Moshe Feldenkrais
“Movement is life.
Without movement, life is unthinkable.”
~Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais
Moshé Feldenkrais (1904 – 1984) was a pioneer and giant in the mind-body field and is arguably one of the most brilliant teachers and healers of the 20th Century.
Moshé Feldenkrais: Revolutionary Scientist-Clinician
Moshé Feldenkrais, D.Sc., was a nuclear physicist and engineer, and had a black belt in judo. He was also a revolutionary scientist-clinician. Dr. Feldenkrais pioneered a learning system—the Feldenkrais Method—that uses movement and awareness of self to bring about remarkable changes in body and mind.
Dr. Feldenkrais was well ahead of his time in his understanding that the brain can change itself and needs to change itself in order to improve skill and well being. Movement and awareness were the two main tools to accomplish these positive changes.
Dr. Feldenkrais based his Method on brain plasticity long before the term even existed. Learn more about brain plasticity.
Today, more and more scientific research and theory is validating Moshé Feldenkrais’ understanding of the brain as a large, nonlinear, dynamic, and self-organizing system.
A Debilitating Injury Leads to the Feldenkrais Method
Born in Russia in 1904, Moshé Feldenkrais sustained a debilitating injury to one of his knees in the 1940’s. Unable to walk and trying to recover, he realized that it was his brain that needed help to find new ways to organize his body so that he could walk again, despite the injury.
On the path to figuring out how to re-educate his brain and change his way of moving, his Method was born.
This was a process that Moshe Feldenkrais continued doing throughout his life. He was able to retrain his brain and and was able to resume judo practice and moving freely without surgery. (At the time, surgery would have left him unable to walk.)
Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais Brings Remarkable Changes to Many
“Our only limitation is our belief that it is so.”
~Moshé Feldenkrais
After successfully applying this approach to his own injury and fully recovering, Dr. Feldenkrais began to develop and teach this new methodology. His approach quickly brought about remarkable changes for his students.
In his ongoing work, Dr. Feldenkrais was motivated to have people achieve their fullest potential—no matter what their condition.
He understood that lifelong learning and growth are not a luxury but a necessity for our health and well-being.
Dr. Feldenkrais eventually developed a comprehensive, novel understanding of how we learn to move. He created over 1,000 movement lessons addressing the wide variety of potential human functions.
Dr. Feldenkrais’ work continues to impact the world through a host of different fields and disciplines such as rehabilitation, sports training, yoga, techniques for pain relief, work with children with special needs, and more.
