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Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc., (1904-1984), a Russian-born Israeli,
was a distinguished scientist and engineer. He was a close associate
of Nobel Prize Laureate Frederic Joliet-Curie, and he worked at
the Curie Institute in Paris in the 1930s. He was also a respected
Judo instructor, was a founder of the Ju Jitsu Club in Paris, and
was the author of two books on the subject. However, it was in the
relationship between bodily movement and the ways we think, feel
and learn that Dr. Feldenkrais achieved his greatest successes,
and today there are nearly 3000 certified Feldenkrais Teachers around
the globe, with new training programmes springing up every year
as awareness of the work grows. Feldenkrais’ insights contributed
to the development of the new field of somatic education and continue
to influence disciplines such as physical medicine, gerontology,
the arts, education and psychology.
It was an old soccer injury in his youth that damaged his knee and
led to the threat of severe disability in middle age. Given little
hope of ever walking normally, Moshe refused surgery because he
found the 50/50 chance of improvement an unacceptable gamble. Instead,
he applied his extensive knowledge of anatomy, physiology, psychology
and engineering, as well as his mastery of martial arts, to healing
his own knee. It was during this healing process that he realised
the vital importance of working with the whole body in order to
achieve persistent change. Realising how significant his discoveries
were, he began to teach this work to his colleagues at the British
Admiralty during the war, and then went on to fully develop his
method on his return to Israel.
“The human posture is not simple nor is it easy to achieve.
It necessitates a long and demanding apprenticeship. The learning
that each human being has to go through to achieve the best quality
of functioning his structure permits is as remarkable as anything
in nature.”
The Elusive Obvious, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais (1981)
Quotes about Feldenkrais and his method from some of the
people he worked with in his life:
“Feldenkrais has studied the body in movement with a precision
that I have found nowhere else. He perfected hundreds of exercises
of exceptional value.”
Peter Brooks, Film and Stage Director, Author
“the exercises are so ingenious and so simple.”
Yehudi Menuhin
“Feldenkrais is the most sophisticated and effective method
I have seen for the prevention and reversal of deterioration of
function. We’re condemning millions of people to a deteriorated
old age that’s not necessary”.
Margaret Mead Ph.D. in Human Health, Anthropologist
“Feldenkrais has found a way to free people to be more
flexible and flowing physically. The exercises are ingenious and
startling in their effectiveness. It is certainly one of the most
exciting and penetrating of the body-mind methods.”
William Schutz. Ph.D in Psychology, Author, Encounter Group Pioneer
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Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais |
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