2. Emerging into a Professional Field

The IFF Quality and Competency Project carried out by the IFF Academy is embedded in an understanding of Feldenkrais as a professionally done activity. At the beginning there was much confusion about the meaning of “professional”, profession, professional field etc. in the Feldenkrais Community. Therefore the IFF Academy conducted processes to discover historical, cultural and individual differences and common or similar views/interests on what professional attitudes and behaviour meant. Discussion continues on conditions of legal frames, contents, boundaries to adjoining professional activities. Meanwhile the notion of professional field as a broad frame of applying the Feldenkrais Method is broadly established.

Examples of tools to experience and understand the Professional field of the Feldenkrais Method

§       Role Play: 2001 embodying different stakeholders of relevance for applying the Feldenkrais Method – practitioner, client, state agent, Trainer, guild representative etc.  Manuals in 5 languages - available online (GME only c.f item No.7),

§       Modes of Attention Process (2004), one of IFF Assembly Designs addressing the professional field; arousing awareness during the meeting on how certain aspects of the meeting happened. Manual in English as IFF Update 2005#7 on GME (c.f item No.7) available online

§       3D Model of the Professional Field: 2005. This three-dimensional interactive tool can be used to define professional development as individual practitioner, amongst Feldenkrais peers and as a Professional Feldenkrais Association. Manuals are provided in 6 languages available online and on CD,: The 3D Model is applicable to other professional fields like Design or IT, too.

Personal experiences

•  It has been a demanding task to combine deep thinking on professional development with designing accessible formats permitting practitioners to experience complex conditions when applying the Feldenkrais Method in their environment.
• This task could only be achieved by involving large numbers of practitioners, special task forces, ongoing reflections, a core team staying with the process etc.
• We experienced how deeply professional development issues touch personal and professional identity and different cultural contexts. Sometimes we felt blamed for searching for light within a foggy area, especially by those hoping a private practice could be run in isolation, away from social, legal and financial conditions.