Last time, I shared how my Feldenkrais training helped me gain a deeper understanding of myself and realize that, without knowing it, I had been acting against my own best interests.

If you missed my first that email, you can find it here.

Today, I’m going to explain how the Feldenkrais Method® made a crucial difference in how I make choices and helped me achieve a childhood dream.

2 – Having Real Choices

I’ve always been fascinated by how the brain works.

As a child, I dreamed of becoming a neurosurgeon. However, the years of study required seemed daunting, and I gave up on my dream.

This experience is typical of how choices are presented to us by society and authority figures. We’re usually given only two options, with one being clearly undesirable.

“Follow the law or go to jail!”

“Work hard and be successful, or struggle financially all your life!”

“Pay your rent or lose your home!”

“Vote for X or…”

In these examples, there seems to be only one real choice—the less terrible option.

Even after I realized that chasing corporate success was harming me and leaving me unfulfilled, I stayed in a job I disliked for years. I felt trapped, believing I had no real alternatives. Quitting felt like admitting “failure,” and the fear of having no income seemed even worse.

During my Feldenkrais training, I gradually discovered that I had more options in any situation than I initially realized.

I also realized that it is not just cultural conditioning, but my own habits as well, that made me blind to the full range of possibilities available.

For example, like most people, you probably use only one or two methods for everyday tasks—whether it’s brushing your teeth, putting on your pants, getting in and out of your car, or even getting up and down from the floor.

You likely learned these habits by imitating a parent or older sibling. Once you became proficient, you stuck with what you knew because it worked well enough. Over time, this method became the only way you knew how to do things.

If an injury or limitation prevents you from doing things as you’re used to, it’s easy to fall into a binary mindset: “Either I do it my usual way, or I’m failing/getting old!”

Yet, the human body, with its over 200 joints, offers nearly limitless ways to move and perform any task. You can learn new, and often better, ways to do what you need, regardless of your age.

My training showed me that by getting to know myself better and looking beyond my upbringing and habits, I could find more choices that match my true desires.

Not only that, it also provided me with a concrete, practical method to turn this insight into reality.

That’s what you will work on learning in “Getting to Know Yourself 101.” It’s a valuable skill to have.

It applies not only to everyday tasks but also to activities you’re passionate about—like your golf or tennis game, your running form, or how you approach the things you love or do for work.

It even extends to how you parent, make decisions, or pursue lifelong goals.

Through the Feldenkrais Method®, for example, I found a way to fulfill my childhood dream of being a neurosurgeon—not by wielding a scalpel, but by using movement and neuroplasticity to enhance brain function.

I want to leave you with some thought-provoking questions about the role of choice in your life:

In which areas of your life do you feel stuck, and what choices do you think you have?

What makes you believe that the choices you see are the only ones on the table? Would someone with a different upbringing and habits have the same choices?

If you could rewrite the rules of your life, what new choices would you give yourself permission to make? What habits or patterns would you allow yourself to give up?

Coming up next: The 3rd and final installment on how the Feldenkrais Method® transformed my life!

Stay tuned to discover how letting go of the “try harder” mentality and learning to embrace mistakes became my greatest challenge—and how it helped me overcome recurring shoulder and knee injuries and even become a better parent.

You won’t want to miss it!