Organismic: How Could This Go Better?

Trauma could be defined as an impact to organismic learning. Instead of being informed by the past we are limited by the past. Maybe the data collection is corrupted, or the integration of information is warped. Trauma can cause us to change our thresholds—our very definition of 'ouch' changes and maybe that change gets stuck. The internal negotiation on how to balance resources might become skewed. These distortions are sticky. They are especially hard to move past if the internal discombobulation is considered 'patient failure' rather than what it truly is: another consequence of the trauma. This is where Feldenkrais comes in handy.* Yes, of course Feldenkrais can help you move better after an accident. But Feldenkrais' genius is not the movement. Instead, the movement is a way to get at the organismic system. Not to fix it, but to give it a moment to catch up with itself. And then if it finds a more effective coordination? That's ok, too.

*Handy — a nod to the Bell Hand, one of Feldenkrais's most beautiful movement lessons.

Psychosocial stress and chronic pain: A threshold model of biological lock-in