Feldenkrais Method®

The Feldenkrais method takes its name from its creator Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais.   It is a holistic approach to learning about functional movement and promotes increased self-awareness.   It is a therapy that is experiential for the client because he or she is an integral part of the method.  The client learns to become aware of habits of feeling, moving, sensing and thinking.  Goals of this method are increased ease and efficiency of movement, flexibility and quality of life.

 Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, was born in Russia then later emigrated to Palestine.  He lived and studied in Paris, France in the 1930’s and he earned his doctor of science in physics at the Sorbonne.   He also held degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering and served as research assistant in the French nuclear program of Frederic Joliot-Curie (Nobel Prize laureate).   Dr. Feldenkrais was also an avid athlete particularly in the field of martial arts.  In the 1940’s while working in England on anti-submarine research for the British Admiralty, he re-aggravated an old knee injury that he had first experienced at the age of thirteen.   Faced with the prospect of serious surgery and possible wheelchair confinement, he began to explore self-habilitation techniques and to use self-observation to learn more about his movements.  He began to improve and then walk again.  He was able to continue with his work and his lifelong athletic pursuit of judo as well.   He developed the Feldenkrais Method out of these studies and introduced it to North America in the 1960’s & 1970’s.

The Feldenkrais Method is done either through   “Functional Integration” (individual session) or “Awareness through Movement” (group session).  In Functional Integration the practitioner works with the client and uses a series of skilled manipulations and movements tailored to the client’s unique set of needs.  Through the process the client becomes more aware of how he or she moves and receives cues from the practitioner as to how to move in a more efficient way.  In “Awareness through Movement” a teacher leads a group of people through a sequence of movements from easy to more difficult.  These movements are based on everyday functional movements such as sitting, reaching or standing up or more complicated movements of joints or muscle for a range of abilities.  The group member explores his or her body while in motion.  Movements are pleasant and purposeful unlike traditional exercise which can be mechanical and lead to strain. 

The Feldenkrais Method can be beneficial for but not limited to:  flexibility, injury, chronic pain,  low back pain, neck & shoulder pain, arthritis, MS, Parkinson’s, anxiety, depression, senior movement, fibromyalgia.