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Applying the Search Strategies Approach to Practice: The Feldenkrais Method
CHARLEY W. LAFE
1
| MATHEUS M. PACHECO
2,3
|
1
2
3
Correspondence to: Matheus M. Pacheco, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 65 - Cidade Universitária, CEP: 05508-030 - São Paulo - SP, BRAZIL.
email: matheus.lacom@gmail.com
https://doi.org/10.20338/bjmb.v13i5.147
HIGHLIGHTS
• The search strategies approach (SSA) has
shown potential in controlled experiments.
• The Feldenkrais Method (FM) is a non-
traditional rehabilitation method.
• The SSA can be linked to FM through the
view of skill acquisition as search.
ABBREVIATIONS
FM Feldenkrais Method
SSA search strategies approach
PUBLICATION DATA
Received 31 10 2019
Accepted 30 11 2019
Published 01 12 2019
BACKGROUND: The search strategies approach (SSA) to skill acquisition has its roots in the dynamical systems
approach and has demonstrated a number of theoretical advances to the area. We argue that its advances can
and are already linked to practical applications when we consider the method of Moshe Feldenkrais. The
Feldenkrais Method (FM) considers skill acquisition (from rehabilitation to daily life activities improvement) in
terms of exploration of new possibilities to achieve efficiency in movement. In this paper, we discuss how the
SSA encompasses Feldenkrais method (FM) illustrating its applicability. Furthermore, we point to new
possibilities in both FM and SSA if these are to be formally linked.
KEYWORDS: Rehabilitation | Dynamical systems | Skill acquisition | Awareness through movement | Functional
integration
INTRODUCTION
The search strategies approach (SSA) to motor learning
1,2
integrates different
lines of research of the Dynamical Systems Approach to motor behavior emphasizing the
individualistic nature of skill acquisition through formal evaluation of task and
environmental constraints. While in its early development, SSA promises to have large
influence beyond its theoretical pursuits. At face level, its practical application may not be
so apparent. In this paper we argue that there exists already a therapeutic method – called
‘the Feldenkrais Method’ (FM) – that resembles and embodies the SSA.
FM provides a unique way of improving quality of movement. Its application
ranges from rehabbing an injury, a movement related disease, or simply improving
activities of daily living
3-5
. Founded on a singular perspective about how movements are
developed and learned, it has, unfortunately, not garnered a lot of interest in the motor
learning literature. Limited scientific work exploring the usefulness of the method has
provided mixed reviews on its effectiveness over other therapeutic methods
6,7
.
Nevertheless, Buchanan
8
, and Mattes
9
, have recently made a stronger theoretical case for
the method with recent empirical support
10,11
. These studies seem to argue in support of
the idea that FM is deserving of greater scientific inquiry, which we hope to further add to
here.
Given the wide scope of topics Feldenkrais spoke on as grounds/rationale for his
method, only those most relevant for theories of action and perception will be discussed
Rehab Neural Engineering Lab, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, USA.
Motor Behavior Laboratory (LACOM), School of Physical Education and Sport, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Motor Development Study Group (GEDEM), Federal University of Rondônia, Porto Velho, RO, Brazil.
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here. While arguably similar connections could be drawn to other theories on motor control,
it is proposed here that the style of the “lessons” used in practice – exploration/search –
and the belief about how movements are controlled are integral to the foundational
premise of SSA
2
.
In what follows, we will first present (non-exhaustively) the foundational premise of
FM
8,12,13,14
. Second, we provide a review on the already proposed links to dynamical
systems
8,15
, and show further similarities to SSA
2
. We also, then, point to some
incongruencies between Feldenkrais’ writings and SSA that should be highlighted if we are
to be successful in making the link to SSA. Lastly, while FM already provides a means to
demonstrate applicability of SSA, we describe viable ways in which FM might benefit from
work done on SSA and vice-versa.
THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD
The Feldenkrais Method®, developed by Moshe Feldenkrais (1904 – 1984), is an
approach to somatic education used in both performance
9
and clinical
8
settings to improve
the efficiency of an individuals’ movement
16,17
. “Efficient,” or “ease,” of movement in this
case is reference to multiple factors such as muscular tonus, range-of-motion, stretch
reflex, and force transmission. To Feldenkrais, the “feeling of muscular effort is not
measuring work done, but something else. This ‘something else’ is how the movement is
organized: it’s quality”
14(pg. 12)
. The foundational premise revolves around a notion of
exploration and discovery of new movement possibilities by way of differentiating of
perceptual information. Two different techniques are employed to achieve this purpose:
Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration.
Awareness Through Movement
Awareness Through Movement are group-based lessons where students are
verbally guided through a series of movements aimed at promoting, firstly, an improved
awareness of one’s own movements via improved attunement to perceptual consequences
of their movements and, second, discovery of new movement patterns. Feldenkrais’
teachings often discuss the need to have no prior expectations about the form that any
given movement should take – there is no “correct” movement. Clients are thus removed
from preconceived notions about which muscle should be active during a given movement.
Instead, they are offered the opportunity to discover which muscles are active during
movements and, furthermore, they are invited to explore the relation of the resultant
motions to the rest of the body and environment. A general example of this would be in a
situation where students should have their feet some distance apart. In such a situation, it
common for practitioners to instruct individuals to position their feet “hip-width” apart; in
contrast, FM would encourage students to discover the width that is most comfortable to
them
14
.
Movements performed in FM lessons provides students with kinesthetic
information about their movements they were not previously attended to or were aware of
– i.e. awareness through movement. Given that the focus of all FM work is to learn more
efficient ways of doing, awareness that is achieved is often on perceiving tension in the
muscles. For example, lying flat on the floor is used to provide proprioceptive information
about distribution of points of contact with the ground, alluding to which muscles hold
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greater tension (cf. Brummer
11
). Becoming aware is not enough for change, however.
Students must also learn what movement patterns, comparatively, are accomplished with
less effort.
An example, adapted from discussion in Feldenkrais
13(pg. 89-119)
, illustrates the
routine implemented to teach movements that progress from sitting to standing. Initially,
students are to start seated on the floor, with knees bent, soles of the feet flat on the
ground, and arms positioned behind the individual to support the torso upright. First, the
movement starts by slowly tilting the knees to the left and right. This is done as many times
as can be done without undue fatigue. Next, students continue these same movements of
tilting the knees from side-to-side but allowing for more space between the knees so that
they may both lay flat on either side. This will initiate a spiraling motion, lifting the pelvis
forward.
At this point, attention (awareness) is brought to the support provided by the two
arms; one is significantly more relied on to remain upright, while the other can be lifted
away with no repercussions. Alternating side-to-side, provides information about how
weight shifts with each tilting, and how tension is redistributed within the body. With knees
to the left, the right arm is no longer needed for support; instead it is used to continue this
spiraling motion to the left, by lifting it off the ground and swinging it in the direction of
knees. From this position, the lesson is meant to teach a transition to standing. While there
are no right or correct ways to stand from this position, how effortful the transition is will be
a function of the chosen trajectory.
Eventually, as the spiral upward continues, the right hip will be high enough off the
ground that the right foot can be lifted and moved in the same direction until it can be
placed standing on the ground in front with the left foot soon to follow. With soles of both
feet firmly on the ground, it becomes possible to stand up-right. At the completion of this
movement you will have ended facing in the opposite direction. The whole movement can
now be repeated many times, exploring variation in trajectory with each iteration.
Often, many more variants of this sequence, with additional sub-routines
embedded in them, are used within the context of this sitting-to-standing lesson. This
demonstrates the exploratory nature of Awareness Through Movement lessons, and how
teachers guide awareness of students to different forms of perceptual information, but do
not provide prescriptive instruction.
Functional Integration
Functional Integration is a complementary technique to Awareness Through
Movement consisting of one-on-one sessions as opposed to group work. The Feldenkrais
practitioner manually manipulate the student in order to gain information about the
organization of the individual’s musculoskeletal system. As is with the case of Awareness
Through Movement, the goal in Functional Integration sessions is for the practitioner to
establish efficient movement of the student. Those that are candidates for Functional
Integration often have some form of chronic pain. The belief is that this chronic pain, being
dependent on the habitual movement form, is so because the individual is unable to
differentiate it from more efficient patterns. In other words, the movements may be so
spastic or tonic that individuals are unable to perceive differences in movement quality as
they are unable to differentiate what is intended movement from what is natural variation in
the movement (see Withagen & van Wermeskerken
18
). Functional Integration is meant to
provide a learning environment that allows the individual to perceive these differences.
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With the system so constrained by undue stress, unable to reconcile the
inefficiency itself, Functional Integration works on the premise that this stress needs to be
alleviated before change can occur. How this is achieved is by supporting the individual in
the least stressful position. If, for instance, one has complaints of lower back pain, having
the feet elevated with knees and hips at 90 degrees is common to reduce discomfort.
Providing support of this kind allows the musculoskeletal system to be more amenable to
the practitioner’s manipulations.
Functional Integration lessons utilize small amplitude slow motions as means for
both the teacher and student to make better perceptual discriminations related to efficient
movement. If practitioners feel hindered in their manipulations, and continued movement in
the given direction would result in further resistance, then the involved limb is supported in
such a way as to reduce tension until a trajectory of least resistance is discovered.
PRELIMINARY COMPARISONS OF THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD AND
DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS APPROACH
Habit as Attractors
Dynamical systems approach views the human motor system in action as a
dynamic system that is described by collective variables
19,20
. These capture the collective
organization (coordination) of the system and allow characterization of how the system
changes over time. Zanone and Kelso
21
proposed that an account of learning should not
be made on the assumption that a learner starts at a “blank slate” to be built up through
experience, but instead learning occurs on a background of past experiences and
previously learned coordination patterns. Initial tendencies (i.e., intrinsic dynamics
19,20
) are
characterized by an attractor landscape that shows the stable modes of coordination one
brings to the task
22,23
. The pathways of change with learning has been shown to be
dependent on this initial composition of the behavioral repertoire
22
.
Buchanan and Ulrich
15
and Reese
24
have both likened the concept of attractors to
what Feldenkrais discussed as habitual movement patterns. It is his belief that continuous
use of given movement patterns leads to their eventual habituation, that is a preferred way
of responding to environmental stimuli.
As the primary objective of FM is to develop an awareness of movement and
discover new ways of acting, more often than not, when individuals that come to FM with
some amount of pain or discomfort, it is believed that their current behavioral repertoire is
“maladaptive.” Feldenkrais
12
suggested these maladaptive habits “can be likened to a
groove into which the person sinks never to leave unless some special force makes
him/her do so. With time, the groove deepens, and stronger forces are necessary to
escape from it”
12(pg. 118)
. In this way, “dysfunctional” movement patterns are thought to be a
result of the repetitive use of an inappropriate movement pattern that has led to some
impairment; in other words, it is a habit that must be “broken”, or an attractor that must be
destabilized.
Awareness
A core concept of FM is that change in movement coordination occurs as a result
of enhanced awareness of how the movements are coordinated. Specifically, students are
encouraged, during lessons, to explore and discover those movement patterns that are
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completed with least resistance or are the most efficient. Developing this perceptual
awareness of our movement system is the goal of FM lessons.
What is the information gained from Awareness Through Movement lessons?
Improved movement comes about from the enhanced detection of information contained in
sensory motor stimuli. We contend that this information is of the same kind as that is
discussed in ecological psychology
25
. From ecological psychology, what is perceived are
perceptual invariants contained within patterned stimulus. In other words, there is no need
for applying meaning to information-less stimuli at the receptors or development of a
representation of the environment. Properties of the environment are perceived directly via
structure contained within sensory stimuli
25,26
.
Examples of the type of awareness developed and information detected within
Awareness Through Movement lessons similarly exemplify the relational quantities
mentioned here. Considering the previous example of sitting-to-standing, the spiraling
motion that ensues from the tilting of the knee; as attention is given to the changing points
of contact with the ground and muscular tension distributed though out the body,
information is provided on both motion relative to the environment and the self.
SEARCH STRATEGIES APPROACH
How an animal is able to interact with the environment (i.e. what actions are
possible) is in part constrained by the environment. For instance, information contained
within the ambient optic array
25
specifies the layout of the environment and determine what
actions are afforded for the particular individual. This gives rise to gradient and equilibrium
regions of perception-action cycles available to the individual: the perceptual-motor
workspace
27,28
. This workspace encompasses all possible movement forms that relate all
perceptual and motor elements involved in a task, also characterizing the stability of those
forms. For this reason, the perceptual-motor workspace can be seen as interchangeable to
intrinsic dynamics of the individual
22,27
.
Newell et al.
28(pg. 101)
defined search strategies as “...the way in which an organism
explores the perceptual-motor workspace of the organism-environment interaction to solve
the motor problem.” From Pacheco et al.
2
, it is also understood that the individual searches
through the task space – the mapping that relates movement organization to task
performance. Through the perception of the gradient and equilibrium regions of perceptual-
motor and task spaces, individuals would perceive possibilities of change in their behavior
to meet the demands of the task.
The term search refers to systematic changes within and between trials. SSA see
search patterns as a window to the learning process. Identification of constraints that led to
emergence of those patterns is, thus, tantamount. As one interacts with the environment in
pursuit of a task goal, information variables that specify the success of the action are
detected and influence whether change is required or not. Modifying the action will in turn
provide new information and with time individuals will rely on more useful information for
the task at hand.
The Links Between SSA and FM
Acquisition as search is an idea Feldenkrais would appreciate, and agree with:
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“Learning occurs when the nervous system repeats its exploratory activity on an
object of the environment until it is successful, i.e. satisfies the intention. […] There is thus
a continuous interaction between the sensory and motor activities which are practically
never independent” (Feldenkrais
13
, pg. 129).
The continuous interaction proposed between perception and action that leads to
change – “satisfying the intention” – reflects a basic premise of SSA. It characterizes
acquisition as a search process that leads to an increased coordination between
perception and action
29
.
The link between SSA and FM is strengthened when one understands that both
Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration induce changes in how search
is performed. By removing corrective feedback from the practice/learning environment, FM
has, in the language of SSA, effectively reduced the constraints on search. In the case that
movement forms are imposed on learners, the space searched is constrained as
movement possibilities are eliminated by the instructional constraints. In modified version
of what is usually called “discovery learning”
30
, instructions are provided throughout being
guiding rather than corrective
31
. While, Feldenkrais practitioners do guide learners through
the perceptual motor workspace, it would not be their intention for all learners to discover
and exploit the same motor solution, as traditionally assumed in theories of motor learning
2
.
FM, in line to SSA, exploits the multiple solutions that can solve the same task
(redundancy). The range of motor solutions available to a learner can be modified as a
function of task constraints. Hristovski
32
demonstrated how the probability of certain
movement patterns changed as a function of distance to the target in a heavy bag boxing
task. Evident from this work, is how modifying constraints (distance in the current example,
and instructions in the case of Awareness Through Movement) can be used to expand or
contract the space searched. The resultant from FM, thus, follows one of the arguments
put forward in SSA: it is not necessary for persons learning the same skill to end up in the
same region of the workspace.
Another feature that relates both SSA and FM is the fact that distinct initial
conditions are not only expected but considered in how the practitioner expects changes to
occur. Individuals will undoubtedly have started with different initial conditions and as a
result certain information may not have been available to them. Take for example the
lesson above that started by tilting the knees side to side. If you were to examine two
different persons, one of whom had been a gymnast and the other was not an athlete,
perform the same motion of tilting their knees, the gymnast may be able to drop both down
to the floor while the other may only rotate several degrees. Certain kinesthetic information
that comes from contact with the ground and larger amplitude motion is available only to
the gymnast. This would not only result in differences in how they start performing but how
movement patterns can/will change as practice develops.
Further links exist when considering the role of movement variability. FM sees
early learning being facilitated by motor variability as it leads to the discovery of task
relevant properties. From SSA, variability is seen as essential to perceive task relevant
dimensions
33
. Feldenkrais discusses an “order-seeking function”
13(pg. 131)
exploring different
motor solutions until the desired coordination is stabilized. Avoiding undesirable solutions
is accomplished through variation along the order-seeking function (i.e. search). Several
theoretical positions closely aligned with an ecological approach support the idea that
variability supports an increased perception action coupling and avoid being stuck in local
minima
34,35
.
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INCONGRUENCIES BETWEEN FELDENKRAIS AND SSA
While we believe his methods and practice closely resemble SSA, some areas of
his work suggest that Feldenkrais was favorable to concepts that oppose in general
dynamical systems. For instance, while the importance that Feldenkrais
12,13,36
places on
perceptual discriminations is readily apparent, there does not appear to be as direct a
relation to dynamical systems and ecological approaches as Buchanan & Ulrich
8,15
claim.
Despite what is discussed on what awareness is brought about through movement, FM
has a different view of what information, or lack thereof, is provided by environmental
stimuli: “[…] at first, the stimulation of the senses carries no information other than the fact
that the senses are being stimulated”
36(pg. 47)
. This is at odds with theories of direct
perception
25
that state that through interaction with the environment individuals learn not to
provide meaning to sensory stimulation (enriching), but to differentiate perceptual variables
contained within the ambient array that supply information about properties of the
environment.
Additionally, although Feldenkrais seems to consider coordination to be self-
organized, in his rationalization for his method, Feldenkrais often discusses the storage of
motor programs/engrams
13
. This is relevant as the ideas of self-organization in motor
coordination and control explicitly do away with the notion of an executive or controlling
agent, as well as localized stored solutions
19
.
Therefore, although we are inclined to link Feldenkrais’ work to the SSA, one could
just as easily approach the topic from an information processing perspective. Recent
empirical examples testing FM predictions
10,11
were not done from an ecological vantage
point; thus, there is reason to consider FM as viable from multiple theoretical perspectives.
Clearly, it is hard to envisage how motor programs would take advantage and explain how
features such as exploration and variability favor rehabilitation in the ways described by
Feldenkrais.
FURTHER INTEGRATING FM AND SSA
From SSA to FM
FM, as many theories in motor learning, emphasizes the possibility of varying
conditions and, in some cases, argues for decomposition of a skill in its constituents (part-
whole practice) to facilitate learning. As argued in SSA
37
, it is not that these tools are not
fruitful, but they are dependent on the given task being practiced and learned. For variable
practice, both FM and SSA must demonstrate how variable practice modifies the search
process – not forgetting individual differences in the perceptual-motor workspace. For part-
whole practice, FM must be able to say when such a procedure is appropriate for certain
tasks and situations
38
. SSA can facilitate the process of understanding such procedures for
theoretically grounded application. That is, FM researchers could implement the SSA in an
applied situation and evaluate the search process employed when given manipulations
occur. This would endow the practitioners with greater information about how to work with
each client and lead to greater specialization of the method for each individual.
Beyond the actual manipulations, one must understand how transfer of practice is
to occur. It is expected that through Awareness Through Movement or Functional
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Integration individuals would be able to modify movement patterns in contexts not directly
practiced during the sessions. A great advance from SSA literature is the demonstration
that performance on transfer tests is highly dependent on the search process implemented
during practice
39
and the solutions resultant of this search
40
. FM would be greatly
supported if Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration induce such search
patterns related to improved transfer and/or understanding of what are the manipulations
that would facilitate such patterns to occur.
From FM to SSA
An interesting topic that FM brings about and was never addressed within the SSA
is the paired search process in Functional Integration. As the practitioner manipulates and
moves the patient’s limbs and joints, she/he acts according to what she/he perceives from
the patient’s response to those movements. Note that the patient is, as well, perceiving
how the manipulations affect the current position of his/her limbs and how this is resisted
given body current state and manipulation. The interaction between practitioner and
patient would be characterized by a social perceptual-motor workspace on which
movements, perception and change are shared between two individuals. A great challenge
for SSA is to encompass such rich context. Additionally, it would be of great relevance to
the area to understand how Functional Integration leads to topological changes in the
perceptual-motor workspace. This would not only enrich SSA but would also provide a
framework to work on social coordination dynamics beyond characterization of stable
couplings (see above).
Additionally, in the same vein that transfer from SSA can help guide FM decisions
in intervention, there are aspects of transfer that can be studied under SSA considering the
positive results in FM. As described above, exercises promoted by FM are not practiced
with the task on which improvements are to be observed. “Ease” or “efficiency” in
movements, for instance, would be achieved in a large range of activities of daily living by
intervening with a smaller set of exercises. Note that, although the exercises are driven in
terms of a goal (e.g., sitting-to-standing), the result occurs in terms of ease of movement in
broader terms and activities. SSA has not provided any insight yet of how search patterns
in terms of task space allows improvement in aspects of movement not directly target by
the task space (e.g., efficiency, variability, etc.).
CONCLUDING REMARKS
In this paper, we presented how FM and SSA are related by its theoretical
premises and, doing this, demonstrated how SSA is/can be directly applied to practical
settings. This has in no way been an admiration and blind support of FM as we have
directed readers to both inconsistencies in theoretical foundation and incongruent
empirical studies. We hope, instead, that this will garner scientific inquiry to both FM and
SSA and, more importantly, will provide solid theoretical grounding for further discussion
and application of the method.
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