The Feldenkrais Journal #9 Parallel Developments

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HE FELDENKRAIS

]OURNAL

NO.9

!\TINTER 1994

Paralle1 Developments

MOSHE FELDENKRAIS

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The Feldenkrais Journal is published annualll br the Feldenkrais Guild@ for its mernbers, Inquiries regaro,l: this publication should be directed to: The Feldenlr:;s

Guild, P.O. Box 4Bg, Albany, OR 9732r. Ilaterial for

publication can be sent directlv to the editor, Elizaber:: Beringer, at 7r5 CornellA.'.e. Albanv, CA g+;o6.

Additional copies ofthe Iournal are avaiiable through the Guild office for g6 to Guild n'rembers and sto to n,::members, (includes postage and harrdling). Bulk rate .e.' are ar ailable upon requesl.

Subscriptions to the Journal are nor,r, available. Ihese a:. designed for people who are not currentlr-receirir-rg tie Iournal through their Guild. A three-issue subscriptiol is $zs for N. American residents and s35 for olersea. subscribers. A f,ve-issue subscription is s4o s5o, re:pectively. Please send your pal.rnent in US dollars, direcrli to the Guild office. The next issue is on the theme of "Children, " see edircr . letter). If you have an articie, poem, dran-ing, or letter tr the editor to submit, please contact the editor. Elizai.; Beringer. The editorial committee is happ\-to commen. : r-. flrst drafts or works in progress. Final r-ersions of accen i..: articles must be submitted on a N{acintosh-cornparbt. computer disk in the program Nlicrosoft \\ ord. For n'i,: rt information about format, length, computer compari, -. etc., please write to the editor or the Guiid olice ior a c.::', of our uriters' guidelines. Feldenkrais@, The Feldenkrais Guild@, Tl.re

Feldenk,r. .

Method, Functional Integration@ and An-areness Through Mor.ement@ are registered senicemarks oi the Feldenkrais Guild. Editor: Editorial Board:

Elizabeth Beringer Lawrence Coldlarb, Iack Hegg.. Arly,r-r

Zones, Gay Scott,

AIan Questel Design:

Drawings: Proofreading & copvediting:

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Elizabeth \\reiss, Carol }{ress Back Issues:

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Margery Cantor Ginger Beringer

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All back issues are available through the Feldenlrais Gi,i1: o{Iice. Price to Guild members is $6, to non-rner.nbers st,: per copy. @Copyright r9g+ The Feldenkrais Guild. Al1

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The Feldenkrais Iournal number

Ihble of Contents 2

A Letter from the

3

Letters to the Editor

5

WhyRobots FallDown LawrenceWm. Goldfarb

f5

Feldenkrais &

23

|ean Piaget: Play and

27

The

32

Motor Control Theory: A Possible Framework for the Feldenkrais Method Trish Bate

Editor

Wittgenstein Carl Ginsberg Learning

Susan Pinto

CareoftheSkeleton LizDickinson

46 Poems Dan Clurman 47

"One's-Self I Sing": WaltWhitman & Moshe

56

Contributors

Feldenkrais

Bob Hunter

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\\'t\TER

THE FELDENKRAIS JOURNAL NO. 9

A Letter from the

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Editor Dear Colleagues, This issue of the Journal marks the tenth anniversary of the {irst ]ourna-1 as well as the year of the tenth anniversary of Moshe's death. For this issue we chose the theme of "Parallel Developments." The idea rvas to put together articles that highlight an aspect of the Method being der.eloped in a varietv of differing f,elds. Moshe often drew parallels to other domains and predicted that in the future the concepts and approaches taken in our work would become r,r.idely discussed and accepted. Certainly the last ten years have brought many developments and innovations in a variety of flelds (especially the cognitive and movement sciences) that are congruent with and relevant for our work. This Journal is a flrst approximation of the "Parallel Developments"

theme. I would like to see this theme continued in future issues of the Iournal, especially as it relates to discussions and innovations presently going on in fields that relate to our work. I worry that there is an unhealthy tendency torvards self-reference and recursion in

our community. I'm hoping that having this as an ongoing theme in the Journal can help to support a broad perspective similar to that on which the Method nas founded. The articles that flnally comprise the issue span a wide spectrum of time and subjects. Some of the topics are taken from the present, others from the early part of this century. Some originate in the scientific domain, others poetic, and still others defy a neat category. Overall they create a collage of differing perspectives on our work. In the last issue of the lournal, I raised the question of r,r,hether the Iournal should stay in-house or be available for members of the public. Obviously this was a hot issue, and we'd very much like to thank the flve people who took the time to u.rite in about itl The Journal r,rrill continue in kind for the time being. The next issue of the lournal will have Children as its theme. Due to the lateness of this issue, if you would like to contribute please contact me or Arlyn Zones (w'ho will be the co-editor for the next issue) immediately. The 1996 Journal will have a general theme. Articles on any subject will be considered for both the 'gs and '9G lournals. I'd like to thank the members of the editorial board for their help, and Nancy Schumacher for her consistent support and enthusiasm for the Journal as a project. At this tenth anniversary juncture of the flrst Journal, I'd also Iike to acknow'ledge Yvan Joly, with whom I launched the Iournal ten years ago. We, the Journal and the Feldenkrais commu-

nify have come

a long way since

kk Editor

,

thenl

WTNTER

THE FELDENKRAIS JOURNAL NO. 9

r994

Letters to the Editor Dear Elizabeth, as in Frank's San Rafael training that graduated last year and I r,r.as feeling very stuck when the journal arrived. My clients seem to think I \vas great but I often teel iike I'm deceiving them. I remember all the amazing work I've seen trainers and practitioners doing over the years and I feel as if I'm cheating people. I'm twiddling and diddlingl If there \vere any other practitioners close by I would probably have sent my clients to see them but luckily for me there aren't. So, r,vhen I read the journal, especialll, the case studies, I was reinspired. Arlyn, Michael and Shelley \^/ere so clear about their process, the questions that arose from their r,vork and their moving through doubts and changes of direction. I think I have been touching people in the blind hope that someday I'd "get it." Roll a thousand heads and all r,r,'ill become clear. Now I see that trust in the process is not quite enough, I also need to involve my r,vorking brain in thinking and planning more than I have been doing. The rvhole journal was great, as always, but I especially love the case studies each time.. .. The journal is serving a rvonderful purpose if it makes me feel closer to the whole community every time I re-read it.

I

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Pam Free

trIoslte often spoke of Speranskl,'s bookA Basis for tire Theorv of Medicine. utas irttrigued recently by some a.f Robert's contment's abottt Speransky's importance to the Chiropractic communiry and asked him to turite some-

I

thing about it for this issue. In response he sent in this

letter.

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Dear Elizabeth, Speransky's A Basis for the Theory of Medicine was often a topic of enthusiastic discussion among chiropractic students at Palmer College when I was there in the mid '6os. It gives strong support for the chiropractic contention of the primacy of the nen'ous system in health and disease. I am glad it is again available, as a reprint, and offer an anecdote in explanation. Recently, at dinner with a group of about nine people-all chiropractors or chiropractic partisans-the topic turned to Feldenkrais and his method. Mv r,vife and I were arguing that there rvas considerable kinship benveen Feldenkrais and chiropractic theories. It felt like arguing for mlxed marriage between Serbs and Croats until I mentioned that N{oshe had strongly recommended Speransky's book. So had B.J. Palmer, a legendary chiropractor, a generation ago. The unexpected concurrence caused a shocked cease-flre which nearlv ruined the dinner party. It took flve embarrassed and disorienting minutes to find something else to argue about lthe (in)accessibility of the transverse process of atlas vertebra to manual adjustersl. Best.uvrshes,

Robert Cor,vin, o.c.

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THE FELDENKRAIS JOURNAL NO, 9

WTNTER r994

Lawrence Wm. Goldfarb

Why Robots

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%Down THE FOLLOWING TALK WAS FHESENTED as a keynote address to Cybernetics in the Art of Learning, the 1993 American Society of Cybernetics annual conference held in Philadelphia. Following the formal paper, I led the group through a twelve

am honored to be here today. Let me begin

thanking the organizers of this conferfor giuing me the opportunity to address you. In Ttarticular, I would like bJ,

ence

to acknowledge Robert Scho enholtz

for

organtzing this plenary sessiorz. I am interested in how people learn to move. Often, we think of learning movement as imitating rvhat someone else does. However, research in the movement sciences has shown that demonstration and imitation are, at best, an unreliable strategy. Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but it is the poorest form of teaching. In my practice as a Feldenkrais teacher, I work with people who face different kinds of lirnita-

tions in their movement abiiities, ranging from performance problems in the arts or in sports to chronic pain and neurological disease. Ihe Feldenkrais Method consists of a systemic understanding of the human body's design for motion and a perception-oriented pedagogy for changing hon, people move (Feldenkrais, rgzz; Goldfarb, rggo). Despite the best intentions, my students cannot move in the ways theywant. The question that interests me, the question that I rvill address today, is how do people learn a movement if they cannot copywhat they see? The incredible complexity of movement is one of the flrst aspects that appears when one begins to consider movement, whether as an interested observer or as someone trying to deal with a

minute standing Awareness Through Movement lesson. After that, Heinz von Foerster and Humberto Maturana gave formal comments on the paper, which were followed by a discussion with the audience. Except for a slight, unplanned detour, during which i detailed some re$earch findings on the black board and discussed them in further depth, the talk is presente