Learning Grows Until it Dawns on You

Ahgykson (Harwood Island) appearing beneath the swirling Salish Sea mist, January 2025

Movement is improved by taking things away rather than adding them. Somatic Movement is learning.

To quote Moshe Feldenkrais directly: “Learning is turning darkness, which is the absence of light, into light. Learning is creation. It is making something out of nothing. Learning grows until it dawns on you.”

When practising Somatics we learn to move slowly and mindfully, noticing areas of unnecessary tension and softening them. We pay a kind attention to how much effort is involved, and reduce it appropriately. As my friend and teacher Elizabeth says, “Nature doesn’t waste energy.”

Feldenkrais had his own terminology for unnecessary/additional movements/tensions: “parasitic”, meaning that such movements are parasitic in that they attach to the intended host movement and they become inseparable. For example, each time I roll into a soft Arch and Release on the floor, am I clutching the pelvic floor? Or tensing my jaw? If so the intended movement (Arching) has activated the parasitic part too (additional ‘parasitic’ pelvic floor or jaw clench) and we have no control over it until we know what we are doing. Once aware, we have choice. We can make the movement freer, more efficient, by noticing and softening unnecessary movements/tensions. This is different to correction which is just adding more effort to the extra effort or parasitic action that’s already there!

Next time you’re down on the floor practising, and allow the movement to come, to grow. Truly notice. What’s getting in the way of free and easy movement? Unhelpful thoughts are parasitic too. Let them float away. Come back to direct experience, soften and feel. What could you let go of to allow the movement to be easier? And remember, this is a practice. We learn how to soften parasitic action. Learning is a process :)