Human Ability to Learn According to the Feldenkrais Method: From Writings to Practice

Abstract

The Feldenkrais method seeks to improve individual ability, and human functioning in general, through movement. According to Moshé Feldenkrais, refining movement by enhancing the nervous system’s functioning also improves our ability to learn. The method has already been shown to improve mood, quality of life, and various physical aspects. The present study seeks to examined students’ theoretical learning capabilities during a Feldenkrais lesson, during a period of a few hours after the lesson, and the correlation between these two time periods.

The main research question was: Does doing Feldenkrais exercises improve the ability to learn in 120 students at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The findings show that the students assimilated the theoretical content conveyed during the lessons. The study also found that most of the students experienced improved ability for theoretical learning after the lessons. A strong, positive correlation was found between the students’ high ability for theoretical learning during the lesson, and improvement in the learning ability of the same students, experienced after the lesson. The study’s conclusion is that a variety of internal, physiological and mental/emotional processes occur when doing Feldenkrais exercises, which alleviate pain, create new neural pathways between the brain and the body, and also “unblock” stressful neural pathways, and which significantly improved the participants’ concentration, attention, and theoretical learning abilities, both during and after the lessons.