Reconnecting
body, brain, mind
and self through
movement: Treating
Body Image, Eating
Disorders and
Self-Harm
Disturbances through
the Work of Dr.
Moshe Feldenkrais.
The innovative work
of Dr. Daniel
Siegel, in
conjunction with
recent brain
research, provides
evidence of the
unity of the mind,
body and brain in
healing. This is
hardly a new
concept, as for 2500
years, this unity
has been a benchmark
of the Buddhist
practice and
meditation. Dr.
Moshe Feldenkrais
applied this concept
of mind/body unity
to learning and to
the therapeutic
healing of the body
and brain in his
work during the
early 1970's, before
technology had
developed the
capacity to measure
it. Today, the field
of neurobiology as
it relates to
psychology measures
consciousness and
the state of the
mind in addition to
behavior, allowing a
greater
understanding about
of the integrity and
reintegration of a
fragmented sense of
self. It's
implications for the
treatment and
healing of eating
disorders and body
image disturbances
are immense.
The onset of an
eating disorder
signifies the loss
of the integrity of
the core self and of
the capacity to
accurately perceive
and sense the body
and self. The
development of the
self, and
self-sensing, is
grounded in
kinesthetic
experience; the
Feldenkrais Method©
and the Anat Baniel
Method© provide
gentle and
pleasurable body
movement techniques,
which, when used in
conjunction with
more traditional
therapies, are
particularly
effective for
patients suffering
from eating
disorders, post
trauma, and
self-mutilation. By
facilitating
awareness, access,
sensing and
integration of the
"embodied self"
through embodied
mindfulness, they
provide an ideal
vehicle to stimulate
a remediated
sensation and
reintegration of the
core self within
real time. These
techniques create
new options for
"moving forward in
life" by affecting a
more versatile use
of self in
discerning options
for choice-making
and problem-solving;
by teaching patients
to learn how to
learn. By creating
growth in neuronal
pathways and
upgrading the
structure and
function of the
brain and nervous
system, these
methods increase a
sense of wholeness,
well-being and
empowerment,
returning
individuals in
"emotional exile"
back to themselves.
This workshop offers
participants the
opportunity to
experience a
Feldenkrais "lesson"
and to understand
personally its
effects on the
sensing of the self.
