Is Feldenkrais a form of meditation?

Someone asked me recently whether the Feldenkrais Method is a form of Meditation.

I definitely consider it to be so.

Apart from your body benefiting in terms of better movement, better posture more flexibility, etc., being a mind-body practice, we are changing what goes on in the brain. (And, of course it's the brain that is making the phyisical changes!)

Practicing the Feldenkrais Method takes us out of our thinking mind (which is the purpose of meditation) and connects us with our sensory perception. We are therefore more in a state of being and of awareness. This, like meditation, is calming and stress reducing. 

As with meditation, the Feldenkrais method connects us to the present moment. We explore ourselves without judgment, accepting “what is”. As a result we experience that positive change occurs in the mind and in the body. This occurs through awareness rather than through willpower. In this state we experience more joy in movement and in life generally.

Meditation is also about bringing awareness to habits and patterns of behaviour. And this is exactly what we do in Feldenkrais. I personally find that the Feldenkrais method gives you a more concrete way - through movement - of applying this awareness. And as a result we can often instantly break free of many deep-seated habits.

The potential trap with both the Feldenkrais Method and with meditation is that it can become another thing in life which we "do". And in the doing many people strive to do it correctly, to be good at it, to succeed. This ambition is what we need to let go of because it can lead to anxiety or stress which is what we're aiming to reduce. Instead we practice being and observing. Now, of course, with the Feldenkrais method we do “do” something in so far as we incorporate movement, so that we can pay attention to ourselves in action, because movement is life - there’s no life without movement - so we give ourselves an action to pay attention to, but we do it in such a way where it’s small and slow and refined so that it’s not about the movement itself - in fact it can also be done in the imagination - but about the possibility of sensing differences. It's also possible to take these small movements and make them larger and we do this in an attempt to show ourselves that we can have the same quality of being and doing without the superfluous efforts we habitually add. Thereby we learn to be and to act in a more complete and connected way in our lives.

The focus of the Feldenkrais Method on directing one's attention to the body and away from one's thoughts is also the goal of meditation - to escape the incessant thoughts of the mind and become conscious in the present moment. You cannot not be in the moment if you’re practising Feldenkrais correctly. And, as with meditation, the aim is to take this experience of oneself more and more into daily life, so it's not just something we do in a class or during the hour of a private lesson and then immediately go back to our old habits. As you begin to incorporate the learning into your daily life, as you begin to pay attention to your body and its sensations and how you use it - however fleetingly that might be - in moments throughout your day, (eg. when you’re brushing your teeth or folding up your washing or sitting at your desk or going for a walk, etc etc), you become more aware, you become more conscious. And that’s the envy of every Zen monk!

And then you may notice that all these aches and pains that you may have had, begin to disappear because they were tied in with your emotional life and with the thoughts that keep running through your head. And when you’re free yourself from that, you free yourself from the difficulties of life .

And don’t be mistaken that by bringing your attention to your body that you’re somehow distracted. You’ll actually be much more present when you bring your attention to your body than when you allow your mind to be taken up by thoughts. You’ll find, even when you’re having a conversation with someone, that by bringing attention to your body that you’re more present in that conversation than when your mind is thinking of dinner preparations or working out your next response to the person you’re talking with. And of course you can’t really be present for another person if you can’t be present for yourself.  

So, sure, why not treat Feldenkrais as meditation, and experience the benefits to you in your whole self. You move better, you breathe better, you feel better, you live better!