“Improving the Entire Personality”

I came across this quote when I was doing my morning Awareness Through Movement lesson the other day. It really resonated with me, so I wanted to share it.

Feel free to copy and share the image above.

What does Dr. Feldenkrais mean by “The majority bends those parts that they think will bend very well …? I believe he is saying that we tend to default to our most comfortable or most-used habits when we find ourselves in a challenging situation. Or that we put more of our conscious intention and effort into those parts to prove ourselves in some way when faced with something difficult. 

Then he goes on to talk about “improving the entire personality.” Here I believe he is saying that to improve ourselves, we need to develop and use those parts of ourselves that not a part of our self-image. Or another way to say it is, we need to bring those parts of ourselves, of which we are not fully conscious into our consciousness so we can work with them and integrate them into our self as a whole.

Or another way to say it is, we need to bring those parts of ourselves, of which we are not fully conscious into our consciousness so we can work with them and integrate them into our self as a whole.

And by this means we improve our personality — we become more complete, more whole, and more fully present.

All Feldenkrais lessons do this. Each in a different way to work with a distinct aspect of the self and self-image. Click here for Feldenkrais exercises.