The central question of a person's growth in wisdom is not how we avoid pain, injury, failure, or struggle but how we relate to discomfort.

What do you do, Reader, when you feel pain or experience difficulty?

Rather than seeing pain or difficulties as problems, we can recognize them as beacons alerting us that something important is happening that is worthy of our attention.

Ordinarily, our habits wash over us, and we don't interrupt our patterns even a tiny bit.

If we pay attention to what we do in these moments in the most concrete, tangible way—that is, by sensing our muscular habits in these moments—the potential for growth is incalculable.

There is no need to change or fix yourself. When we learn to stay with these moments, sensing ourselves, we can come to know ourselves intimately.

But more than this, when we wake up to what we are actually doing with curiosity, the unconscious habit begins to shift and change by itself, not because we try to fix anything, but because once we know what we are doing, we can stop doing those things that do not serve us.

Here's what Moshe Feldenkrais wrote in his book Awareness Through Movement:

Doing Awareness Through Movement® lessons regularly not only helps us awaken to the opportunity to pay attention when those "pain beacons" alert us but also provides a rich, personal repertoire of alternative ways in which we can organize ourselves if we engage in a rich, wide variety of lessons.

Training ourselves in this respectful, gentle way, which the Feldenkrais Method® offers, brings us personal wisdom through the richness of concrete personal experiences and self-knowing.

Cheers,

Gisele​