Mathematics is also a performance. One of my trainers, Sabine Pfeffer, told me that she actually didn't want to have anything to do with the Feldenkrais Method at first. Her mother, who was a well-known trainer herself, had always tried to convince her. Sabine preferred to study mathematics. She thought she was a bad mathematician. Gradually she let herself be persuaded to try Feldenkrais after all. After a year of training she became a good mathematician.

Feldenkrais makes the brain flexible and thus the body.

A genius, in my opinion, is never swayed in his discipline by the outside. It respects its own learning speed, no matter what level of skill is required of it from the outside at a certain point in its training. It explores space in its own way. Einstein was bad at math in school, according to the grades. But he certainly had his own system, and honed it continually. Every child who keeps things at bay in a certain way, or allows them to be extreme, researches about it in a brilliant way.  

Sports

Here it becomes at first again somewhat football focused. But I have had a very good experience here with the Feldenkrais method, which I would like to describe to show what can happen when you work on your skills with this method.

My first FI (Functional Integration - Individual Lesson) I had when I was 32. I took three each at intervals of three to four weeks. During this time, I coincidentally started playing soccer again often in my spare time. I had always considered myself a very good technician. But what I was then suddenly able to do was incredible. I could score goals. Before, it was more a question of whether I would score one, then it was a question of how many I would score. Out of nowhere, I had gained this 'killer instinct'. 

The goalkeeper lay down on the ground, I moved my foot about two meters in front of him already to the ball, and meanwhile I could correct the ankle in the other direction. I stood outside myself and watched as I flicked this ball past him as if I had one more joint in my leg. I just couldn't believe it. Since then, I've been a firm believer that this method can really bring an athlete to fruition.   

It's terrific what confidence I've developed in my body since then, that I can call up a certain technique, thereby achieving a great performance with quite little perceived effort. In terms of body control, I'm superior to just about any 20-year-old. My overall technique is becoming more and more refined. My hip joints are so flexible that I can dribble in the tightest of spaces with my height of 1.82 m, and thus always surprise the opponent with movements that are natural for me, but completely disorient him. because they are not physically possible for him. He cannot imagine them. Otherwise, he could do them and stop me. 

The effects of Feldenkrais work range from kick-off speed and turning ability to feeling for the ball in space and game awareness. The more you are aware of yourself, the more you are aware of your surroundings. The more awake your body is, the fewer blind spots there are, the more you have the '180degree-360degree overview' and better timing. The better timing, the better internal timing lets you handle the ball better, for one thing. You don't have to do a trick technically anymore. It comes naturally from the flow of the game. You can use any part of the body to push the ball in a certain direction. The orientation of the body becomes clear. One stays clear and maintains balance and therefore orientation in space in tricky situations. One can master tighter game situations, or better fit in or adapt to the flow of the game in the broad overall structure of the game, also timing better here, because one can perceive the other players more accurately and assess them better - their timing, their gameplay, which direction they will run. You become smoother as a player, more adaptable, but you can just as easily give the game a decisive turn because you sense the rhythm better and can better anticipate a necessary change of rhythm.    

Since the Feldenkrais Method is involved with movement and athletes like to move, it can be great fun to experiment with it and explore one's sport with this added layer. It prevents routines, expands your repertoire, and can give you a certain sense of limitlessness. You can grow, become stronger. The possibilities are endless.   

The question of talent and physical potential here takes on a new dimension. 

Body Control , Acting

Until now, Feldenkrais has been used in sports mainly for rehabilitation or prophylaxis against injuries. 

Feldenkrais takes into account the individual structure of a body. A body is not built symmetrically. For example, we have a heart on the left and a liver on the right.  It performs asymmetrical actions throughout life and therefore becomes increasingly asymmetrical. When we open a jar, both hands perform a different action. Most of the time we take the jar in the same hand for a lifetime. 

The Feldenkrais Method assumes that a body is best organized when this asymmetrical structure - mainly meaning the bone structure and thus the musculoskeletal system - can be perceived. Then the person is aware of how he is built and how he can create and release the symmetry for demands from outside like lifting a box. Thus, the body can use its resources optimally and relax optimally.

A more pronounced asymmetry does not have to be a disadvantage. Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps both have diagnosed scoliosis.

And here the question certainly arises as to whether they would have been even better without it, or just not as good. If you transfer this to a personality, the question arises as to whether it is worthwhile to use the method to promote a personality's peculiarities, and thus only to tease out its strengths.

(see also: The Psychosomatic Way)

Example for body control in sports