FELDENKRAIS
The Method
A unique approach to learning through movement, based on Neurological, Physical, and Bio-Mechanical principles.
The Feldenkrais Method®, developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984), provides a way of learning more about how we move, think and feel, fostering our self-development, health and well-being.
Moshe Feldenkrais (Doctor of Science, Sorbonne) was an engineer, physicist, inventor, martial artist and student of human development. Born in eastern Europe, he emigrated by himself to Mandatory Palestine (Israel) as a teenager. Later he studied at the Sorbonne and worked in the Joliot Curie laboratory in Paris during the 1930s. His interest in Ju Jitsu brought him into contact with Professor Kano who developed the sport of Judo. Dr. Feldenkrais was a founder of the Ju Jitsu Club of Paris and was one of the first Europeans to earn a black belt in Judo.
Escaping the Nazi advance, he went to Britain and worked on anti-submarine research for the Admiralty. It was there in the 1940s that he began to develop his Method and wrote his first book on the subject. A knee injury, and uncertain prospects for surgery, began Feldenkrais on what was to become a life long exploration of the relationship between movement and consciousness. In the 1950s, Dr. Feldenkrais returned to Israel where he lived and worked until he died in 1984 in Tel Aviv.
In developing his work Moshe Feldenkrais studied, among other things, anatomy, physiology, child development, movement science, evolution, psychology, several Eastern awareness practices and other somatic approaches.
Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais teaching ATM
"Habits are when we decide how to act before we are aware that we have a choice"
Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais
David Ben Gurion, Israeli first Prime Minister, standing on his head
Dr. Feldenkrais worked with all kinds of people with an enormous range of learning needs -from infants with Cerebral Palsy to leading performers such as the violinist Yehudi Menuhin. He taught over several years for the dramatist Peter Brook and his Theatre Bouffes du Nord. He was a collaborator with thinkers such as anthropologist Margaret Mead, neuroscientist Karl Pribram and explorers of the psychophysical Jean Houston and Robert Masters.
Dr. Feldenkrais is Known as the man who taught David Ben Gurion, Israeli first Prime Minister, to stand on his head. Ben Gurion thought highly of Feldenkrais’ work as he wrote: “His new method for physical and mental health contains enormous options to improve the education of the young generation”.