Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais
Dr Moshé Feldenkrais, born in Russia in 1904, was a physicist for the first half of his life. Together with Irène Joliot-Curie, he carried out the first nuclear fission in France. Since his youth he has practised Jiu-Jitsu and other sports and thus developed an above-average interest in efficient movement.
Motivated by his knee injury, he began experimenting with ways to help people learn better uses of their innate abilities. This led him to revolutionary discoveries about the connections between our physical movement and the way we think, feel and act.
Over decades of research, he developed two interconnected pathways to improve body awareness, which he called "Awareness Through Movement®" and "Functional Integration®".
How Feldenkrais works
Everything we do in the world takes place in motion, which is directly linked to our habits and thereby influences our thinking. With help of a new movement organisation a direct access to the nervous system can be found. This leads to a so-called neuro-muscular reorganization: After a Feldenkrais lesson, you move differently than before, your body feels lighter and your movements are smoother. At the same time, attention is trained and what was previously done in a certain way as a matter of course is increasingly questioned. This applies to movements as well as to thought structures in everyday life. New knowledge can be applied directly to life.
“Learning is healthier than being a patient or even being cured. Life is not a thing but a process. But processes work well when there are many ways to influence them. In order to do what we want, we need more ways than just the one we know—however good it may be in itself.” (Moshé Feldenkrais)
Benefits of Feldenkrais
Being aware of our body and its movement processes helps us to be aware of ourselves. With this approach, the Feldenkrais Method enables us to, among other things:
- enjoy physical and mental mobility into old age
- experience more lightness and suppleness in our movements
- minimize pain and restricted mobility
- increase our emotional and physical well-being
- let go of our work-related stress, to relax better
- better develop our sporting or artistic skills
- regain spontaneity, creativity and childlike curiosity
"To know oneself seems to me the most important thing a human being can do for oneself." (Moshe Feldenkrais)