Moshe Feldenkrais
The Feldenkrais Method, developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais (1904–1984), was designed to improve human functioning by increasing self-awareness through movement. Moshe Feldenkrais was an engineer, physicist, inventor, and accomplished martial artist. In developing his work he studied, among other things, anatomy, physiology, child development, movement science, evolution, psychology, a number of Eastern awareness practices and other somatic approaches.
Dr. Feldenkrais taught in Israel and many countries in Europe in the 1960’s and 1970’s and in North America through the 1970’s and 1980’s. He published five books on the method, as well as four books on Judo and is considered one of the pioneers of somatic education.
Born in Russia, Moshe Feldenkrais immigrated to Palestine at the age of thirteen and began his studies of self-defense, including Jiu Jitsu. A debilitating soccer injury to his knee would later determine the development of his method.
During the 1930's, he lived in Paris, France, where he earned his degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering. He later received his Doctor of Science in Physics at the Sorbonne and as research assistant, worked in the French nuclear program of Nobel Prize laureate Fréderic Joliot-Curie. In 1933, he met and studied with Jigoro Kano, the originator of Judo, and in 1936 became one of the first Europeans to earn a black belt. Chosen by Kano to introduce Judo to the west, Feldenkrais became a co-founder of one of the oldest Judo clubs in Europe.
Escaping the Nazi advance he went to Britain and worked on anti-submarine research for the Admiralty. On slippery submarine decks, he re-aggravated his old soccer knee injury. Refusing an operation, he was prompted to explore and develop self-rehabilitation and awareness techniques through self-observation. His investigations led him to formulate a unique synthesis of movement and consciousness known as the Feldenkrais Method.
In 1951, he returned to recently formed Israel to teach his method full-time. He worked with all kinds of people with different needs - from many infants with Cerebral Palsy to leading performers such as the violinist, the late Yehudin Menuhin. He taught over a number of years for the dramatist Peter Brook and his Theatre Bouffes du Nord in Paris. In 1957, he gave lessons to David Ben-Gurion, the prime minister of Israel, enabling him to stand on his head in a yoga pose for a press conference.
