Moshe

Feldenkrais
NLP of the Body
by Robert B. Dilts

Published by:
NLP University Press
P.O. Box 67448
Scotts Valley, CA 94067
U.S.A.

Copyright © 1990-2001 by Robert B Dilts

All rights reserved.

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 Introduction
Moshe Feldenkrais has become recognized as one of the most important recent innovators in the
fields of bodywork, physical therapy and healing. Trained as a physicist, Feldenkrais was an associate
of Joliot-Curie in Paris before World War II and helped to smuggle the results of his atomic research
out of France during the German occupation. He developed his own form of martial art to help the
settlers involved in the reestablishment of the state of Israel, and is the only Westerner to have a move
incorporated into the ancient martial art of Judo. Feldenkrais’ fame, and the primary arena for his
genius, came from his work with people with difficult physical handicaps, such as cerebral palsy,
stroke, spinal injury, scoliosis, etc. For example, I have seen a videotape of him working with boy
with cerebral palsy and in twenty minutes correct a muscular problem that three different physicians
claimed would require major surgery to correct. His remarkable success rate in the rehabilitation of
people with serious physical problems and “miracle” cures with those unreachable by standard
Western medical treatments brought him an international reputation.
Feldenkrais codified his discoveries about working with the body into a group of techniques
called “Functional Integration” and “Awareness Through Movement.” Yet, while these techniques are
very effective, they are the product of his genius rather than the source of it. It was Feldenkrais’
ability to innovate within the basic parameters of his work that allowed him to evolve his method and
determine the unique but fundamental needs of each of his individual patients.
The modeling tools of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) provide a way to gain insight into
the mental processes that guided Feldenkrais’ gifted hands. By exploring the ways people organize
their sensory experience into specific strategies we can create an explicit map of how Feldenkrais
determined what to do in addition to the maps of what he decided to do.
A “Working Picture”
One of the most explicit descriptions of Feldenkrais’ organizational strategy comes from his
book The Case of Nora, in which he describes in detail his work with a woman who had been
1

severely incapacitated by a stroke - left unable to read, write or even tie her shoes. Yet, with
Feldenkrais’ help, she was able to resume normal functioning after just a few months, much to the
amazement of her family, friends and doctors. At one point in the narrative Feldenkrais describes how
he was able to figure out a way around a particularly difficult impasse in Nora’s progress. In this
discussion he states:
“When I am presented with a trouble in function, I make a special effort not to think in words. I try not
to think logically and in correctly formed sentences. It has become a habit with me to imagine the
relevant nervous structures by seeing them with my mind's eye. I imagine a part which produces a flow
of fluid. Part of the travel of the fluid is electrical, then becomes chemical, and again electrical. After
many transformations the flow will end in a muscular contraction, and the muscular play will result in
some apparent outside action involving the body, or parts of it, that will affect or transform the
immediate environment.”
Like a number of other geniuses that I've studied, Feldenkrais orients toward constructed visual
imagery (Vc ) as the central process for gathering information in his strategy. Albert Einstein, for
example, claimed that his primary thinking process took place through visual imagery and stated, “I
very rarely think in words at all.”
Feldenkrais called this mental image his “working picture of a human being.” This picture
contained three primary elements: the nervous system (the “core”); the skeleton, viscera and muscles
(the “envelope”) and space, the social milieu and gravitation (the “environment”). Feldenkrais
claimed that no conception of a human being could be complete which did not include these elements
and their dynamic interdependence. In his description above we are able to determine exactly how he
represented that interdependence to himself in a very elegant manner - the nervous system affects the
body which affects the external environment which feeds back onto the nervous system.
Notice, by the way, the importance of the particular sequence and hierarchy of elements
Feldenkrais uses in his “working picture.” Had the sequence gone [external environment]—>
[nervous system]—>[body], he would have been functioning as a behaviorist (that is the sequence
Pavlov studied with his dogs). If the sequence had been [body]—>[external environment] —>
[nervous system] his system may have been more similar to a chiropractor or a medical doctor. Just
having this picture, however, does not yet allow us to be able to find and solve the root of a difficult
physical problem. In his description, Feldenkrais goes on to say:
“Sometimes I am stuck at a point where I cannot imagine the pattern of the flow, nor the possible
obstacles in its way. Then I ask, is the obstacle a diffusion, damping, deviation, loss of impetus, break
of continuity, or an impossibility of one of the transformations?”
It is at this point that words (Ad) come into play in the form of a question with a list of six
possible verbal categories to describe the gap or stuck point. Feldenkrais’ systems oriented approach
is here quite evident. The six possibilities he mentions cover the basic categories of what could
happen to the transfer of energy or information in any interconnected system. For example, with
some modifications, this very same strategy could be used to help business consultants discover
where problems might be occurring in office communication systems, order filling procedures or in
a particular action plan.
“Diffusion” occurs when information has become scattered over too many different elements and
may no longer be strong or clear enough to be useful. “Damping” occurs when there is some
resistance to the passage of information along the way and its flow has become reduced to a trickle.
A “deviation” occurs when information is turned in the wrong direction and is unable to reach its
appropriate connection point. “Loss of impetus,” as opposed to “damping,” occurs when the
information or energy has been reduced at its source as opposed to encountering resistance along the
way.
A “break of continuity” would occur when a particular connection has become separated and can
no longer pass through information. Finally, an “impossibility of one of the transformations” occurs
when, even though the connection is still there, one of the mechanisms needed to translate or
transform the information into its appropriate form to be passed between two elements has been
damaged or lost.
As Feldenkrais goes on to say:
“I have found this way of imagining so fruitful that I cannot do without it. It often shows me where my
knowledge is insufficient so that I know exactly what I am after and therefore in which books I am
likely to find the information. I form a working theory and change it in the light of new observations.
This gives me a fair idea of what data I lack and what observations I must add to make the theory
work.”
This description indicates the interplay between visual (Vc ) and verbal (Ad) information in
Feldenkrais’ strategy. It seems that the visual image “shows” him what is missing and the verbal
labels help him to classify it and to gather information from outside sources. Most likely, he uses this
new information to complete the picture (Vc ) – his new “working theory.” The feedback loop is
completed as he makes new external observations that, at the bottom line, judge the validity of his
internal theory. These observations are most likely initiated through some kind of tactile (Ke ) contact
as Feldenkrais touches and moves the body. The result he sees (Ve ) casts new “light” on his working
picture.
One thing that is certainly remarkable about this feedback loop is that it is designed to locate what
he does not know, something that would be embarrassing or threatening to many. In fact, notice how
it is the reverse of the typical strategy in which observations are evaluated on the basis of how they fit
into the theory, as opposed to how the theory fits the observations. It is probably that ability, to search
for what one does not know instead of simply applying what one does know, is probably a very
important element of what made Feldenkrais such an innovator and so successful in unique and
difficult cases. As he mentions himself, it also serves the important function of directing him to where
to make his next external observations.
He goes on to point out:
“This mode of thinking is often successful in situations where specialists with greater knowledge than
mine have failed. Nobody is omniscient enough to think mechanically. I start each case as if it were
my first, and ask myself more questions than any of my assistants or critics ever do.”
What Feldenkrais is saying here is that the mode or process of gathering, organizing, and
evaluating information is more important than the specific knowledge that serves as the content of that
process. By starting each case as if it were his first, Feldenkrais is more aware, more creative, has
more contact with the patient and does not fall prey to limiting presuppositions that may in the end not
be valid.
The Feldenkrais Strategy
In summary, then, Feldenkrais’ problem solving strategy is composed of a feedback loop that has
the following representational structure:

Information is accessed through an attempt to form a constructed visual image (Vc ) that follows
the sequencing of three basic elements – the nervous system (the core), the body system (the
envelope) and external context (the environment). Each part of the system is connected to the other
and information is passed from one to the other through certain types of transformations. The
purpose of the image is to identify gaps and difficulties in the connections and transformations of
information between the three interdependent elements of the working picture. These difficulties are
then organized and classified verbally (Ad) into one of six possible categories: 1) a diffusion, 2) a
damping, 3) a deviation, 4) a loss of impetus, 5) a break of continuity, 6) an impossibility of one of the
transformations. New information is gathered, typically in verbal form that leads to a theory for
getting around the difficulty. This theory is represented as a change in the dynamics of the "working
picture" (Vc ). The validity of the theory is then evaluated based on external observations made
through the hands and eyes (Ke —>Ve ) as one tries to implement the changes suggested by the theory.
These observations are then related back to the internal image as feedback and the whole process
cycles again.
The beauty of Feldenkrais’ strategy lies in its simplicity and its generalizability to almost any
information processing system. It is neither simply a checklist nor the application of previous
information as a diagnostic device but rather a dynamic interplay between theory and observation—a
process that in NLP is called “Modeling.” It is an ongoing process that is designed to identify and fill
gaps in one’s understanding of the functioning of the whole system that may be easily adapted to
individual cases.
I have adapted Feldenkrais’ process to a general problem solving strategy that may be applied in
many different kinds of problem situations. Instead of visualizing chemical transformation of fluid, I
borrowed a little bit from Einstein and created the visualization of the information in the system as
light. The basic procedure may be outlined as follows:

Moshe Feldenkrais - Problem Identification and Solving Strategy
1. Identify the experience where you have reached an impasse and select a physical location to be
associated with it. Associate into that experience as fully as possible and step into the physical location
you have chosen.
2. Step away from the physical location and visualize the whole system involved in the impasse
experience. Include: (a) the environment; (b) the mechanical elements of the system; (c) the
information carrying system.
3. Visualize the information influencing the system as colors flowing through the system. Find where
the flow gets blocked or stuck.
4. Identify if it is a (a) diffusion, (b) damping, (c) deviation, (d) loss of impetus (e) break in the
carrier or (f) impossibility of transformation.

5. Find a reference in your experience for a functional system and select a different physical location
for it. Associate into the positive reference experience and step into the location you have chosen.
6. Step away from the location and visualize the differences in the information flow in that system.
7. Using the functional reference experience as guide, visualize a way to (a) focus the information, (b)
clear the information path, (c) keep the information on track, (d) Intensify the information signal, (e)
repair or reconnect the information carrier, or (f) get around, over, under, etc., the impossible
transform area in the impasse experience.
8. Transfer the light pattern from the resourceful reference image to the impasse image.
9. Associate back into the impasse image to find out how the changes you have made to the system
have affected your experience of the problem and to explore how you might translate the light pattern
into concrete actions.
Example Application
The following is a transcript of how this process may be utilized with an individual trying to
solve a problem:

- R.D.: Is there somebody who has a problem, or a dream that they are working on? It doesn't matter
what it is.
(A volunteer comes up.)
- R.D.: Is it possible to say in general what the space of the problem is?
- Woman: It is a business problem.
- R.D.: OK, good. Put yourself into the experience where you have reached the impasse. Find that
point where you can't move any further. Then step into this location over here and associate into it. . . .
(Woman stands in the location, her body is slumped forward, facial muscles tense and breathing is
shallow.)
OK, now step out. And we are going to try to think like Feldenkrais, which means not verbally,
not logically. No sound, forget all the words in there. There are too many of them anyway.
And I will ask you to visualize what all the elements of the system are. But visualize all the
connections between the elements as a painting of light.
For example, I had a person who said, “I have a lot of problems in my company. I have a team of
people who are trying to develop products, and I tell them what they have to do and I present them the
vision. They get excited and they follow me. But then, they don't follow through with it. If I am not
there, they lose it.”
So I said, “Alright, lets visualize this. How do you see it?”
He said, “Well, I have this red light, really bright red light. It is coming out of my head to their
heads. And their heads get bright. But when I go away that red light gets dimmer and dimmer.”
As another example, I was working with a woman who was a special education teacher having
problems with a student. She just couldn’t get through.
When I had her describe her picture of the impasse she said, “I have this kind of white light. It is
coming up out of here at the top of my head, and I try to get it into that child’s ears, down into him.
But there is a black hole in there and the light just disappears, it can't reach in there.”
I asked, “Is that the total problem space?” And we were kind of looking at the space and all of a
sudden she saw the child’s family in a real darkness and that black hole was connected to the family.
That was the visualization.
So lets start by how you might visualize your impasse. Is there more than one person?
- Woman: There are at least two of them.
- R.D.: Here are the rules. Anything goes. You could have light coming out of your eyes to their
hearts, your ears to their ears, any part of your body, or maybe there is a circle of light around you, a
beam of light that comes down. . . .
- Woman: The problem is that in front of us there is a sort of fireworks.
- R.D.: Us? You and that other person?
- Woman: We are watching that, not knowing what to focus on.
- R.D.: What kind of light is happening in you then? Is it fireworks in you, or is it just chaos of
lights?
- Woman: I don’t think there is any light in us.
- R.D.: There is no light in you at all.
- Woman: But there is a light beyond the fireworks.
- R.D.: So, we are standing with the fireworks here. There is no light in us at all. But there is a kind
of light on the other side of the fireworks.
So, I want to ask, “What is the impasse?”
. is it diffusion?
. is it damping?
. is it a loss of impetus?
. is it a lack of focus?
It seems to me there is a loss of impetus in you and the fireworks kind of light lacks focus. There
is diffusion. Lets take our next step that is to find a situation that involves at least as wide and maybe
wider solution space.
Use the information you gathered from the impasse image to help you to know where to look.
But it is not about the content of the problem or solution, it is about the system and this metaphor of
light.
I want to see that resource space!
- Woman: I think I have something like that.
- R.D.: Alright, put yourself into that experience over in this other location. Maybe we’ll see the
fireworks coming from inside you now!
(Woman stands in the location. Her body is erect, eyes are up and she breathes deeply.)
Ok, fantastic, step back out. Now let’s describe this one. What does this look like?
- Woman: In fact, I am alone and there is a huge light in my head, but it can light up all the space
around me.
- R.D.: (To the audience) By the way, we are making a metaphor out here, but to me, what is really
important to keep in mind is that this metaphor is connected to concrete experience. That is not just a
picture. It is connected to something real. Therefore, it is a way of abstracting some kind of pattern or
process from this experience, without getting caught up in the content. So, it is not like, “Well this is
just a picture of light in your head.” The light is an anchor, or a metaphor. It is connected to very
specific intuitions.
For instance, the man I mentioned earlier who has visualized the light damping in his product
development team, found an interesting resource through this process. When he was describing his
resource experience he said, “I send a out sort of a pink light. It isn’t very bright. It is just a glow. And
inside the people who are surrounded by the pink light, little red flames start to light up. And this red
light starts to come brighter inside of them until they are all lit up.” It was a kind of interesting
difference.
(To the woman) Now we will apply this resource to that impasse, first metaphorically and then
concretely. We first move from the concrete to the abstract – then back again from the abstract to
concrete; from vision into action.
What if you can take this form of light from the positive reference experience and bring it into
the impasse experience? How would that whole light painting begin to change?
- Woman: Instead of having fireworks, it would be like lit up stars in my head.
- R.D: If you take the light in your head instead of fireworks, there are stars. What about the person
next to you?
- Woman: It is very funny because that person becomes one star.
- R.D.: This person, who was with you before, would become a star.
There are a lot of beautiful things that can happen when we start to do this.
 What about the light on the other side?
- Woman: There is no light anymore.
- R.D: There is no light on the other side?
- Woman: No, it is in me.
- R.D.: Aha. Now we are going to step into this impasse again and feel what it means concretely.
What does this light really mean in terms of your actual actions, language and behavior?
Step into this new painting.
- Woman: (Steps into the impasse location and laughs) This is great!
- R.D.: You don’t have to have a specific plan just yet, but think about what options you might have if
you looked at the problem in this light. And step out again when you have some good ideas.
- Woman: (Steps out of impasse location) What is nice from what I just lived, is that it is as if there
was a house and stairs to the door. And now I am climbing the steps.
- R.D.: Even the metaphor changes.
- Woman: Thank you very much.
- R.D.: (To the Audience) If we are going to start thinking globally and systemically we have to have
ways of thinking that allow us to track many, many variables that are connected to each other. You
need new ways of thinking if you hope to develop global thinking strategies that allow you to think
systemically and actually see models of things that are interconnected and interdependent without
getting confused. And to me, this is one of the most simple, and yet profound ways that I know to do
that.
For instance, in the case of the woman who had the student with the black hole in him; when she
finished the picture, she realized, “I first need to send a green light from my heart to his heart, and I
can’t do it from the position I always take with respect to him. I have to get my heart closer, and if I
come around next to him and just slightly behind him, supporting him, I can stand between the
blackness in his family, and send this green light to him. Then when I put in the white light, it has a
completely different action.”
Again the image is beautiful, but she could also translate that into a physical expression. The
green light from the heart to the heart might end up being done through a voice tone rather than a
light.
A very focused white light might end up being explicit questions as you try to illuminate
something. A shift from red to green might indicate looking for the positive intention behind
something. In other words, you begin to speak a language of light to the unconscious; a language that
doesn't need conscious, logical reasoning in order to continue.
I’ve even been told this is similar to certain spiritual healing techniques that people use.
Now I would like you all to shine like rainbows onto someone else’s problem. Take a cup of
shimmering golden lights, and shine like a beam out to another person in the group, and find some
impasse to work with – an unfulfilled dream, a problem, it can even be in a relationship with someone
that you work with. Do this process as an exercise. Try to represent the whole problem space. Be a
light artist and paint what the situation at the impasse looks like. Then find a resourceful reference
experience. Paint that one as light as well. Then transfer light pattern from the resource image to the
painting of the impasse and step back into it. There are a lot of pleasant surprises that can happen. If
you let your unconscious intuitions help you with it, some fascinating things start “bubbling up.”

After the Exercise

- R.D.: It is so bright in here! (Laughter) Any question, reports, comments about the exercise?
- Q 1: It changed a belief. My belief was that in that situation I had to fight, and in fact, I no longer
have to fight, I dance.
- R.D.: In some ways, I think that the language of light is a language that speaks more at a belief level
or at a belief or identity level than at a behavior level. It is less about how specifically to do A, B or C
than it is about attitude or approach or values. It might actually be a way of shifting beliefs even more
easily than some kinds of verbal techniques.
- Q 2: For me putting light in that place changed completely the situation, and not only this one, but
many others as well.
- R.D.: Another way of thinking about this as well is on a neurological level. What are you actually
doing physiologically when you visualize light? The act of visualizing brings in a few billion more
brain cells in connection with the problem. It stimulates and activates a whole other kind of neural
network.
In fact, sometimes when I visualize somebody in their problem state, it is as if I were to look in
their brain. The thinking pattern, the energy state I imagine in their brain seems like a light that is
localized all in one area. It is so intensely focused in that area that the rest of the brain is just dim.
Whereas when you have them visualize in terms of light, all of a sudden you are flipping on a switch
and using this other hemisphere. The problem can’t stay the same. It would be like having one person
trying to solve a problem or opening it up to a group of a hundred people. All of a sudden you have a
whole lot more potential options – just like a Moshe Feldenkrais.
References

1. The Case of Nora: Body Awareness as Healing Therapy, Moshe Feldenkrais, Harper and Rowe,
New York, 1977.