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Dr Moshe Feldenkrais was the originator of the Awareness Through Movement system.. He was a mechanical and electrical engineer, physicist and judo expert. He believed that good health should lead to a person functioning well on all levels of life. His theory was not linked to sickness or disability in the usually accepted medical sense. The system can be classified as a form of mind-body intervention.
The name Awareness Through Movement was used by Feldenkrais when he showed his scientific collegues how he was learning to walk normally with a seriously damaged knee. He gave them specific directions on how to move to experience for themselves what he was learning. ATM as it is abbreviated, is an educational system based on movement.
Feldenkrais maintained that his system of Awareness Through Movement (ATM) with its emphasis on the link between mind and body lead to improved health. He stated "What I am after is more flexible minds, not just more flexible bodies". His approach is experiential, using self-discovery rather than manipulation.
ATM lessons usually take place in a group. The teacher verbally leads the students through a series of movements. More than a thousand lessons. are in existence Most of them are focussed around a specific movement function. The exercises work on the nervous system.
One practitioner of Dr Moshe Feldenkrais's system claims that this method can help regain lost function, and eliminate discomfort, as for example with recovery from injuries. He also claims improvement in athletic abilities as in golfing, dancing and running for example. Stress is reduced as in panic attacks, spastic colon and most importantly anorexia. There is an improvement in posture and breathing which in turn assists self-esteem and asthma. Additionally there is also an increse in flexibility and coordination which benefits all aspects of a persons life.
Feldenkrais session take two forms. Awareness Through Movement, where the verbally guided movement usually takes place in a group, and Functional Integration Lessons.Functional Integration Sessions normally take place with the teacher and only one other individual. Functional Integration is usually carried out with the participant lying on a specially designed table - though exercises can also be performed sitting or standing. Props are sometimes incorporated into the routines for support or to assist in certain movements.
In ATM therapy the practioner verbally guides participants through the movement sequences. In Functional Integration the person is guided through the movement with the addition of gentle, non-invasive touching. Sessions are formulated specifically for that person at that moment in time.
A number of professionals working with children have found the Feldenkais method to be extremly effective. Dr Chava Shelhav at the University of Heidleberg, Germany was one such pioneer. She writes that "the Feldenkrais Method offers a process of organic learning through action, thereby teaching the ability to learn, and not just learning to be taught". She further writes" "By emphasizing the children's capabilities rather than disabilities, it becomes possible to consciously return to suitable age appropriate organic development, thereby making new integration possible and thus allowing a child to fully utilize his/her capabilities in overall personality development."
Chava worked with a six year old boy who had cerebral palsy. At the start of the sessions he was unable to sit unaided, to crawl or lie on his back with bent knees. He lacked the will to draw or to move by himself. This child received ten Functional Integration sessions with Chava over the period of a year. At the end of this period the boy's school report stated that he "no longer needs special care. He can sit freely, alter his position and return to sitting without assistance... He has learned to relax separate parts of his body at will. He is now capable of doing arithmatic... His ability to paint and the enjoyment he derives from it have greatly increased... He has manifested for the first time the desire to move."
Another practioner who reports similar results is Linda Flanders who works with children who have multiple learning and behavioural problems. For these children other therapies had not proved helpful. All the children had psychiatric diagnoses and had suffered abuse in the past. She gives the example of Rosa who had been adopted at five years old. She had a history of abuse, neglect and of being abandoned. She was, in addition, on a number of medications and was physically violent towards family members. After a series of ATM and Functional Integration sessions Rosa is now settled at home, doing better in school and she is no longer taking medication.
Linda has also had dramatic results with autistic children.
Donna Ray-Reese has taught Awareness Through Movement to pre-school children through to those in the fifth grade. All the children have enjoyed and benefitted from the sessions. Learning movement concepts such as up, down, inside, outside, right and left seemed to give confidence and security to everyone participating. Donna believes that this type of learning helps to take away the self-doubt which we experience when we don't know where we are in space. Donna feels that ATM leads to better listening skills, improved thought processes, more efficient movement and successful learning.
Awareness Through Movement may be yet another approach which, all parents, and especially the parents of children with special needs might like to investigate.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
