I’m in pain, how can Feldenkrais lessons help me?
When we are experiencing pain, especially chronic pain, our nervous system is over-stimulated. The thing to do is to first soothe the affected area by reducing the strain there. The best way to do this is to make minuscule movements making sure not to get anywhere near the place where the movement would usually hurt. Under normal circumstances, we instinctively tend to move in such a way that we get to the edge of where the pain is, perhaps hoping that this time it won’t be there anymore. A better option is to make sure the movement is so small that you are nowhere near the pain. As you move so gently, you will feel yourself relaxing immediately as your nervous system is soothed. From this place you can start experimenting with movements, even including in the painful area, that you can make, without reaching your threshold of pain. For example, it hurts someone to fully straighten their right arm. They start by consciously making the movement of the forearm very small, moving it slightly to the right and left, while keeping the right elbow bent. Then they start to experiment with movements they can make that don’t require them to straighten their arm; say circling the hand around the wrist. Then they might move the forearm right and left while circling their hand, and so forth, experimenting with different pain-free variations. Over time, as your nervous system relaxes, knowing you will not move toward the edge of where your pain is, you can find pleasure in the moves you can make. Eventually the movements get bigger, easier and freer.