Pain

Pain as a friend and teacher

When you start practicing the Feldenkrais Method, one of the first pieces of advice you receive is: listen to yourself, go slow, don’t overdo it, if you feel discomfort, stop - don’t push into pain.

These instructions are often misunderstood as an invitation to avoid movement, risk, and exploration. Actually, the principle behind these recommendations is not to stop moving but rather to learn - through mindful movement - how to move without causing harm to yourself.

Pain as a Guide

It was through long, slow, and sometimes even painful explorations that Moshe Feldenkrais developed his method. The emphasis on present-moment awareness, which is so central to the practice, serves precisely this purpose: to recognize when we lose control of our movements, even in the smallest gestures, and thus begin to hurt ourselves.

In most cases, pain is not something that simply "happens" to us; rather, it is a response from our nervous system to an inefficient way of using ourselves. It is our own body letting us know, through pain, that we are doing something harmful. Unfortunately, we often ignore these signals, choosing instead to silence them with medication or immobility rather than listening to them and learning from them.

Learning to Listen

Through Awareness Through Movement lessons, my goal is to create a safe space where students can explore themselves with respect and curiosity. Every human being learns through trial and error, and refining self-awareness follows the same principle: small, progressive adjustments that lead to better and more conscious movement.

So, if during a lesson - or at any other moment in daily life - you feel discomfort or pain… don’t run away from it or ignore it! Stop, slow down, take a small step back, and listen. Observe pain as if you were mapping it out: what is its shape? Where does it begin and end? What makes it more intense, and what eases it?

Pain is a Message

Pain is the body language, a message from the nervous system signalling that something needs to change. It only becomes "bad" when we ignore it and continue repeating the same harmful patterns.

Learning to listen to pain, rather than fighting or avoiding it, is the first step toward moving with greater freedom and awareness. Pain is not an enemy to fear but a valuable teacher on the path to more harmonious and natural movement.