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THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD return to our default system. When the system is ready, it always chooses the more functional way. If there is too much danger or stress, we fall back on old ways. So we practice, just like learning to play the piano, letting it become a part of us and trusting the intelligence of our bodies." FELDENKRAIS IN ACTION While the range of reasons for seeking lessons is varied, so are the results. Many visit Plonka seeking help with frozen shoulders or wounded knees. "The way I feel I change peoples' lives is not by looking at physical things but looking at how that physiological thing is related to the person's perceived self-image." One student sought Plonka's help with low-back pain. While many seeking this gentle approach are older, this man was in his 20s, and he was handsome, athletic, and successful. "He sensed something gnawing at him. He had a lower back injury that he blamed on high school football, and he had arranged his behavior around the injury." The holding was about being perfect, getting it done. He began to realize that throughout his childhood there was an emphasis on the need to perform in a specifi c way—he had a habit of grasping his lower back and glute on the left side. In the lessons, as he learned to notice the triggers that caused him to grip, he changed in the way he carried himself, and in the way he listened to others. He began to attend to others in a way that was about trying to hear what they were getting at. "He used this work to discover his own maturation," Plonka says. Another student was a middle-aged man with Crohn's disease and a laundry list of pains. "Let's take a look and see how you walk," Plonka said to him. "In 10 years of medical treatment, no one had ever asked to see him walk. He had a rigid personality, a rigid forward walk. After a lesson, as he walked, his pelvis moved for the fi rst time, which he didn't like because it seemed feminine. But bit-by-bit, his movement improved, he began to open up, then started to stop and talk to others. He could turn his head, and he had less pain in his feet. He still goes to classes and fi nds value in the work," she says. SEEKING THE ELUSIVE Though there are numerous examples of the effectiveness of the method, Feldenkrais may continue to seem elusive to those of us who live in our heads. Yet, as we seek solutions to chronic pain or the stuckness we feel in our lives, it offers a way to explore, grow, and change. People continue to hear about it from an article, a friend, other health practitioners, sometimes community recreation centers. "Some approaches are more dramatic in the moment, but may not last," Plonka says. Feldenkrais is subtle, but far-reaching. As Feldenkrais trainer Russell Dolman of Marin, California, says, "The Feldenkrais Method works like a fi ne mist. You go outside on a rainy day and you either go back in, or wear protective gear so you can't get penetrated. But if it's a gentle mist, you don't notice that it's soaking through as you walk. Then you get home and realize you've been saturated." While defi ning Feldenkrais is elusive for Wadleigh and his colleagues, it is also rich with possibility. "The method is like a jewel with many tune in to your practice at ABMPtv 71 facets," he says. "I can explain one aspect to a person—the aspect that will be meaningful to them. "I can't explain it in one sentence. I can do it in 10 minutes, and I can convince you that it's the greatest thing in the world. It is so deep and comprehensive, and in a way it is so simple. It is hard to put your fi nger on it and say it is this, because it encompasses so much more, and there is always that concern that someone will take away only one fact of the work, like, 'Oh, it's about posture,' when in reality it is so much more. "Yet, as Dr. Feldenkrais would say, there is so much potential in the Feldenkrais Method for us to learn and develop and become more fully human." writer and yoga teacher who lives in Loveland, Colorado. She has written for magazines and trade associations that support mental and physical well-being. Contact her at mccullo3@msn.com. Lynda McCullough is a freelance NOTE 1. Norman Doidge, a psychiatrist who performs research in neuroscience, recommends Feldenkrais for rewiring the brain (www.normandoidge.com).