Last night I was doing a session from the 1977 1972 Esalen workhop. The Esalen workshop was one of the first public workshops taught by Moshe Feldenkrais in the United States. I was doing lesson #13, called: Head Turning (Cervical). In the middle of the session, the transcript reports Moshe saying;
“Some misuse the penis by using it for something that shouldn’t be done with it, and some misuse their tongue for doing something it’s not meant to do…”
Whoa. Interesting! My first thought was that I was mistaken about the lesson. Perhaps it was really called, “Head Turning and Penis Use.” Or maybe, “Differentiating the Penis by Turning the Spine.”
But no.
Moshe liked to whack people on the head from time-to-time to make sure he had their attention (No comment on the pun). And he usually had multiple reasons and meanings for doing so. But in this case, Moshe did not explain what this “misuse” of the penis or tongue might be. But he did give examples of bodily “misuse” in general.
To his mind, misuse meant doing an act without an awareness of what one enacts and how. Without that awareness, one’s choice is limited and its difficult to choose something else – or to do something in a new and creative way. I am willing to say that the entirety of Moshe’s work comes from that idea: Learning to discover if you are doing what you think you are doing, so you have the option of changing what you do.
To use Moshe’s words from the same session:
We don’t all use the same muscles for the same purpose…I don’t mind…whatever you do..but I want you to know what you do. I want you to know when you are rolling head, and when you are just oscillating the axis around which you roll it as a substitution for rolling.
In the context of that particular session, Moshe was demonstrating multiple ways that a person could turn his or her head and cervical spine. It was an attempt to show that there were more possibilities than his students were using. He wanted them to know what they were doing, so they could have a chance of adopting another movement pattern. It’s a common strategy, used over and over again in Feldenkrais’s work.
“… it is impossible to correct and reform adequately the general use of oneself without recovering sexual spontaneity.” He also mentions that one of his goals is for students to increase their sexual potency.
I can imagine someone taking exception to that. How does improving movement lead to great sexual potency? And what business is it of Moshe Feldenkrais?
To a large extent, is was none of his business. Nor should it be the direct concern of anyone teaching Moshe’s ideas. However, it is an illuminating insight into the nature of self-development. It expresses a crucial idea on how we grow as human beings and creative individuals. To use Moshe’s words:
Although I as a teacher set out to increase the student’s mature sexual potency, it is not for the sake of lust or pleasurable indulgence as found in the immature person. Sexual maturity arrives at the end of the development period, and is the most vulnerable function because of that. All the consequences of improper and inexpedient habits formed through personal experience in the preceding growth period bear on it and mark this function more than any other function that matures earlier. Any arrest in development that may occur during this susceptible period of childhood and adolescence will of necessity affect the function that has yet to mature. Similarly, it is impossible to correct and reform adequately the general use of oneself without recovering sexual spontaneity.
To Moshe, evolving one’s self, becoming more creative, empowered and alive could not but help increase one’s sexual spontaneity and power.
“But isn’t that a no-brainer? Doesn’t everyone know this?”
Not only “no” but “hell no.” For the majority of people in the industrialized world, evolving one’s self means to make more money and achieve more status. To do this, people ignore their bodily needs. They ignore that inner voice and those feelings that tell them that the “success” they have is not quite what they need or want.
“The need for constant support by one’s fellows is so great that most people spend the larger part of their lives fortifying their masks [RN: Their false self]. Repeated success is essential to encourage the individual to persist in this masquerade..The actions and the drive that produces them—necessary in order to maintain a mask free of flaws and cracks lest he be revealed behind it—do not derive from any basic organic needs. As a result, the satisfaction derived from these actions even when they are successful is not a revitalizing organic satisfaction, but merely a superficial, external one.
Very slowly, over the years, a man comes to convince himself that society’s recognition of his success should and does give him organic contentment. Often enough the individual becomes so adjusted to his mask, his identification with it so complete, that he no longer senses any organic drive or satisfactions. This can result in the revelation of flaws and disturbances in family and sex relations that may always have been present but that have been glossed over by the individual’s success in society.”
At which point they go to a Doctor to ask her for a prescription of Viagra. Or maybe Prozac. Or maybe a lobotomy. They are all equivalent. As H.L. Mencken once wrote:
“For every complex problem there is an simple answer that is clear, direct, and wrong.”
Just a few moments ago on Facebook, Kunihiko Otomo posted a quote from Moshe Feldenkrais’ out-of-print 1944 book: Judo: The Art of Defence and Attack
Kunihiko mentioned, “I see the seeds of his [Moshe's] inspiration and his later Method scattered all over those pages like pieces of gold.” Being intrigued, I did some digging online and found a downloadable pdf of the book (link at the bottom of this post).
Read some of these quotes and see if both the words and ideas are familiar to you by way of Moshe’s later teachings.
From the back cover:
“In Higher Judo he [Feldenkrais] explains how Judo practice can educate and train a person to become independent of his heritage.”
Independent of his heritage. Sound familiar? I believe Moshe is using the word heritage differently than he uses it in later works, such as in Awareness Though Movement where he writes:
The biological endowment of the individual—the form and capacity of his nervous system, his bone structure, muscles, tissue, glands, skin, senses—are all determined by his physical heritage long before he has any established identity. His self-image develops from his actions and reactions in the normal course of experience. (ATM, Preface, p.4)
In the quote above, “heritage” is paired with the word “physical”, meaning one’s biological or genetic heritage. But in the original quote, when Moshe speaks about heritage, I believe he is speaking about one’s self-education, what I like to think of as one’s often mistaken ideas about oneself learned through family, culture and education. By becoming independent of your heritage, you learn that you made some mistakes about yourself and your capabilities. You are more capable than you may have originally learned.
In the passages below, also from Judo and the Art of Defence and Attack, substitute the world “Feldenkrais” for the word “Judo” and you would think that Moshe was writing about his later methods:
“…Judo is the art of using the body in general. It is planned to improve general well-being and a sense of rhythm, and develops co-ordination of movement as no other method or sport can possibly do. The senses of time and space are so much bettered by Judo practice that soon every disciple becomes aware of a certain improvement and progress in whatever occupation, hobby or sport he may have followed previously. Indeed Judo should be considered as a basic culture of the body, much as matriculation is necessary before starting serious work in any of the sciences. ” (p. 11)
There is much more I could write about, but perhaps you would enjoy reading it yourself first?
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What are other practitioners saying about this webinar?
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There are so many ways to approach being on the web and after attending Ryan’s webinar, I was able to see what the next steps are for me. It helps that Ryan is a Feldenkrais practitioner – he understands that this is a process and that you make a first pass and then a second pass. Ryan definitely has the technical information to answer all your questions and the resources he provided with the webinar were invaluable. I’ll be back for the next one. Kim Cottrell, GCFP, 2009 FGNA Program Chair
I previously participated in one of Ryan’s webinars and it was a well spent hour. I learned a lot. He also sends a lot of material by email that makes for many more hours of learning. I’m going to be at this class as well. It’s easy to get into the webinar, and Ryan records the class so you can listen to it again later. Silani Wahlgren, Feldenkrais Practitioner
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Each webinar builds on the other. I’m notorious for packing tons of information into my workshops, so we may end 5 or 10 minutes late.
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There are so many ways to approach being on the web and after attending Ryan’s webinar, I was able to see what the next steps are for me. It helps that Ryan is a Feldenkrais practitioner – he understands that this is a process and that you make a first pass and then a second pass. Ryan definitely has the technical information to answer all your questions and the resources he provided with the webinar were invaluable. I’ll be back for the next one. Kim Cottrell, GCFP, 2009 FGNA Program Chair
I previously participated in one of Ryan’s webinars and it was a well spent hour. I learned a lot. He also sends a lot of material by email that makes for many more hours of learning. I’m going to be at this class as well. It’s easy to get into the webinar, and Ryan records the class so you can listen to it again later. Silani Wahlgren, Feldenkrais Practitioner
