Moshe Feldenkrais, D. Sc. (1904-1984)

   Little is known of Moshe Feldenkrais as a child. At the age of 13 he left his home in Russia, traveled alone for a year until he reached Palestine where he worked as a laborer, cartographer, and tutor in mathematics. He also became active in sports (gymnastics, soccer) and the martial arts (jiu-jitsu). In his mid twenties he left for France and eventually became a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnic in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. Later he earned his Doctor of Science in physics from the Sorbonne in Paris, where he assisted the Nobel Prize winner Joliot-Curie in early nuclear research. In Paris he also met Jigaro Kano the creator of modern Judo and became one of the first Europeans to earn a Black Belt in Judo (1936) and to introduce Judo in the West through his teaching and books on the subject. In the early 1940's while working in anti-submarine warfare for the British Admiralty he patented a number of sonar devices, and continued his studies in psychology and the burgeoning field of neurophysiology. In 1949 he returned to Israel where he continued to explore in greater depth these different disciplines, and eventually integrated and refined them into the system known as the Feldenkrais Method®. Among his writings are: Judo; Higher Judo; Body and Mature Behavior; Awareness Through Movement; The Elusive Obvious; The Master Moves; Adventures in the Jungle of the Brain (The Case of Nora); and The Potent Self.

"My method is the integration of the skeletal, developmental, environmental, and neuromuscular systems." -Moshe Feldenkrais

"To make the impossible, possible; the possible, easy; and the easy, elegant." -Moshe Feldenkrais

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

Feldenkrais, Moshé. Body and Mature Behavior: A Study of Anxiety, Sex, Gravitation and Learning. London: Routeledge and Kegan Paul, 1949; New York: International Universities Press, 1950 (soft-cover 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 (soft cover edition).

The Case of Nora: Body Awareness as Healing Therapy. New York/London: Harper & Row, 1977; Frog Ltd., Berkeley, CA, 1993.

The Elusive Obvious. Cupertino, California: Meta Publications, 1981.

The Master Moves. Cupertino, California: Meta Publications, 1984 (soft cover edition).

The Potent Self. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985. Harper Collins, New York, 1992, (soft cover edition).
 

"One of the most exciting developments in the field of mind-body coordination is the work of Moshé Feldenkrais."
Dr. Elmer Green, Menninger Foundation

"He is changing the image in the motor cortex; and our brain, feeling the freedom of the new learning, rushes to meet it."
Arno Gruen, M.D., Psychiatrist

"Feldenkrais is not just pushing muscles around, but changing things in the brain itself."
Karl Pribram, M.D., Neurophysiologist

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