Feldenkrais®: The Wizard Within
Last week my husband and I were channel surfing and came across “The Wizard of Oz.” We didn’t even have to consult each other; in silent agreement, my husband clicked on the channel.
Even though I still worry about Toto running around the forest off-leash, and my husband gets a little creeped out from the flying monkeys (a throw back from childhood), we never get tired of watching this classic film. I settled back and prepared to be mindlessly entertained by Dorothy and her entourage as they started down the yellow brick road, off to see the wizard.
However, my brain had other plans for me that evening. Of course, the lesson in this great story is that each of the characters already have what they are looking for; they just didn’t realize it. But that evening my mind discovered an even deeper and pervasive symbolism, one that I see almost every day in my practice as a Feldenkrais practitioner.
In their quest to someone who could fix them, cure them, give them their life’s desire and make them whole again, this odd assortment of friends endured a long and arduous journey complete obstacles and roadblocks at every corner. Nothing deterred them, not even a terrifying witch who threatened to kill them at her first opportunity. Sheesh!
They were so desperate for help that they pushed forward, even after the mystical wizard gave them a dangerous and impossible mission to accomplish before he would grant them their wishes. What a jerk. Finally, after they killed the witch and brought her broomstick to the wizard, they discovered him for what he truly was: a charlatan. Once the truth was revealed, at least he had the wisdom and the decency to inform them that they didn’t need his help, and what they were looking for they had all along. Okay, maybe he wasn’t as big of a jerk as I thought.
Sometimes we all lose our way, and can get caught up in the need to find a wizard to fix our problems for us. However, just like Dorothy and her pals, we can encounter incredible trials and tribulations in our journey to find the “experts” who will cure us of our aches, pains, problems and shortcomings. But most of the time, we already have the answer deep inside ourselves all along. We just need to have a little heart, some courage, and the brains to access our inner wisdom and find our way back home.
For some reason Toto was the only one who seemed to understand that, right from the moment the house landed in Oz. He never seemed to lose his way.
That’s what Feldenkrais can do for you. It can help you access the wisdom of your own inner wizard to help you find your own way and heal yourself. It seems like magic, but it’s not. It’s the miracle of the intelligence of your own nervous system and the ability to heal yourself. So, who needs a wizard when you already have one?
