To Correct is Incorrect ~ Moshe Feldenkrais
I’ve been exploring the work of Feldenkrais off and on since the summer of 2014. It started when I discovered the Anat Baniel Method (a Feldenkraisian off shoot) which led me to Irene Lyon’s work which eventually inspired me to take a Feldenkrais class in town.
I could probably blog daily for the next month and not scratch the surface of Feldenkrais’ Awareness Through Movement theories. For sure I’ll be writing about approaches toward body awareness, the nervous system and neuroplasticity in future posts. But for now lets focus on the importance of not correcting.
It sounds counter intuitive so the best way to explain it is to show you via the adorable Baby Liv, how babies teach themselves to move:
Never once did she judge herself, allow her negative, inner critic to throw her off track or self correct in any way. She simply stayed in the present moment, remained embodied, explored how her body interacted with her environment while playing with a variety of movements.
Had one of her parents walked up to her and said, “Liv! You’re doing it wrong! Do it this way,” that wouldn’t have helped at all. First off her primitive cognitive-linguistic skills would’ve made verbal instructions useless and her lack of muscle coordination and strength wouldn’t have allow her to mimic her parents anyway. All she’s was able to do at that age was move multiple times in a variety of ways while her brain mapped out the sequences and formed neural pathways.
In other words to correct would’ve been incorrect.
And yet, I do it all the time. I’m constantly trying to walk better, eat better, lose weight better, cook better, connect with friends better, do yoga better, meditate better, support my family better and overall solve all problems, better.
Therefore my goal for this next year is to be more like Liv. To play and experiment while living with more enthusiasm and curiosity.
You’re welcome to join me as long as you don’t kid yourself into believing that any of this will be easy. It wont. In fact before you begin to live like Liv, spend the rest of the today noting how many times you correct yourself before your head hits the pillow. Then add to that how often you pair a negative thought to each self correction. Once that’s done, determine how many ways you look outside of yourself to find the answers that you are seeking.
Oh, and no biggie, but you’ll also be required to be kind to and compassionate with yourself throughout this process as well.
One Year To Fail 