Feldenkrais on developmental movement - David Zemach-Bersin

This article was originally posted on FPAW by David Zemach-Berson.

Here is a short video of David’s “11-week old grandchild, in which you can see the nascent building blocks of more complex movements. Learning to lift our head while on the stomach is one of the keystone moments of development. David is in awe of the magic way that developmental movement unfolds, something that Dr. Feldenkrais studied in detail. Did you know that his wife was a paediatrician? It is safe to assume that she influenced his understandings.

What a profound process it is! Taking place over approximately one year, nearly all infants gradually solve the problem of how to be upright and walk in gravity. Feldenkrais believed that this path of learning was so important that it affects us still today, with some of our adult problems rooted in aspects of our early development that were in some way distorted, or incomplete. Inspired by this process of organic development, Dr. Feldenkrais created many great Awareness Through Movement lessons based on the problems that infants must solve in order roll, turn, lift their head, creep, crawl, stand, and walk. DZB”.

For Movement Intelligence teachers/students, David’s post so exquisitely illustrates how the body of Ruthy Alon’s programs are based on the Felenkrais approach to somatic re-education of “The Movement Nature Meant”.