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Arts & Communication Digital somatic arts: Choreographing autonomy

and biographer Mark Reese places it in the 1920s. In fact, elements and analyses that attempt to identify the causes of
Feldenkrais himself dates the beginning of his method— the results obtained, as well as identified certain problems
and thus the process of its development—when he began she encountered or that are linked to the ways our Western
giving private lessons at the age of 19 or 20. 22(p65) A truly culture intersects with her vision, and her conception of
transdisciplinary figure, his training was enriched by the body:
the practices of sport, jiu-jitsu, judo, physics (Einstein Aware that screen time has brought problems in
and Heisenberg), engineering, theories of evolution, posture, and the pandemic brought more issues due to
development, and neurobiology (with authors such as people walking less, and sitting more, as they were working
Cuvier, Darwin, Sherrington, or Pavlov). 22(p330]) Moreover, from home. People came in with more new aches and
Feldenkrais was another of the great thinkers of the pain throughout the pandemic. Was it because many had
20 century, influenced by the cybernetic theories of the more time to take care of challenges they would normally
th
1942 Macy Conference, which recognized important ignore? But my peers and I all agreed on many occasions:
parallels between the new electronics of the time and the the sedentary mode, the stress and anxiety, all brought
behavior of living creatures. For Feldenkrais, it was this more people to us as movement specialists, and the people
inspiration in particular that led him to develop the idea already working with us would sometimes see new pain
that changes in the environment do not cause modifications showing up.
in living organisms as mere physical reactions, but rather
these changes affect the patterns that link the organism and My schedule was already pretty full as the pandemic
the environment. Feldenkrais drew on the idea of “circular started. Except for a few new students, I continued working
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causality” from cybernetics to develop the foundations of with regular students of mine. Which many would come
his method. Thus, to me at first to get stronger through training or Pilates.
Others wanted to work out but had to first manage pain
[a]s Moshe developed his method, observations and symptoms, or had started training or Pilates, but had to
experience persuaded him to rely more on cybernetic go through hand surgery or hip replacement they had
“circularity” and on the fundamentals of “position, been putting off. For those people, we would at times do
symmetry, configuration, and pattern,” than on causal strength training, but I used awareness to improve their
analysis, for comprehending somatic organization. autonomy in training, but as conscious learners rather than
It was his—and our—good fortune that his deep executors, so that they can apply what we do together to
backgrounds in engineering and physics supplied the
ideas he needed. 24(p330]) everything they do.
Thanks to these influences, Feldenkrais laid down a As when helping someone to improve their potential,
transversal foundation for his method, in which awareness I have an opportunity to go with them back to recover,
through movement is paramount. 22(pp200]-201]) Somatic or retrieve stages of development that may have been
practices are centered on awareness of the body in forgotten, due to habits, training, or trauma. I avoid
movement and involve a series of learnings linked to the correcting my subjects, but instead, give them tools to
synergistic interaction between consciousness, the body in increase their awareness—notably of sensations—so that
movement, and the environment. they can improve themselves in an empowered, self-
directed, mature, and autonomous way. Not because
In this article, we introduce a plurality of concepts they analyze the work, but they learn to trust themselves,
concerning the environment, coming both from the through trial and error, they train their sensorimotor
teachings of Feldenkrais and from new experiences system. And by feeling more, they learn how to learn.
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of sensory-perceptual destabilization linked to the For example, the athlete who realizes that his first choice
technological environment. We work together in doesn’t work due to an error, adapts and readjusts from
complementary ways to understand the phenomena at sensory feedback. Or, when an individual fails to make a
work, such as the development of the sensorimotor system movement on the right side, but succeeds on the left (or
in response to destabilizations as they arise. Accordingly, vice-versa), I ask them to focus on the sensation on the
we propose to treat somatic practices as a positive form of side that’s working well, in order to transfer that sensation
experiential self-complexification. 25 to the other side. This allows them to learn independently,
without the need for an outside eye. And it’s because
3. Maturity, autonomy, and adaptation they listen to and value this sensory information that
The following are descriptions of Germain’s explorations in it’s called “sensory authority.” When I’m in a Feldenkrais
her Feldenkrais video conferencing lessons with students. lesson session with them, by video conference, I suggest
We have interwoven these descriptions with conceptual that they explore certain movements, positions, angles,

Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 4 doi: 10.36922/ac.4477