I recently attended a professional development workshop with one of my most important and influential teachers, a woman by the name of Aliza Stewart. Aliza is a master Feldenkrais Method® teacher. I first came to know her in 2002, when I enrolled in a Professional Feldenkrais Training Program. It so happened that I joined the program late, and needed to do some private study in order to catch up. Aliza, who was the Assistant Trainer for the four-year training program, was to be my mentor. 

We have a serious problem in this country. Nora D. Volkow, M.D., Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse writes that, "an estimated 52 million people (20 percent of those aged 12 and older) have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons at least once in their lifetimes." More troubling is the mindset associated with this alarming trend. Volkow attributes this to:

"a consumer culture amenable to "taking a pill for what ails you" and the perception of prescription drugs as less harmful than illicit drugs...." 

How sad that so many see medication as the first line of defense, given that built into our neurophysiology is the capacity to engage the natural healing processes of the body and mind, and bring about remarkable physical, emotional, and cognitive healing...