The First Approximaton

In the Feldenkrais Method® we often call the first attempt at something “the first approximation.” This phrase roughly means that it's the first time of many that I’m doing something and so of course it won’t be perfect. There’s no pressure or ambition to do the movement or activity perfectly because it’s just the first one, the first approximation.  I do it as I can do it right now.

This idea of the first approximation often helps me to get started on something that’s new or that’s difficult or that means a lot to me.  Often my first reaction is: if I can’t do it perfectly, I won’t do it at all thank-you-very-much. I don’t consciously think this, but it’s there in the background. When I consciously remember there is a first approximation, the pressure decreases. I don’t have to do it perfectly. And in fact I can’t. Perfection is an impossible and defeating standard I’ve set for myself. How can I know how to do something before I know how to do something? How can I know how to do something before I know what it is I'm doing?

When I see my nine-year-old son struggling with his homework—no, struggling to begin to take a look at the homework that he has not begun to work on yet—I recognize his struggle and his need for the concept of “the first approximation.” Recently I caught myself saying to him, “just do your best.” What? Actually no, don’t do your best. That’s a lot of pressure. We laughed about that and he was relieved. We decided that he should not try at all. Do your worst I told him, and we laughed. Because no one of us would actually set out to do our worst! 

But essentially I do set out to do my worst when I avoid an activity or project that I love or that I want to do or that I simply need to do. I’m avoiding it because I want to do it well and I’m afraid I won’t. If I make a start, there’s a chance that somewhere along the way I’m going to do a fine job, or a fine job for me, or a fine job in that moment. My desire to do it well gets in the way of my desire to do the activity or project.

This new blog is an experiment for me. It’s about the Feldenkrais Method®, and this first entry is my first approximation. I’m beginning because I love the method and I enjoy writing. And it strikes me as a satisfying—as well as a somewhat daunting—endeavor to think and write about some of the ideas underlying the method. One of the things Dr. Feldenkrais used to say was that you’ll have really learned something if you can explain it to a friend. This blog is—and therefore you are—the friend I’m writing to. So thank you for reading.