THE SCIENCE:

Neuroplasticity:

“The discovery of neuroplasticity, that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains, even into old age, is the most important breakthrough in our understanding of the brain in four hundred years."  Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself (2008).
     http://www.normandoidge.com/normandoidge/MAIN.html

"For centuries the human adult brain has been thought to be incapable of fundamental change.  Now the discovery and growing awareness of neuroplasticity has revolutionized our understanding of the brain – and has opened the door to new treatments and potential cures for many diseases and disorders once thought incurable. Neuroscience is past viewing the human brain as a machine, as it once did, where, if one part breaks down or doesn’t work properly, the function it performed is permanently gone, in all cases. Indeed, in just the past few years, we’ve built on our knowledge that our brains are constantly changing their structure and function and that the adult brain is not “hard-wired” but plastic – always changing. It applies even in old age – a particularly hopeful note for an aging population like ours."

  http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2010/changingyourmind/

 

Moshe Feldenkrais, D. Sc.  believed in the human being’s ability to learn.  He based his Method on a 'plastic', always changing brain.  He believed that we, as children,  sensed and problem solved long before we could speak and that through re-awakening the problem solving process through movement, we could expand our abilities - in thought as well as in action.

Dynamic System’s Theory: 
Is a child’s potential fixed due to hereditary? Or, can interaction with one’s environment influence development, behavior, or the structure of the brain itself?   
“For years, most researchers believed that infants reached and walked when parts of the brain responsible for these activities "matured." But based on 19 years of research, Dr. Esther Thelen, believed that these accomplishments reflect a complex interplay of factors that includes babies' changing bodies and their external environments, as well as their growing brains and nervous systems. "Babies are constantly trying to figure out things like 'How am I going to look around?' and 'How am I going to see that nice smiley face?' " Dr. Thelen told Indiana University's Research & Creative Activity journal in spring 2003. "I believe the behavior we see is not residing somewhere fixed in the brain. Instead, it emerges in the movement." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41575-2005Jan1.html 

The Brain and Body Maps -- Development of Self Image:    Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew Blakeslee wrote in 2007:

“Each of our body parts is faithfully mapped (in the brain) based on the touch receptors embedded throughout your skin. This is your primary touch map. You also have a primary motor map, for making movements. … Your sense of individual self-hood stem from the interaction of these maps in your brain, the body in your brain, your embodied brain …. All these body maps are profoundly plastic–capable of significant reorganization in response to damage, experience or practice.”            http://www.thebodyhasamindofitsown.com/index.asp?PG=3

Laws of Physics, Mechanics and Movement:
"The aim is a body that is organized to move with minimum effort and maximum efficiency, not through muscular strength, but increased awareness to how it works."    Moshe Feldenkrais, D. Sc.

Gravity and the Skeleton:
http://www.somatic.com/gravity.html

Proprioception and Kinesthetic Awareness:

THE ART/THE ARTIST

“Art is not only music, sculpture, dance or painting. To be an Artist means being a person who is interested in the quality of the thing he makes and he wants the quality to bear the hallmark of his person….Artists have the desire to grow in their personal understanding and feeling of themselves – in their personal image.” Moshe Feldenkrais D.Sc. (1980, NYC workshop)

 “Psychologists as well as painters claim that they are not thinkers. Painters like to call themselves creators, doers and makers. Most of the thinking is done between their work of art. Some external force forces them to think about abstractions, for example the desire to do something " new" or to "reject " what is existing, is actually the aim of the visual artist or the designer. This search for something "new" is, most of the times, an "accidental" process.” From:    http://www.artinarch.com/vp01.html

CREATIVITY:  Participants and practitioners are continuously looking for 'the moment' ( the open space) where one can create new possibilities.
"Artists don't let challenges strifle the creative process."  Halle Stockson, Sarasota Herald Tribune 10/1/10