Freedom and the Feldenkrais Method

Abstract

The core proposition of this essay is that Moshe Feldenkrais is best understood as a practical philosopher of freedom. His intention is to open up a process of self-development wherein people are invited to explore what it means to claim their agency as their own, thus, free to engage in ways of being that reflect their individuality and its creative possibilities. For such freedom to be on offer, it has to be facilitated by others, because the individual always finds herself within an environment that is constituted by the presence of others. So how these others invite or do not invite the freedom of the individual is of consequence for their freedom or lack of it. Moshe Feldenkrais thought that for the most part individuals form their habitual patterns in adapting to other people's expectations and societal norms. Freedom is misunderstood as will-power where the individual learns to meet such expectations and norms in some form of self-control. The essay explores Moshe Feldenkrais' conception of freedom through comparing it to that of a contemporary of his, also Jewish, and also focused on the practice of freedom: the political thinker, Hannah Arendt. There is a profound convergence between Feldenkrais and Arendt on the practical question of freedom not just for individuals but for the relationships and the institutional order that they share.

It is not just inevitable but desirable I think that I attempt to integrate my ways of being, in this case my long established practice as a political and social theorist with my much newer practice as a student of the Feldenkrais method of self education. However, while what I offer here can be understood in this way, I think there is a case to be made for all of us thinking about the relationship of the Feldenkrais Method to freedom.