Page-flipping through the books of Moshé Feldenkrais
To me, Moshé Feldenkrais is one of the most hilarious old school writers in the library. His books are spiked with knee-slappers. For example, I quote from “Body And Mature Behaviour,” chapter “Localisation Of Function And Maturity”:
“Psychoanalysis, in Freud's writings at least, deals solely with psychic life. Only very rarely is there any allusion to the fact that psychic life does take place in a physical body. [..] Any such treatment is therefore bound to spend its usefulness rapidly, as it did.”
There's plenty of critique about Freud nowadays, especially with the rise of fields like Somatic Psychology, Neuroscience, Psychosomatic Medicine, and Mind-Body Practices. But who else writes as snippy and is elbow-ing down everyone else in order to promote his own method as much as Moshé Feldenkrais did? Reading, I feel like watching an old school, American Coca Cola vs Pepsi comparative advertisement TV-Spot .. 🤣 LOL
Moshé Feldenkrais truly had a knack for promoting his own method amidst the backdrop of other psychological theories and practices. Let me drop another quote, for example, from his book “The Potent Self”:
“The person must now return to the initial lying position and learn what it feels like to act correctly. [..] Now a word of warning. The incompetent person [..] may think, like a yogi, that special powers are attached to this position, in which he may feel for the first time the sense of well-being [..]”
It's hilarious. He's dissing Yoga and at the same time saying that people will experience his exercises as something that has special powers, feeling a sense of well-being like never before.
But then, I can't deny that, really. As you yourself might be able to confirm.