Body Language:

An Excursion Through the Alphabet in Somatic Terms
Part One
by Thomas Myers

Myers connects the original Germanic name of the letter F, vav, meaning nail, with the two levels used to communicate with clients. Myers describes the archaic form of how the letter F was written and the levels that this particular shape implies. One level being a direct physical level, as a nail would join two parts, details Myers, and the other level taken from ansuz, the third letter of the Norse alphabet, meaning signals. These are, Meyers writes, "indirect signals that are carried in the manner of touch, the tone of voice, and the context of caring," between client and therapist. For this issue, Myers highlights the work of Moshe Feldenkrais, Ph.D. Myers gives a brief biography of Feldenkrais' life and examines his movement techniques: Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration. Two exercises that help show the habitual patterns of movement in the motor nerves are outlined by Myers. These habits are, as Meyers states, what Feldenkrais believed to be the "the chosen field of battle with pain, fatigue, anxiety and malfunction." Meyers will resume examining the relationship between the letter F and Feldenkrais' Functional Integration in Part Two.