Awareness Heals

by Steven Shafarman

Relieve pain, recover from stress, and enhance pleasure with the Feldenkrais Method

The Feldenkrais Method is a revolutionary approach to health and fitness. Using what Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais called "Awareness Through Movement," people of any age or condition can learn to move more comfortably and effectively. In pleasant yet powerful ways, his method reawakens the natural process by which we as babies learned to crawl, walk, and talk. In the U.S. and Canada more than one thousand guild-certified practitioners teach the Feldenkrais Method.
Awareness Heals is the first book to present the full benefits of the Feldenkrais Method in clear language. It details six basic lessons which help you to become more aware of how you breathe, sit, walk, and otherwise move. By sensing these natural actions, you grow more skillful and supple in all your movements. Through the Feldenkrais Method, you can learn to relieve pain, enhance flexibility, and recover from physical or emotional stress.
The gentle movements in Awareness Heals are designed for practice at home and work, and even in your car. They fit into any program of fitness, exercise, or therapy. Most important, Feldenkrais lessons demonstrate that such problems as stiffness and stress do not require outside intervention--the remedy lies within each of us.

Genres: Personal Development, Health, Nonfiction

225 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 1997

Reviews

[Cindywho · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I had this book out from the library for at least 6 months. It's overdue yet again. The exercises were interesting and are relevant to my yoga practice, but I think I actually need someone there to tell me what to do. It's hard to clutch the book and do the movements as long as directed. I also get too mentally distracted when left to myself. Maybe some kind of audio version would be a good idea. I did once go to a yoga workshop that turned out to be more about Feldenkrais than yoga and that's how I ended up picking up this book. For now it's a footnote, I'll stick to the yoga. (February 07, 2004)

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can hardly believe how much pain relief I am experiencing by doing gentle, repetitive movements following instructions out of a book! I don't know why it works, and sometimes the author's enthusiasm is a bit much to take, but I can't argue with success. I have less stiffness, less pain, and it's lasting longer than other sorts of treatments and exercises I have tried.

[Grazia Palmisano · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Questo è ciò che il Metodo Feldenkrais persegue realmente: creare le condizioni che ci permettono di migliorare l'immagine che abbiamo di noi stessi, di aiutarci a crescere e ad avere accesso a una gamma più ampia di possibilità. Non cerca di curare o di guarire i nostri dolori o i nostri problemi, ma di permetterci di godere la vita quanto più liberamente e pienamente vogliamo. Come Moshe affermava e dimostrava, essere sani significa vivere per realizzarei nostri sogni, manifesti e segreti. "

- è un libro da "sperimentare" e mettere in pratica, l'ho trovato molto chiaro e semplice da seguire nei vari esercizi pratici, per imparare a imparare

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains several movement exercises along with background of the Feldenkrais approach. Requires patience; exercises are best done with a buddy if reading the hard copy.

[Kim Taylor Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a methods book, and although I finished reading it today, I will be using it for years to come.

Not having the fortune of working directly with Moshe Feldenkrais, those of us interested in his method have to rely on the trainers that have and hope that their "take" on his work is organic and constructed out of a love for the method and not out of self-aggrandizement.

Next on the list, "Awareness Through Movement" written by the master.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A completely different modality for aiding health. Not a aerobic approach, not stretching, not strength training, but a slow exploration - like relearning as we did in childhood - how we move, how a turn of the head is connected to the torso and hips, how to walk elegantly. I am loving it.

[Cyberpayanee · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the process of reading. Feldenkrais is brilliant. There is a depth to this beyond physical - You cant call this excesise, there is no strict discipline but tentative and creative exploration.