This is Chapter 17 from Feldenkrais Illustrated: The Art of Learning. Quotes are from these books by Moshe Feldenkrais (see full references below):
The Elusive Obvious
The Potent Self: A Study of Spontaneity and Compulsion
Embodied Wisdom: The Collected Papers of Moshe Feldenkrais
References
Quotes from Moshe Feldenkrais were taken from the following sources:
The Elusive Obvious by Moshe Feldenkrais. Copyright © 1981 by Moshe Feldenkrais. Reprinted by permission of Meta Publications, Capitola, CA.
Embodied Wisdom: The Collected Papers of Moshe Feldenkrais. Copyright © 2010 by Somatic Resources and the Feldenkrais Estate. Reprinted by permission of Somatic Resources and North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA.
The Potent Self: A Study of Spontaneity and Compulsion by Moshe Feldenkrais. Copyright © 1985 by Moshe Feldenkrais. Copyright © 2002 by Michel Silice. Reprinted by permission of Frog Books and Somatic Resources, Berkeley, CA.
CHAPTER 17: MIND / BODY / ENVIRONMENT
“Most people will agree that the body and the mind are two aspects of the same thing, or two poles of the same entity, but they still cannot appreciate that there is no mind without environment.... Thoughts or feelings without their actual content due to the personal experience of the environment are nothing more than electrical changes in the structure of the nervous system. It is the connection of these changes with the environment that makes such a change into a feeling of affection for somebody, or into a sensation of red, or into the ideas of continuity, acceleration, beauty, or justice.” -Moshe Feldenkrais, The Potent Self, p 149-150.
“...environment, mind, and body are an indivisible one. No method is effective that deals with any one of these alone.” -Moshe Feldenkrais, The Potent Self, p 149.
“...the nervous system needs the outside world.” -Moshe Feldenkrais, Embodied Wisdom, p 55.
“The never-ending activity of our nervous system directs itself through our muscles and skeleton to move and act in an environment which therefore becomes part of ourselves.” -Moshe Feldenkrais, The Elusive Obvious, p 124.
“The hands, the feet, the whole body will conform to the environment through the nervous system...” -Moshe Feldenkrais, The Elusive Obvious, p 123.
“This environment will appear to us as we perceive it through our activity and will therefore be a reflection of what our nervous system needs to continue to move itself, to act and react to the changes that occur in a mobile changing environment.” -Moshe Feldenkrais, The Elusive Obvious, p 124.
“...there is a continuous commerce between the growing organism and its changing environment. -Moshe Feldenkrais, The Elusive Obvious, p 139-140.
“Behavior—like potentialities, inventions, and theories—must be sustained by the environment.” -Moshe Feldenkrais, The Potent Self, p 34.
“Poise or improvement cannot increase, nor even persist for very long, unless one alters the environment so that the old habitual response is not reinstated.” -Moshe Feldenkrais, The Potent Self, p 183.
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