Dr. Moshé Pinhas Feldenkrais (May 6, 1904 - July 1, 1984) was the founder of the Feldenkrais method of movement education designed to improve human functioning by increasing self-awareness in movement. May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). ... 1904 is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Feldenkrais method is an educational system intended to give individuals a greater functional awareness of the self. ...

Biography

Feldenkrais was born on May 6, 1904 in the Ukrainian town of Slavuta. In 1918, at the age of 13, he left his family to emigrate to Palestine, the land of his Jewish ancestry, where he worked, completed his high-school diploma, and studied self-defense, including Jiu jitsu. A soccer injury he incurred in 1929 would later figure into the development of his method. May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). ... 1904 is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Ukraine (Україна, Ukrayina in Ukrainian; Украина in Russian) is a republic in eastern Europe which borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest and the Black Sea to the south. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Jujutsu (also jujitsu, ju jitsu, ju jutsu, or jiu jitsu; from the Japanese 柔術 jūjutsu gentle/yielding/compliant Art) is a Japanese martial art. ...

During the period of 1930-1940, he lived in France where he earned his engineering degree from the Ecole des Travaux Publics des Paris, and later his Doctor of Science in physics at the Sorbonne. During this time he worked as a research assistant to nuclear chemist and Nobel Prize Laureate Frederic Joliot-Curie at the Radium Institute. In 1933, he met Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, and began studying Judo. He earned his 2nd degree black belt in 1938. The Sorbonne, Paris, in a 17th century engraving The Sorbonne today, from the same point of view The historic University of Paris (French: Université de Paris) first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was in 1970 reorganized as 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I–XIII). ... The Nobel Prizes (pronounced no-BELL or no-bell) are awarded annually to people who have done outstanding research, invented groundbreaking techniques or equipment, or made outstanding contributions to society. ... Frédéric Joliot-Curie Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie né Joliot (March 19, 1900 – August 14, 1958) was a French physicist and Nobel laureate. ... Dr. Jigoro Kano (嘉納 治五郎 Kanō Jigorō, 1860 in Kobe, Japan - 1938) founded the sport of Judo. ... Judo (Japanese: 柔道 Jūdō) is a martial art, a sport and a philosophy which originated in Japan. ...

Feldenkrais fled to Britain just as the Germans were about to arrive in Paris in 1940. Until 1946, he was a science officer in the Admiralty working on anti-submarine warfare. He also taught self-defense techniques to his fellow servicemen. On slippery submarine decks, he re-aggravated his knee injury. The degree of medical advancement at the time would have almost certainly meant that any surgury would result in a disappointing degree of functional impairment. This prompted him to intently explore and develop self-rehabilitation techniques which later evolved into the method. His discoveries led him to begin sharing with others (including colleague J. D. Bernal) through lectures, experimental classes, and one-on-one work with a few. For the international law of the sea, see Admiralty law. ... John Desmond Bernal (1901-1971) was an Irish-born scientist (from Nenagh, County Tipperary), known as a scientist who pioneered X-ray crystallography, and also as a communist activist. ...

After leaving the Admiralty, he lived and worked in private industry in London. His self-rehabilitation enabled him to continue his Judo practice. From his position on the international Judo committee he began to scientifically study Judo, incorporating the knowledge he gained through his self-rehabilitation. In 1949 he published the first book on the Feldenkrais method, Body and Mature Behavior. During this period he studied the work of Gurdjieff, F. Matthias Alexander, and William Bates. He also traveled to Switzerland to study with Heinrich Jacoby. George Ivanovich Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (January 13 / January 14, 1866? - October 29, 1949), the Greek-Armenian mystic and teacher of dancing born in Alexandropol, Armenia (then of the Russian Empire, now Gumri, Armenia), traveled to many parts of the world (i. ... Frederick Matthias Alexander (January 20, 1869–October 10, 1955) was an actor who developed the educational process that is today called the Alexander Technique—a method of helping people learn to free habitual reactions of moving, learned by improving ones kinesthetic judgment. ... William Horatio Bates (1860-1931) was a physician who developed what is now known as the Bates method of eye exercises. ... Heinrich Jacobi was a Swiss artist? educator? whose teaching was based on developing sensitivity and awareness. ...

In 1951, he returned to the recently formed, modern state of Israel. After directing the Israeli Army Department of Electronics for several years, in 1954 he settled in Tel Aviv where he began to teach his method full-time. In 1957, he gave lessons in the Feldenkrais method to David Ben-Gurion, the Prime Minister of Israel. Tel Aviv at night Dizengof Center Allenby Street Tel Aviv-Yafo (Hebrew תל אביב-יפו; Arabic تل ابيب-يافا Tal Abīb-Yāfā) is an Israeli city on the coast of the Mediterranean sea. ... David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion (October 16, 1886—December 1, 1973; Hebrew: דוד בן גוריון) was the first Prime Minister of Israel. ...

Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and into the 1980s he presented the Feldenkrais method throughout Europe and in the North America (including a workshop at Esalen). He also began to train teachers in the method so they could, in-turn, present the work to others. He trained the first group of 12 teachers in the method from 1969-1971 in Tel Aviv. Over the course of four summers from 1975-1978, he trained 65 teachers in San Francisco. In 1980, 235 students began his teacher-training course in Amherst, Massachusetts, but unfortunately, he was not able to continue with them through the end due to illness in 1981. The Esalen Institute is a workshop and retreat center in Big Sur, California. ... Tel Aviv at night Dizengof Center Allenby Street Tel Aviv-Yafo (Hebrew תל אביב-יפו; Arabic تل ابيب-يافا Tal Abīb-Yāfā) is an Israeli city on the coast of the Mediterranean sea. ... This article is about the city in California. ... Amherst is a town located in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. ...

Feldenkrais died on July 1, 1984. July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Quotes

"Movement is life. Life is a process. Improve the quality of the process and you improve the quality of life itself."

"If you know what you are doing, you can do what you want."

"Without movement life is unthinkable."

"What I'm after isn't flexible bodies, but flexible brains. What I'm after is to restore each person to their human dignity."

"..make the impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy elegant."

"I believe that the unity of mind and body is an objective reality. They are not just parts somehow related to each other, but an inseparable whole while functioning. A brain without a body could not think..."

"...self-knowledge through awareness is the goal of reeducation. As we become aware of what we are doing in fact, and not what we say or think we are doing, the way to improvement is wide open to us."

"Find your true weakness and surrender to it. Therein lies the path to genius. Most people spend their lives using their strengths to overcome or cover up their weaknesses. Those few who use their strengths to incorporate their weaknesses, who don't divide themselves, those people are very rare. In any generation there are a few and they lead their generation."

Publications

Books about the Feldenkrais Method

• Body and Mature Behavior: A Study of Anxiety, Sex, Gravitation and Learning. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1949; New York: International Universities Press, 1950 (softcover edition, out of print); Tel-Aviv: Alef Ltd., 1966, 1980, 1988 (hardcover edition).
• Awareness Through Movement: Health Exercises for Personal Growth. New York/London: Harper & Row 1972, 1977; Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1972, 1977 (hardcover edition, out of print); Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1972, 1977; San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1990 (softcover edition).
• The Case of Nora: Body Awareness as Healing Therapy. New York/London: Harper & Row, 1977 (out of print).
• The Elusive Obvious. Cupertino, California: Meta Publications, 1981.
• The Master Moves. Cupertino, California: Meta Publications, 1984, (softcover edition.)
• The Potent Self. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985. Harper Collins, New York, 1992, (softcover edition.)
• 50 Lessons by Dr. Feldenkrais. Noah Eshkol. Tel-Aviv, Israel: Alef Publishers, 1980 (written in Movement Notation).

Books about Judo

• Practical Unarmed Combat. London: Frederick Warne & Co., 1941. Revised edition 1944, 1967 (out of print).
• Judo: The Art of Defense and Attack. New York and London: Frederick Warne & Co., 1944, 1967 (out of print).
• Higher Judo (Groundwork). New York and London: Frederick Warne & Co., 1952 (out of print). Xerox copy available from Feldenkrais Resources.

Articles and Transcribed Lectures

• "A Non-Specific Treatment." The Feldenkrais Journal, No. 6, 1991. (Lecture from 1975 Training Program, edited by Mark Reese.)
• "Awareness Through Movement." Annual Handbook for Group Facilitators. John E. Jones and J. William Pfeiffer (eds.). La Jolla, CA: University Associates, 1975.
• "Bodily Expression." Somatics, Vol. 6, No. 4, Spring/Summer 1988. (Translated from the French by Thomas Hanna.)
• "Bodily Expression (Conclusion)." Somatics, Vol. 7, No. 1, Autumn/Winter 1988-89.
• "Learn to Learn." Booklet. Washington D.C.: ATM Recordings, 1980.
• "On Health." Dromenon, Vol. 2, No. 2, August/September 1979.
• "On the Primacy of Hearing." Somatics, Vol. 1, No. 1, Autumn 1976.
• "Man and the World." Somatics, Vol. 2, No. 2, Spring 1979. Reprinted in Explorers of Humankind, Thomas Hanna (ed.). San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1979.
• "Mind and Body." Two lectures in Systematics: The Journal of the Institute for the Comparative Study of History, Philosophy and the Sciences, Vol. 2, No. 1, June 1964. Reprinted in Your Body Works, Gerald Kogan (ed.). Berkeley: Transformations, 1980.
• "Self-Fulfillment Through Organic Learning." Journal of Holistic Health, Vol. 7, 1982. (Lecture delivered at the Mandala Conference, San Diego, 1981, edited by Mark Reese.)

Sources

• Moshe Feldenkrais Biography (http://www.feldenkrais-method.org/biography.html) from the International Feldenkrais Federation
• About Moshé Feldenkrais and The Feldenkrais Method (http://www.feldenkraislearning.com/articles/aboutmoshe.htm) by Mark Reese
• A Concise Biography of Moshe Feldenkrais (http://www.feldenkrais.com/method/moshebio.html) by Mark Reese
• Bibliography of the Feldenkrais Method (http://www.feldenkraislearning.com/bibliography%20of%20the%20feldenkrais%20method.htm) compiled by Mark Reese
• Artikel über Feldenkrais auf Deutsch/Articles about Feldenkrais in German (http://www.feldenkrais-ausbildung.de/inhalt/Literatur/)