When I tell people that I used to have fibromyalgia and now it is gone and I am healthy and active, most of the time, people say, "How did you do that?"  I have found that most people really want a simple, maybe even one-word, answer--maybe a pill or supplement to take, a doctor's name, an exercise to do (although not really that one!)--something they can DO.  Maybe at first response, the closest one word answer I can come up with is "Feldenkrais."  Feldenkrais definitely set me on a path.

The Feldenkrais Method taught me to move better, it is true.  It also taught me some other skills too--skills that enabled me to follow healing paths and ultimately to good health.  (1)  I learned to observe myself and what I was doing.  Maybe that sounds simple, but most of us have learned to not see what we don't like or don't want to see.  We also have learned to judge what we do see:  "I'm dumb, because I can't figure out how to do that easily"  "What is wrong with me?"  "Everybody else has an easier time with this than me" "I can't do what 'everybody' can do."  Occasionally or even frequently, when we begin to struggle with something, we look around and see only what seems easy to those around us--better movement, better income, better hair.  Moshe used to say, "Are you really doing what you think you are doing?"  This applies, whether to asking ourself, "Am I really moving my left hand and not my right?"  to "Am I really doing what I think I am doing when I talk to my teenager that way? [Am I really accomplishing what I am intending?]    So to learn to really see myself and then begin to shift whatever that is becomes significant!.  Learning what I do has enabled me to notice patterns of behavior that were hurting me, foods that don't agree with me, doctors that I don't want to go to, as well as doctors that I do learn from, activities that do make me feel good, friends that uplift me, books that inspire, etc. 

(2) Life is learning.  Whether you're trying to learn to walk in a certain way, or to play the piano, or to drive a car, or to begin a new marriage, there are certain stages to learning:  (A)  Doing it badly.  (B) Beginning to go in the direction you want to go...at least sometimes, (C) Mucking around a bit.  (D) Finding success.  (E)  And then doing it badly again.  Learning is continuous.  It's up.  It's down.  The course is not linear, not a straight line.  But you can continue to learn and to improve.  Bit by bit.  It is amazing what small changes, small improvements can lead to.

You can see I use the word learning a lot.  I guess, maybe, the one word I would tell people to answer "How'd you do that?" is...."learning."  I learned to be different.  I have learned to move differently, to eat differently, to think differently.  And now?  I'm happier.  Healthier.  Healed.