The Story of FlexAware

Why do so many people have back pain? Knee problems? Carpal-tunnel syndrome? Other musculoskeletal conditions?

Is arthritis caused by aging, as people commonly say? If so, why does it usually happen in, for example, one knee or hand, not everywhere at once? The other joints are the same age, after all, and get the same nutrients.

Does exercise help people with asthma, depression, and stress-related diseases? How? Can it be more effective and beneficial?

What about individual differences in the way people breathe, sit, and walk? Are movement habits significant for health and fitness?

These are some of the questions that motivated Steven Shafarman to create FlexAware . Steve earned his college degree in human development, psychology, and philosophy. He then studied various therapeutic and personal growth modalities with Jean Houston, Robert Masters, Ilana Rubenfeld, and other teachers, especially Moshe Feldenkrais, the Israeli engineer and neuroscientist who created the Feldenkrais Method ®. In 1981, Steve was Dr. Feldenkrais’ assistant and appointment secretary, and he graduated from a Feldenkrais ® professional training program in 1983.

From 1985 until the middle of 1999, Steve lived in Santa Barbara, California, teaching the Feldenkrais Method, traveling to teach in other states and countries, and writing. He is the author of numerous articles and four books, including Awareness Heals: The Feldenkrais Method for Dynamic Health.

In 1995, Steve designed and taught (with assistance from Laurie Wilson) an intensive Feldenkrais program for a small group of long-term chronic pain patients of the Santa Barbara County Regional Health Authority, the agency that provides medical services to low-income residents. Participants had a variety of musculoskeletal and stress-related conditions, including chronic back pain, migraine headaches, and pain subsequent to serious accidents.

The program was evaluated by the American Academy of Pain Management; each participant completed questionnaires before and after, and there were phone interviews one year later. The Academy used that data to compare it with other chronic pain treatment programs. Most such programs employ diverse modalities, typically a mix of physical therapy, exercise, acupuncture, biofeedback, and psychological counseling. Steve’s program was more effective at about one-tenth the cost. In the year following the program, participant medical expenses fell by roughly 40 percent.

David Bearman, M.D., the medical director of the Health Authority, and Steve wrote an article about the program that was published in the American Journal of Pain Management in January, 1999. [Volume 9, No. 1.] [ To read it ]

During the program, as participants improved most of them wanted to do more vigorous exercises than they were getting from the Feldenkrais lessons. Several did exercise, or tried to; one went surfing for the first time since his auto accident two years earlier. But he and others found that conventional exercises exacerbated their pain, sometimes severely. They asked Steve to teach them how to exercise more comfortably and effectively.

Steve created FlexAware over the next few years. He moved to Washington, DC in 1999 and taught the first classes in late 2002. At an international interdisciplinary conference on the Science of Whole Person Healing in March 2003, Steve gave a talk that reviewed the chronic pain program and suggested ways to get even better results with FlexAware. His paper was published in the conference proceedings. [ To read it ]

At another Whole Person Healing conference, in April 2005, Steve presented some of the theory of FlexAware in a paper on “Outgrowing Back Pain, Arthritis, Asthma, and Depression: The Somatic Paradigm.”

The first formal 60-hour program to educate new FlexAware teachers was conducted over four weekends in August and September 2005, in Washington, DC.