Floristry the Feldenkrais way

I love the glow that fresh flowers provide to a room, however I never thought that I was very adept at arranging them myself.  This week the Bath Businesswomen’s Association held their monthly meeting at Bath College, in the floristry department.  I went along to find out whether it is possible to learn new Floristry skills using Feldenkrais principles? 

The tutor showed us an easy way to make a bouquet, using a raffia collar to cradle the flowers and foliage, then tying the whole thing together.  He had been practising his skills for many years.  We were each provided with the same basic tools; raffia collar, a variety of foliage and a carefully chosen assortment of flowers. 

So we started making the arrangement in a non-habitual way, using the raffia cornet instead of a vase.  The first gradual approximations to the bouquet entailed making movements within an easy range with several different types of foliage of various colours, shapes and sizes.  We could position the foliage and then move it around until we found the optimal location. 

Next, we layered in the flowers, keeping the whole in balance in terms of colour and shape throughout.  The whole process was slow and unhurried. 

Interestingly, although everyone started with the same skeleton of available tools, everyone’s bouquet was individual to them.

In fact, it was a lot like a Feldenkrais lesson.  Learning any new skill can be done an easy way or a difficult way.  Feldenkrais (and floristry) can be learnt using easy movements within one’s own range, in a friendly environment, with no right or wrong way of using similar but individual components.  With a sometimes astonishingly positive result at the end.