The first time I read this book, it was such a daunting task I put down and saved it for a time when my intelligence was ready to 'understand' the instructions. If you're the equivilent of a college freshman in the science of movement this book will probably be something you want to save for a more advanced place in your progression. Or read it and get what you can...planning to come back to it over and over. If I hadn't seen and tried the method via videotapes and then in an actual seminar I probably wouldn't have given the book a chance at all. That choice, however, would have been a huge mistake. This book offers a series of "lessons" that take the human body through movements most children could do easily but had been pushed out of my movement repertoire. These are also movements most people, including my extremely strong and lean 30 year old daughter(who's a personal trainer I might add), cannot do with ease. The movement patterns provided in the book help me rollerblade without fear (well, a reasonable level of fear!) and increase the likelihood that I'll still be able to chase men when I'm old enough to know better but still too young--what's 95 anyway?-- to care. On a more serious side these strengths will be absolutely crucial if we want to be able to get into a shower or go to the restroom alone when we get older. I've been a runner and fitness specialist for a LONG time and have worked from just about every angle in the fitness field that exists, from aerobic instruction to power lifting to yoga and the Awareness Through Movement theory was alien to anything I'd learned in the traditional "western" pursuit of fitness. Instruction like this was not in any of my personal training courses. Though certified in anatomy and strength training for several years, this just didn't even appear on my fitness 'radar'. I wasn't used to working that hard for information. I wanted cut and dried instructions with pictures to boot. It was normal to use traditional exercise methods because they aren't very complex, are easy to teach and mistakes are fairly easy to see and correct. Books that instruct bench presses, abdominal crunches, and squats also are easy to read and follow; unfortunately they miss the subtlties necessary to truly powerful human movement. No good athlete depends on exercises like those alone. That's where this book has helped. It has required some intense think and move sessions but all these movement lessons yield surprising results if you have the patience to stick with them. One note: you must have the patience of a baby learning to walk.I read Feldenkrais' other books which actually gave Awareness Through Movement context and made it easier with which to work . Feldenkrais was a judo master as well as one of the earliest developers of cybernetic science and all of this shows in his book but it also means the book isn't light reading. Learning to do the method from written text will be as difficult as learning the basics of one of the martial arts. I agree that the photos of wooden models are difficult to use, front and back are almost impossible to discern (I did some creative artwork..noses, ears, etc. once I figured out where they needed to be) and might make it difficult to understand the movement clearly. There is also no index or reference table which is a little frustrating at times.Despite these drawbacks I wouldn't give the book to a family member unless I knew a replacement would be easy to find! Awareness Through Movement: Easy-to-Do Health Exercises to Improve Your Posture, Vision, Imagination, and Personal Awareness
Feldenkrais was one of the century's great geniuses. Originally recognized for his nuclear physics research and for his introduction of Judo to Europe in the 30s, he developed the gentle Feldenkrais Method during the second World War in respose to his own knee problems. In Awareness Through Movement, Feldenkrais gives you a wonderful introduction to the group part of his method--Awareness Through Movement. The processes are gentle, painless and easy. The best way to use the exercises in this book is to get yourself a cassette player and to then read the instructions aloud into the cassette. Then rewind the cassette, lie down on your back, hit play and be amazed as that magnificent voice on the cassette recording shows your body how to improve more quickly than you've ever believed possible.
Moshe Feldenkrais, renaissance man, scientist, educator, wrote this book regretably in a manner more suitable for his science students. However, to be able to profit the most from these 10 fundamental Awareness Through Movement lessons is to read them out loud and transfer them to an audio-tape while your favourite relaxing music is playing in the background. Then follow these instructions - in your own voice - while being gentle with your body. Be ready to switch off your recorder after each part of an exercise and relax for 18 breaths (= 1 minute)-- or better take consideration of this fact when originally dictating the lessons to your recorder. Permit yourself to fall asleep if you feel you need to do so. Remember that your neurological system needs to be trained to accept these deeply regenerative movements and it may take some time until you feel comfortable moving in a slow and fluid manner. Gábor, Feldenkrais Movement Educator.
i have been interested in learning about the feldenkrais method for some time. after seeing all the five star reviews for this book i thought that it would be a great introduction to the method. boy was i wrong. this is NOT a book for people who have very little or no knowledge of the feldenkrais method. i found it to be complex, technical, wordy, and in many cases more complicated than it needed to be. there are almost no pictures accompaning the text, and the few pictures that exist are of wooden manequins. don't be fooled by the glowing reviews written by people are who are practicioners of the method. if you are like me and just want a book to introduce you to the concepts then this is not the book. - Health - Posture - Rehabilitation - Moshe Feldenkrais'
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