Young Ultra-Orthodox Feldenkrais Practitioners Struggle Against Tradition
An interesting perspective on “The Method” from National Public Radio (NPR)
It’s an engaging story of a handful of young ultra-Orthodox Feldenkrais Practitioners struggling to expand their practices beyond what has been given. But they often have to hide their desire for a different life. Why? Because when they do or say something, their families and communities often turn on them. Sometimes they’re told they’ll never make it if they leave.
Regarding one young man – the more he read, the more he wanted to read. Books on psychology, human behavior, biology, philosophy.
“Nobody knew about it. It was just my secret life,” he says.
He finally came out. And though he still calls his mom every Friday morning before teaching Awareness Through Movement, he doesn’t speak openly about his new life. He knows it upsets her
“You know, I’ve studied Feldenkrais all my life — I mean, you’re the pinnacle of creation. And suddenly you’re not the pinnacle of creation. You’re the endpoint at this moment in time and something else will happen soon. It’s hard to explain what that was like, but it was beautiful.”
More on the NPR Website: Leaving The Fold
Ryan: How did you make the leap from young ultra orthodox religious Jews — to Feldenkrais Practitioners — struggling against tradition ?
I’ve read the NPR transcript, and see no mention of Feldenkrais there???
The struggle for many youngsters seeking more than the confines of their religion is not new, and it started in earnest with the enlightenment during the 18th and 19th centuries & that includes Moshe himself, But….
Robbie
Robbie – As always, thanks for the comments. My post was a bit over the top. Only meant as food for thought. In reply, I was looking for some interactions that I had with Paul Rubin but could not find them. I may look again later. Essentially, I have had interactions with him where I make a suggestion and he responds with “you are frustrated person with poor thing skills” or some such answer. To me he is an example of Feldenkrais practitioner with fundamentalist tendencies. There seems to be a bit of that in the “Guild Certified” part of the community.
I for one and moving on. I only have a few more posts and I am moving to a new website and way of disseminating the work where I can breathe more freely.
- Ryan
Unfortunately you have chosen a poorly written and simplistic article to provide the fodder for your “over the top” post. Responding to what you see as fundamentalism in such a manner is neither constructive nor enlightening. There is always much more than meets the eye in everything, but when an agenda is driven by negativity it is hard to believe that the outcome will be positive.
Thanks Marcia. You are actually using the tactics that you are accusing me of. You have created and ideological box an are trying to force me into it . Fundamentalism indeed. – Ryan