Part II

Before enlightenment chop wood, carry water,

After enlightenment chop wood, carry water.

Famous Zen Saying

 

In Chapter 3 – Part I, we looked at anxiety, compulsion, mature behavior and the importance of having options:

• We saw how during our childhood, while we are dependent on adults, certain actions become charged with emotional content which effects our development.

• In areas where our maturity is not fully developed, we act with compulsion rather than with choice, and continue to do so well into adulthood.

• The effect of lack of choice and spontaneity presents itself whenever we feel the conflicting urge to act and at the same time, to stop ourselves from acting. 

• It manifests itself in the form of hesitation, anxiety, excess effort and muscular tension and keeps us from the full expression, as well as the full enjoyment, of our life.

This view is central to Dr. Feldenkrais’ way of thinking and hence the development of his Method.

He believed that since compulsive behavior is a result of faulty learning rather than an inborn defect, it can be corrected by appropriate training.

The purpose of such training is to allow the natural process of growth to resume and enable the person to reach a mature “potent” state of action in these areas.

According to Dr. Feldenkrais, maturity develops in three distinct phases

In the first stage, while we are children, we develop compulsive behavior in order to meet the demands of a difficult environment or the adults in our family on whom we are dependent.

In the second stage, we are no longer reliant on adults or facing a difficult situation, but we continue to act (or not to act) compulsively due to habit or a lack of options. We may choose to the follow through with the urge, or rebel against it and do the exact opposite, but either way, we still feel conflicting emotions and tension which guide our actions.

In the third and final stage, we learn to separate the emotional content from the act and learn to act (or not act) without conflict, with minimum of effort and in line with our true likes and dislikes.

As an example, take our attitude towards our parents.

In the first stage as children we are forced to love, or at least to obey our parents. Since they are in charge of our lives, we have little, if any, choice in the matter.

In the second stage, as we move out of the house and venture out on our own, we may continue to act as per the norms set by our parents, or rebel against them, and do the exact opposite. Similarly, we may continue to revere our parents or begin to ignore or even hate them. Either course of action is an emotional reaction to how we saw our parents (and their treatment of us) during childhood, i.e. in the past.

In the third stage, when we have had an opportunity to suitably distance ourselves from our parents, and at the same time, developed a certain confidence in ourselves as adults, we may see them in a different light. As ordinary people with weaknesses and failings, instead of the infantile image we formed of them as superheroes or tyrants.

We may begin to appreciate them or continue to hate them, but without the emotional intensity of the past. With this newfound maturity, we can finally chose to set the relationship thermostat to any level.

One that we feel works for us.

Dr. Feldenkrais believed that the development of all skills, senses, functions and behavior in people go through these 3 distinct phases. We will revisit this assertion and look at more examples in a later article but for now let’s move on.

At first glance, it may seem logical to focus on getting rid of the compulsive behavior.

To eliminate compulsive behavior, however, without first providing other modes of action, leaves the person helpless, with no means of acting available to them.

The behavior in question is (mistakenly) seen by the person as an integral part of who they are. So any attempt to do away with it will invariably encounter strong resistance from the person who feels obligated to “defend” himself or herself.

For instance, trying to convince someone to change will only succeed in bringing forth various justifications for acting the way they do.

And using force will result in even stronger opposition.

By attempting to use logic, arguments or force to bring about change, we may end up reinforcing the very behavior we are attempting to get rid of.

Just as trying to convince or force your teenage daughter to reverse her decision to dye her hair a magnificent shade of orange will only harden her resolve and result in her keeping her hair in that glorious color much longer than if you had not intervened.

Casually accepting or even supporting her decision, and maybe even enthusiastically suggesting an even more outrageous color, may do more in changing your daughter’s mind about dyeing her hair than any number of arguments or threats.

So, trying to do away with compulsive behavior by taking it head on rarely works.

A better approach instead, is to learn newer, more appropriate options for acting. Then the compulsive behavior, as well as the emotional tension surrounding it, is eliminated by becoming unnecessary.

While this solution may seem counter-intuitive at first, but if you think about for any length of time, its superiority becomes “obvious”.

As Dr. Feldenkrais puts it, “One is not reluctant to give up action that does not work properly when in possession of a correct method that does so; one even feels somewhat foolish for not having thought it before.”

It also explains why teaching a man how to fish is better than simply giving him a fish, or for that matter, trying to convince him (or force him) to stop asking you for a fish in the first place.

By learning how to fish, the man gains a new option – one that allows him to feed himself rather than be reliant on others. This not only reduces his anxiety about the next meal, it also raises his self-esteem and gives him back his dignity. He may also learn to enjoy fishing.

Going back to our earlier example about parents, it is only after one has gained sufficient confidence in one’s abilities as an adult that one can start relating to them in a mature and less emotionally taxing way.

So we enhance mature behavior by expanding our options for acting, which reduces the emotional intensity associated with the act, and allows maturity to emerge.

This is one of the guiding principles of the Feldenkrais Method®.

During a Functional Integration or FI lesson, for instance, where the practitioner works one-on-one with a student using a gentle, hands-on approach. If an inappropriate pattern, or unnecessary muscular strain is detected, instead of trying to correct it, the practitioner works with the pattern by supporting and taking over the effort.

This relieves the student’s nervous system of that task and opens up the possibility for new options or new modes of action to develop.

This approach is much more effective than asking the student to make the change as she is often unaware of the faulty pattern or muscular strain in the first place. So asking her to reduce the effort or change the pattern only puts her in a position where she is unable to comply, reinforcing the heightened emotions linked with the action.

The high emotional intensity associated with the compulsive act is one of the things that prevents a mature response from emerging.

The movements in “Awareness Through Movement” (ATM) or group lessons, are in most cases unrelated to the actions or the environment where the student demonstrates compulsive behavior. This distance reduces the stakes and allow students to practice acting without the accompanying emotional component. As a result, the students learn how to sense and deal with the resistance in themselves in ways which do not compromise their sense of security.

ATM lessons also provide an opportunity for students to exercise true choice.

Instead of an idealized movement to be reproduced faithfully, each student is encouraged to experiment and find the best way of doing the movement for themselves.

The idea is to provide options so that the nervous system can choose the one which is most effortless and expedient for the situation at hand.

A mature person can proceed effortlessly with a course of action and reverse it, if required. Too much effort or even over-eagerness to perform, is as much an obstacle to potent action, as is the lack of effort or motivation. This superfluous effort shows up as enhanced muscular tonus and strain.

Ease of doing the movements, with as little unnecessary effort as possible, and the ability to reverse the movement at any stage are emphasized during ATMs. 

Reversibility is an important concept in the Feldenkrais Method®, and we will revisit it in more detail in another article. 

Dr. Feldenkrais wrote, “All voluntary movements, for instance, have one thing in common: They are reversible; i.e., at any time in the trajectory of the movement one can stop and go in the reverse direction, or do something altogether different.”

On the other hand, while doing something out of compulsion, we are often unable to stop ourselves, despite knowing it is not what we want to do.

In another description, “When the skill of reversibility is acquired, the learner has the same feeling that one has in solving a puzzling problem. It is the feeling of having arrived at a greater freedom in one’s self control.”

The changes, from compulsion to maturity, are mostly internal.

Similar to the famous Zen saying at the beginning, the external behavior after maturity may remain the same, but the internal experience during the act is very different.

It is one of ease, spontaneity, even joy, and without internal strife or conflict. One has “the feeling of having arrived at a greater freedom in one’s self control.”

“What” we do may remain the same, “how” we do it is very different.

In the maturing process, we have the opportunity of finding out how far we can go in dropping old habitual patterns acquired during the dependence period.

Hence maturation is an ongoing process.

We can always improve on the way of doing something that we were taught.

We may even find a completely new way of doing things and find ourselves in a new place altogether.

To end with the words of Dr. Feldenkrais, “All our history is nothing but a long list of “great men” who have in fact gone all wrong by the standards taught us.

In spite of all the efforts of their betters and elders to make them think and behave like everybody else, they have nevertheless continued using the essential human quality of forming, testing, and retesting new patterns of action and thought and have even dared to live by their own conclusions.”

When we have acquired the experience and confidence to calmly confront and question what we have been taught, and start to “dare to live by our own conclusions,” that is when we begin our journey from maturity towards wisdom.

In the next article, we will consider the question: “Is what you feel important? The debate between objective and subjective experience”