THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD®




Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984), an Israeli engineer and researcher at the Sorbonne in the laboratory of F. Joliot-Curie, was one of the first black belt in Judo in Europe and the creator of the Method. His understanding of how movement and life are inseparable, how the former cannot exist without the latter, was where he started from. Human being achieves his neuromotor development by moving his body, playing, exploring kinds of movement that are more and more refined. Through our proprioceptive sensations and kinesthetic sense we can stand, sit, walk, write, read and perform many other functions.
Feldenkrais has created a wonderful learning method chosing movement, touch and deep listening as the tools for self-awareness and a way to improve the quality of life.
The Method in both its aspects - Awareness Through Movement® and Functional Integration® allows to achieve:

  • greater awareness of psychomotor processes
  • ability to experience new ways of learning
  • trust in one's own potentials and freedom of choice
  • a chance to change habitual behaviours, finding out new possibility for action
  • refinement of perceptive skills
  • more effective postural organization, suppleness, and coordination
  • a feeling of freedom and lightness in everyday movements
  • refinement of artistic and sport performance
  • psychophyisical well-being and mitigation of pain
  • better motor organization in those who suffer from orthopaedic and neurological problems
Books by Moshe Feldenkrais

  • Awareness Through Movement, Harper & Row, New York (1972)
  • The Elusive Obvious or Basic Feldenkrais, Neta Publications, Cupertino [Ca.] (1981)
  • The Potent Self, Harper & Row, Cambridge [Mass.] & London (1985)
  • Body and Mature Behaviour, Routledge & Kegan, London (1949)
  • The Case of Nora, Harper & Row, New York (1977)



AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT® (Group)
The group is guided by the trainer's voice who invites to perform easy and unusual movements and pay attention to the sensations that go with it. Alternative movement possibilities are explored and in doing so the organic intelligence is awoken to programme more functional movement patterns. By retracing the original stages of our motor development our body will discover the pleasure of movement; the unnecessary strains will vanish and we will understand how to get organized in order to slacken our everyday efforts. Anxiety and fatigue will be replaced with trust in our potentials and the joy of movement.





FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION® (Individual)
The teacher lends the sensitivity of his hands and level of awareness helping the person expand and reorganize his habitual movements that are still unsatisfactory or have been altered by some injury.
The touch, in our Method, is like a mirror able not only to speak but also to listen; it is a contact that approaches the other not to manipulate but rather to connect and wait for a response.
When people perceive themselves, they understand what is happening within with some sort of knowledge that preceds thinking.

Ruthy Alon