Reviews

Awareness Through Movement: Easy-To-Do Health Exercises to Improve Your Posture, Vision, Imagination, and Personal Awareness by Moshe Feldenkrais

streifenhoern's review

informative inspiring fast-paced

4.0

lauren_endnotes's review

4.0

It took a long while for this book to warm up - the first 70 pages were pretty esoteric and random. However, once Feldenkrais began to discuss awareness, and the methods he is now known for, this book turned fascinating.

Awareness is the highest stage of development, and when it is complete, it maintains a harmonious rule over the body's activities.

Awareness and authentic attention: at the root of it is pure mindfulness on the physical form. The exercises and scripts here were fascinating to read. The methods are not wholly unfamiliar, especially to someone who practices yoga and meditation. Honing awareness, concentration without tension, moving effortlessly, and observation in the present tense - all topics that Feldenkrais succinctly covers here in this seminal text.

It's a great "jumping off point" to learn more about somatics and how to bring them into your own practice.

chelseak's review

5.0

Fascinating way of looking at human psychology and mechanisms of change that takes the body into account instead of focusing exclusively on thoughts, emotion or brain chemistry. Instead of ignoring the body as a simple machine that does what it's told in a one-way communication pattern only, Feldenkrais suggests that the body has a very strong ability to impact the mind. Articulates everything I've observed in 20+ years as a nonprofessional dancer about the way the study of different ways of moving over time affects my emotions, mind and the way I make choices. Awesome book.