1999 Learning How to Learn. The principle of no principles. http:// www.semiophysics.com/learn.htm, p.5 Liskin J 1996 Moving Medicine: the life and work of Milton Trager. MD: Station Hill Press, 22

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