A child needs always support and protection from the side of the adults in order to develop. Any kind of imposing and coercing aims on a child is completely counterproductive with his growth and personal development.
What is the best attitude of an adult for assisting a child in his development? In my opinion and from my experience with the successful application of the Feldenkrais Method for handicapped children the best attitude of an adult in fostering the functional and personal developing of a
c. p. child or of a child with special needs is that of a simple chair. Hmm?!. . . you will think. Yes, the attitude of a chair. Why just a chair? Because such a simple a chair can supply support without imposing and coercing any aims of his own on the person sitting on it. The simple chair supplies any time for the sitting person the support she needs, and doesn't hinder this person to stand up and go away the moment she wants to do so.
The main difference between the way in which most therapeutic methods and programs work and the way in which the Feldenkrais method does, is the following: while by the most therapies the client's attention focuses more on the intentions and the aims of the therapist and of his program then on the one's self-perception, which is necessary for any real functional development, whereas during a correct applied Feldenkrais lesson the attention of the treated person focuses on her own self-perception, i. e. on what that person perceives of herself and of the way she is acting. Only by listening to one's self-perception it is possible to mobilize more control of the brain on one's own body. By this the person gets more awareness of what she is doing with herself and in turn mobilizes her brain more in her body creating the wished control on the body, a control which was missed before.
The Feldenkrais teacher is only instrumental for the other person which only by herself brings in her nervous system the optimizing adjustment for her functioning. One distinct sign of this kind of taking more control by the brain on the body is the feeling of pleasure, of easiness, of more freedom, peace and comfort in one's own movements and one's own being.
"The nervous system of an embryo, a baby, a child is wired in, so to speak, through the senses, feeling, and kinaesthetic sensations caused by spatial, temporal, filial, and social, as well as cultural, environment. But organic juvenile learning, involving a complex structure and various associated functions and taking several years, cannot be without errors and failures in perfection. Organic learning is individual, and without a teacher who is striving for results within a certain time, it lasts as long as the learner keeps at it.
This organic learning is slow, and unconcerned with any judgment as to the achievement of good or bad results. It has no obvious purpose or goal. It is guided only by the sensation of satisfaction when each attempt feels less awkward as the result of avoiding a former minor error which felt unpleasant or difficult. Pushed by parents or anyone to repeat any initial success the learner may regress, and further progress can be delayed by day, even weeks, or not occur at all."
Moshe Feldenkrais -- The Elusive Obvious
You can see in this video of the second session with this four years old girl to whom I gave a day before the first session in the Kibbutz Emek Izre'el during a course, how she even after only one day doesn't bother anymore about my presence and my working with her while she is living her social life hearing to the people around, to a story she is interested in or playing with another girl. I became a supporting and not "interfearing" component of her surroundings similar to a chair which is supplying support without imposing. I would say in a metaphorical way that the Feldenkrais method is functioning like a chair, from down upwards and not from up downwards. This is the only way children naturally and instinctively accept and also the only which permits in fact any real functional growth.
"The natural state of Man, as G-d created him, is to be happy. Look at children and you will see."
Lebuvache Rebbi
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ruhama part 10by woldemichaelsamuel17,610 views
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