The red thread

As a kid, I was captivated by the stories of the brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes and his uncanny ability to solve the most challenging mysteries. I'd reread them, trying to outwit and solve the case before Mr. Holmes did.

It wasn’t until much later that I learned Sir Arthur Conan Doyle revolutionized detective fiction, known back in the day as “puzzle stories,” by being the first author to give readers all the clues needed to solve the mystery themselves, if only we possessed the keen observation and deductive reasoning of the master.

My fondness for Holmes' keen eye and brilliant mind means that I’ve watched nearly every Sherlock film or series, including the recent Watson series on CBS/Paramount. Though I haven’t read many of the spin-off novels, I particularly loved Nicholas Meyer’s 1974 The Seven Percent Solution.

I just finished watching the newest Holmesian series: 2025's Sherlock & Daughter. Currently streaming on HBO Max and available for free on The CW app, I enjoyed the classic Saturday matinee serial vibe of this latest take on the legendary detective.

The series stars the masterful English actor David Thewlis as Sherlock. (Have you seen season three of Fargo?! Thewlis shines as the shady British businessman.) In Sherlock & Daughter, Holmes finds himself battling a shadowy criminal network known as the Red Thread, a group that holds a strange sway over him at the beginning of the series. The show introduces a new character to the Holmes canon, Amelia Rojas, as his feisty, supposed daughter, adding a layer of social commentary and a light-hearted touch missing from the original stories.

Sherlock & Daughter has been more popular with viewers than critics, boasting a 91% Rotten Tomatoes audience approval score compared to the professional reviewer's rating of 73% (as of July 2025). Even though it doesn’t match the top-notch production values and intellectual rigor of the BBC's marvelous modernized Sherlock remake, I found it an engaging and entertaining watch. If you watch, I’d love to hear your responses and reflections.

In European folklore and literature, as well as in contemporary conversation, the red thread symbolizes a connecting idea, a throughline that ties disparate elements of a story together. In East Asian culture, the red thread of fate represents an invisible connection that ties two people together, destined to meet and form a relationship.

Just as Sherlock Holmes is a master sleuth, Feldenkrais teachers are movement detectives. We observe, we listen, and we guide our students to notice what Moshe repeatedly referred to as the elusive obvious, those habitual movement patterns outside of our awareness that influence and limit our abilities. What’s more, a Feldenkrais class or individual lesson is constructed like a mystery that unfolds over time, with the teacher supporting students in solving for themselves.

The red thread in a Feldenkrais lesson is the all-too-often invisible, essential underlying functional ability that underpins and holds a lesson together. Understanding that there is an exact and explicit premise behind or within every lesson — and figuring out how to determine and benefit from it — was a true revelation for me as a teacher, transforming forever how I teach and how much my students benefit from it.

Students don't need to be consciously aware of this red thread for a lesson to be effective. However, for us as teachers, understanding and clarifying the red thread of a lesson is crucial.

After all, a lesson is more than a series of Feldenkrais “moves” (whatever that means!) strung together. If we don’t understand what holds it together, not only is it difficult for us to guide our students with precision and adapt to their unique needs, but it’s also all too easy to destroy the integrity of the lesson, lead students astray, confuse and confound them, and perhaps even end up causing greater harm than good.

Clarifying what the red thread of a lesson is and showing you how to find it is one of the indispensable skills at the heart of The Trilogy. Over 1,200 Feldenkrais teachers have participated in this international post-graduate program over the last 30+ years. I will be offering this course in Madrid starting in November, as well as in Florence and Paris next spring, with additional locations to follow. Understanding the red thread will elevate your teaching, making your lessons more effective and your students' learning more profound and long-lasting.

Understanding the red thread is also a central notion in my new program for teachers and trainees alike called 'Unlocking the Power of ATM.' In this course, we'll delve into the classic and fundamentally Feldenkraisian lesson, 'Rolling the Head Between the Hands,' unpacking how and why it works, discovering how best to teach it, and exploring its application in hands-on sessions. The course kicks off in a couple of weeks; whether you’re a Feldenkrais teacher or trainee, I hope you’ll be able to join me and our colleagues from around the world.

I found Lisa Red Fern’s photo of a spool of red thread on www.pixabay.com. I found the banner image from the TV show comes from the CW website, and purchased the image of the red thread connecting the puzzle pieces from www.istock.com (because it was just so perfect).

If you’re feeling particularly philosophical (and find yourself still pondering the quote at the top of today’s post), or if you happen to be a fan of Douglas Adams' quirky detective Dirk Gently, you might be interested in following up on the “Holmesian fallacy” here or here.

The term 'Holmesian fallacy' refers to the tendency to overestimate our deductive abilities, reminding us that just because we understand something doesn’t mean we know everything.