Newsletter #123

Highlights

1. Book recommendation
• James R. Doty’s memoir: Into the Magic Shop

2. The student corner
• New section to respond to students’ questions

Book recommendation

This week’s newsletter is about mindful learning and compassionate attention, introducing a book about a lived story of simple practices that change a life from the inside out:

Into the Magic Shop: A neurosurgeon's true story of the life-changing magic of mindfulness and compassion

James R. Doty’s memoir Into the Magic Shop weaves together two seemingly distant worlds: the precision of neurosurgery and the mystery of inner transformation. For Feldenkrais students, this book offers not only an inspiring life story but also a living example of principles we explore in Awareness Through Movement.

At twelve years old, Doty wandered into a small magic shop in Lancaster, California, where he met Ruth, a woman who introduced him to a very different kind of “magic”: the ability to calm the nervous system, focus attention, visualize, and open the heart. Her simple practices—relaxation, breathing, attention, imagination, and compassion—reshaped the trajectory of his life. Decades later, Doty became a neurosurgeon and founder of Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.

For Feldenkrais students, Ruth’s lessons resonate deeply:

- Awareness of the body: Doty learns to sense muscle tension, breath, and posture—echoing how we observe ourselves during lessons.

- Attention and imagination: Visualization becomes a powerful tool for change, much like how Moshe Feldenkrais used directed attention to alter habitual patterns.

- Plasticity and choice: Doty’s story illustrates neuroplasticity in action—the nervous system’s ability to change through new experiences.

- Compassion as integration: Beyond skill and success, true transformation arises when the heart and mind work together. Feldenkrais often reminded us that function includes emotion, thought, and action as an inseparable whole.

The book is also honest about missteps: chasing wealth, losing touch with compassion, and then finding his way back. This arc reminds us that learning is not linear—it is iterative, with regressions and rediscoveries, just as in a Feldenkrais lesson.

Reading Into the Magic Shop as a Feldenkrais student invites reflection: How do we practice attending to ourselves with kindness? How do we rewire not just for efficiency of movement, but also for greater presence and humanity?
Doty’s story affirms that the small, consistent practices of awareness can transform a life—not only our own but also the lives we touch.

The student corner

This new section of our newsletter is dedicated to responding thoughtful questions we receive from students by email, during class or in our practice.
Questions like: what to expect in or after lessons, how to understand different experiences, how to respond as practitioners?
In ‘The student corner’ we will answer one student question.

This week Yvo answers the following:

“ Recently a student asked me: “Sometimes after a Functional Integration lesson my walking feels light and effortless, and other times I feel a little unstable. How come ???”

The short answer is that it depends on your nervous system. Functional Integration doesn’t give the same outcome every time, because it works by shifting the way your brain organizes movement and sensation. Sometimes a adaptation happens right away — habitual tension lets go, new connections appear, and walking feels smooth and integrated. Other times, your system is still busy exploring, updating its internal map. In those moments, your usual ways of moving may not be available in the same way, so walking can feel a little less coordinated until a new balance emerges.

This isn’t a mistake — it’s part of how learning takes place. Like a child who wobbles when first walking, the nervous system needs space and time to explore and consolidate new pathways. Each FI is different: a practitioner emphasize whole-body integration, but may temporarily disrupt a strong pattern or habit so your system can discover new options.
And your own state that day — how rested, open, or stressed you are — also shapes the outcome.
So whether you walk away feeling instantly light, or whether it takes a few moments before ease arrives, both are signs that your system is reorganizing.
That’s the beauty of the Feldenkrais Method: we don’t try to “fix” you, but instead create the conditions for your nervous system to find new, more graceful ways of moving and being. Does this mean that the practitioner doesn’t know what they are doing ? Well, I’ll write about that next week. “

- Yvo Mentens, Feldenkrais Trainer