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Body and Mature Behavior: A Study of Anxiety, Sex, Gravitation and Learning

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"I contend that rigidity [...] i.e., the adeherence to a principle to the utter exclusion of its opposite, is contrary to the laws of life." Thus wrote Feldenkrais in this book in 1949, when he was 45 years old, already an expert in Judo and with a PhD in physics. In those years he settled for some time in Britain after having emmigrated from Russia, where he was born, to Palestine, and then travelling to France, where he spent a few years studying science and training in Judo. The book presents the essence of his fenomenally wide perspective about re-opening the path for personal development. He puts himself alongside the great masters searching for methods for cure from ailments, both physical and mental. But he does not stop there. Already in 1929 he had translated into Hebrew a book about the auto-suggestion healing method of the French Que, and to the original text he added a chapter of his own, elaborating on his conviction that there is no reason to limit the usage of such a method to make the sick healty. The path is open for a potenial improvement of every one of us from the state in which we are to a continuous process of daily improvement. To this project he dedicated himself till the end of his life. There is a lot in common between his aspiration and Matheas Alexander's, the founder of the Alexander technique and the man who originally presented the concept of the Use of the Self (thus Alexander titled his own revolutionary book). However, Feldenkrais was one generation younger, and his background and personality were very different from Alexander's. His motto is learning, which he considers "the uniqueness of Man". Learning in the deep, dynamic sense of perpetually creating and utilizing new options for experience and action. Continuous learning requires that we shall not forget that "...the principles we learn are themselves ephemeral and not absolute". Here are the foundations of his approach presented to the scientifically oriented reader. To read the book you must be willing to deal with a demanding style of writing. After a short discussion of the general framework and pespective of his endevor, Feldenkrais goes straight into the main topics which he considered fundamental to his case. A condensed description of the conditions of our existence, touching upon topics like neurology, prehistory, child development, individual--society relationships, and more. A rare discussion of gravitation and the anti-gravity mechanism is followed by a discussion of the effects of emotion (especially anxiety and the attitude to sexuallity) on posture and on personal patterns of movement. Here you can read one of Moshe's earlier presentation of the ideas that guided him through the development of his unique method and technique of therapy and instruction by direct contact with the nervous system. The aim is to re-tune it towards a gradual development of a personal style of action characterized by more freedom and elegance. If you are really interested in Moshe's ideas written in the pesronal, concentrated, somewhat arid style of his younger years, this book will be an exciting addition to your library for many years to come.