There is a second reason why I have offered a more detailed description of the Tin Man’s predicament when introducing Feldenkrais’ treatment strategy. The first scene in the Tin Man’s narrative exemplifies the perspectives and practices offered by Moshe Feldenkrais. We can note that the Tin Man didn’t just want assistance with movement; he also wanted to find a heart. Furthermore, the situation calls for a critical examination of the real reasons for the Tin Man’s freeze. It seems that everything is connected. We are provided with a holistic portrayal of the Tin Man’s maladies. This same holistic perspective is to be found in the work of Moshe Feldenkrais.
It is also important to note that the Tin Man was not satisfied with gaining mobility. He wanted mobility so that he could do something important to him. And he couldn’t do something important without a Heart. Like Feldenkrais, the Tin Man believes that his own self-image and sense of purpose (Heart) is very important. The lack of Heart might actually have contributed to the Tin Man’s frozen condition. Heart might be more important than rain. He might simply have had no reason to move given that he had no Heart. Moshe Feldenkrais would no doubt have pointed this out to the Tin Man.
Feldenkrais probably would have taken it a step further. He would have gently suggested that the Tin Man probably didn’t even need the oilcan—for he “rusted over” quickly because it wasn’t really rust, it was the fear of being mobility. He was frozen in place as a result of his own anxiety about living in a threatening wood and having no clear direction regarding his own life. In “letting go” of his fears, the Tin Man could recover his own mobility even after the threat of a rainstorm. Feldenkrais’s physical therapy-based practice builds on this notion of letting go and managing the stress associated with pending threats (real or images).
Together with the Tin Man, Moshe Feldenkrais can provide a comprehensive strategy that integrates Head, Heart—and particularly Muscles and Joints. He would no doubt approve of Dorothy’s suggestion that the Tin Man join her on the journey to Oz. Feldenkrais would have approved not because the Wizard would provide the Tin Man with a Heart (Feldenkrais would have known that the Wizard is a fake)—but because the journey itself would provide the Tin Man with a purpose. In this purpose and in the attendant movement, the Tin Man would find that he already has a heart.
With this introduction, we not only wish Dorothy, the Tin Man and their companions a safe journey to Oz, but also turn specifically to the word of Moshe Feldenkrais regarding the major perspectives and practices he has to offer not just the Tin Man but also all of us who are stuck in our own threatening mid-21st Century woods.
Everything is connected to everything else
As we have found with Reich, Feldenkrais (2010, p. 19) strongly advocates the Essential Unity of Mind and Body
The central idea behind all we are discussing is the following: The mental and physical components of any action are two different aspects of the same function.
However, his treatment strategy tends to be opposite to that engaged by Reich. Building on the psychoanalytic focus on internal psychic processes, Wilhelm Reich tends to move from the mind to the body. The opposite is the case for Moshe Feldenkrais. He moves from the body to the mind.
In treating the Tin Man, Feldenkrais would have begun with oiling the Tin Man’s immobile joints. If one starts with the heart (as Reich is inclined to do) then the body is still encased. The heart might be “healed”—but the body sill can’t move. The repaired heart can only yearn for freedom. The Tin Man might even wish that he was still without a heart (and consciousness) so that he wouldn’t have to stare out at the forest without the ability to engage this forest in any way.
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