Thank you for listening to this episode of the Feldenkast.
I’m your host, Ethan Cowan.
Hello, welcome to episode one of the Feldenkast.
This is an introductory episode, so if you are like a seasoned Feldenkrais follower, fan, and you’re ready to just jump into doing some awareness through movement, you can just skip this episode.
Let’s go to episode two, just get started.
But, on the other hand, if you are interested in getting a little bit more context, you know, about me, about the project, about what Feldenkrais is, how to do the lessons, then this episode might be perfect for you.
The episode is a little bit more than 15 minutes long, and it’s all just me talking.
So, I’ll give a little bit of a, like a too long, didn’t listen here at the top, you know, just because this is the internet and who knows how long your attention span is.
Basically, I will talk about myself, how I got into Feldenkrais, and then I’ll do a little kind of, like a practical tips orientation, kind of like when to do the lessons, and then I’ll finish off by talking about the, like the scope of the project, like where the project came from, what the kind of overall goal is of the project.
Let me just thank you again for listening to this episode.
Feldenkrais lessons have made a huge difference to my life.
I think they’re some of the most interesting things out there.
I’m really glad that you’re taking a moment at least to check out the project to see if it might be interesting to you too.
Okay, happy listening.
Hope you find something worth your while.
The first Feldenkrais lesson that I ever did, I was really underwhelmed.
I remember I was a senior in college, Oberlin College in Ohio in the United States, and I was taking a class called Introduction to Somatic Studies with a teacher in the dance department, but she was really cool.
She wanted to teach like somatics, I guess, to all sorts of people.
So there were dancers in the class, but there were also a lot of musicians because Oberlin has a really good conservatory, so there were a lot of musicians around.
And I think there were athletes too, although Oberlin does not have a reputation as like a place to go if you’re an athlete, but I think there were some.
Anyway, this was like an introduction class, and I remember going to the bookstore and getting the books, and then on the syllabus, there were also other requirements, and one thing you had to get was a little pinky ball, which was like this kind of almost like a lacrosse ball, a little softer, that we ended up using to roll stuff out.
Like you brought the ball to class, and then we would learn how to like roll the ball on your foot or put the ball against a wall and kind of rub your back on the ball, kind of like a bear scratching its back.
I don’t know, it was an interesting college class to take.
That was great.
I also remember another time where we were in groups of four or five.
One person would get down on the floor, and then the other three or four people would kind of massage the one person all at the same time.
Remember, that was like, that was funny to be doing that in college.
So one of the books on the syllabus was by Moshe Feldenkrais, Awareness Through Movement, and from the start, I was kind of mystified by this book.
I mean, I’m in this class where we’re doing all these funny exercises, and then the reading is, you know, I think it’s going to be kind of about the body or like, you know, maybe he came up with a novel way of using the pinky ball or I don’t know what, but the book itself, it kind of read more like a book from one of my philosophy classes.
Like, for context, the first line says, We act in accordance with our self-image.
This self-image, which in turn governs our every act, is conditioned in varying degree by three factors, heritage, education, and self-education.
Like, okay, what does that mean?
You know, he said some stuff where it’s like, wow, there’s something to this.
I can’t quite figure out what he’s saying, but this guy knows what he’s talking about, you know, even if I don’t.
So along comes the week in the class where we’re supposed to discuss this book, and I’m kind of excited thinking maybe the teacher is going to be able to shed some light on some of the more obscure corners that I don’t really understand.
And lo and behold, she doesn’t really get it either.
I don’t remember what we even talked about, but I do remember that feeling of like, wow, nobody gets this.
So I remember being really excited when she told us that she was going to have a Feldenkrais practitioner come through the class and talk to us.
So the day comes and the Feldenkrais practitioner comes, and we don’t end up talking about the book very much, but she has us lie down on the floor, and she basically just takes us through one of those lessons from the book, from Awareness Through Movement.
And I don’t remember which lesson it was.
I actually don’t remember anything about the lesson, which is why I started by saying it was kind of underwhelming, my first Feldenkrais experience.
But what’s interesting to me now is that something must have intrigued me a little bit more than I realized, because, you know, I moved to New York after college, and I was really interested in dance, and I was also looking for ways to continue my movement development.
And I thought of Feldenkrais.
You know, this must have been more than a year later.
And so I ended up signing up for like a free introductory workshop at the Feldenkrais Institute.
So with David Zemach Berson, who was, you know, later I’d find out was one of Feldenkrais' original American students.
And, you know, that time I was definitely not underwhelmed.
I was a little bit overwhelmed, actually.
I remember he taught this lesson called Arms Like a Skeleton, and, you know, within the first five minutes, I’d say, I had a very, you know, I always refer to it as my conversion experience.
It was like a very clear experience of, you know, doing a movement with my shoulder where all of a sudden, like a whole area of my body just melted, and I felt some kind of experience of, you know, pleasure and satisfaction and self-acceptance that was really intoxicating.
But more than that, kind of nourishing on a deep level.
And, you know, I knew within that little experience that I wanted to do this activity for the rest of my life, which is, I don’t know, that’s saying something.
So that’s just a little bit about me by way of an introduction to this project, The Feldenkast.
I don’t know if this podcast will be the first time you’re encountering Feldenkrais, or, you know, maybe you’re a seasoned follower of the Feldenkrais Method.
But either way, I hope that you’ll find what you need.
The rest of this little introductory episode will be some thoughts about how to approach the lessons and some information about the scope of the project, what I’m hoping to achieve with it.
So, yeah, in a lot of ways, the lessons themselves don’t need very much introducing because they’re long sets of instructions, movement instructions that include setups and contextualizations and all sorts of stuff.
But I would like to talk just for a moment about when to do the lessons because I think that’s kind of an interesting entry point into understanding more about how they work.
So the best time to do one of these Feldenkast recordings is actually right before you go to bed because the lessons, they do a really good job of helping you kind of decompress after whatever happened during your day.
And they can also set you up to have kind of a relaxed, easy descent into sleep, into a longer rest.
So, yeah, evening is a great time to do the lessons.
It’s also good because you can put on some really comfortable clothes at home, wherever you are.
Actually, it’s funny, in his book, he says the best way to do these lessons is wearing as few clothes as possible.
So, yeah, nighttime can be a nice time to wear less.
You know, for a lot of us, it’s just nice to put on some comfortable, loose clothing, stuff that’s good to move in.
And if right before bed isn’t a good time for you, then the second best time to do any of these lessons is whenever you don’t have to do anything afterwards.
I mean, anything compulsory.
Like, it’s good if you don’t have to go to work right after.
You don’t have to have, like, a challenging conversation with somebody right after.
In other words, don’t crowd your schedule.
Don’t try to fit this in anywhere.
It’s better if, you know, when you’re done with the lesson, you could go for a walk or you could do something creative.
You could play a little bit.
Or, yeah, like I said, if you could go to sleep right after, that’s also good.
And the reasoning behind this is just that these lessons are about generating new kinds of awareness of yourself.
And it’s good if your new understandings, new awareness, don’t have to compete with your old habits, you know, the ways that you are without thinking.
Another facet of when to do the lessons is about how frequently you might do the lessons.
Like, is it good to do one every day?
Should you do one once a week?
And with that one, I just want to say it’s really good if you try to minimize any sense of compulsion, you know, in regard to the Feldenkrais cast.
It sounds kind of pompous for me to assume that
