The Elusive Obvious or Basic Feldenkrais

180 Pages·1981·6.45 MB·English

by  Moshe Feldenkrais

T HE
ELUSIVE
OBVIOUS
by Moshe
Feldenkrais

THE ELUSIVE OBVIOUS

PREFACE
To The Reader
The Elusive Obvious deals with simple, fundamental no
tions of our daily life that through habit become elusive.
"Time is money" is obviously a good attitude to have in busi
ness or work. It is not at all obvious that in love the same
attitude is the cause of so much unhappiness. We often make
mistakes. We carry over from one activity to another attitudes
of mind that do not make life what it could be.
Romance is obviously a fine thing. Romantic love is enchant
ing, but not so good if one partner is money-minded and the
other is romantic. In time, they will finish at the psychiatrist's
or in court.
Many troubled relationships come from inadvertently car
rying over seemingly good habits of thought to where they do
not apply. Somehow we behave as if good habits are always
good. We think or rather feel that we need not bother about
behaving otherwise. It is not so obvious that good habits can
make us unhappy. It is an elusive truth. Yet habitual lack of
free choice is often, nay, usually, disastrous.
If you come across something obviously new to you, in its
form at least, please stop for a moment and look inward.
Working but new alternatives assists us to grow stronger and
wiser. My editor tells me that I should free readers from hav
ing to think and look inward. I believe she knows what the
average reader likes. I myself do not like predigested food. For
iv tlie Elusive Obvious
you, the reader, I have added to the beginning and end of each
chapter a short introduction and summary to facilitate your
digestion so that you will find it easier to make what is elusive
more obvious.
HE ELUSIVE OBVIOUS
or
BASIC FELDENKRAIS
i
Publications by Dr. FELDENKRAIS
JUDO—Frederick Warne, London 1941 (8 editions).
BODY AND MATURE BEHAVIOUR Routledge and Kegan
Paul, London 1949, International Universities Press, New
York 1950. International Universities Press, Paperback
1970. Alef Publishers, Tel Aviv 1966.
HIGHER JUDO (Ground work) Frederick Warne, London
1952 (3 editions)
AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT, Harper and Row,
New York 1972.
TWENTY-FIVE LESSONS by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. Noa
Eshkol, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tel-Aviv University, 1977.
The Movement Notation Society Israel, 2nd improved
edition.
ADVENTURES IN THE JUNGLE OF THE BRAIN, THE
CASE of NORA, Harper and Row Publishers, 1977, Alef
Publishers Tel Aviv, 1978, in Hebrew, German and
French.
International Standard Book Number: 0-916990-09-5
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 81-82159
Meta Publications, P.O. Box 1910, Capitola, CA 95010
© 1981 by M. Feldenkrais. All rights reserved.
Published 1981
This book or parts thereof may not be
reproduced in any form without written
permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD xi
INTRODUCTION 1
THE ORGANISM 13
ON LEARNING 29
BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF POSTURE 39
THE BODY PATTERN OF ANXIETY 55
A SECOND LOOK 71
SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE REALITY 79
AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT 89
FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION 121
THE OBVIOUS IS ELUSIVE 145
IN A NUTSHELL 153
BIBLIOGRAPHY 157