Moshe FELDENKRAIS
1904-1984
Moshe Feldenkrais was
born in Russia in 1904. At the age of 14 Feldenkrais left his
home and walked across Europe, to the Land of Israel.
He began to develop an interest
in the marshal art and self-defense. He studied Jiu-Jitsu and
became quite good at it. In the mid 1920’s he published in
Hebrew his first book called “Jiu-Jitsu and Self-Defense.”
Feldenkrais began his formal education in Tel-aviv. In 1933
with a high school diploma and his book on Jiu-Jitsu,
Feldenkrais left Israel for France. There he earned his
doctorate from the Sorbonee in engineering and applied
physics. He began working with the
Nobel Prize winner Joiliot Curie,
he assisted in early nuclear research.
Dr. Feldenkrais became a
highly respected and well-known physicist.
In Paris Feldenkrais
also met Jigaro Kano, the creator of modern Judo, and
Feldenkrais became one of the first Europeans to earn a Black
Belt in Judo (1936) and to introduce Judo in the Western world
through his teaching and books on the subject. During this
period the Japanese Embassy provided all the physical support
Feldenkrais needed.
After suffering
crippling knee injuries, Feldenkrais used his own body as his
own laboratory and combine his knowledge with his deep
curiosity about biology, neurology, prenatal development,
dynamic and systems theory. He taught himself to walk again
and in the process developed an extraordinary way for
approaching to the power of the central nervous system to
improve human functioning.
Feldenkrais studied
intensively in psychology, neurophysiology, and other
health-related disciplines, and in 1949 he returned to Israel
where he continued to integrate and improve his ideas into the
Feldenkrais Method.
During the 1970’s Dr.
Feldenkrais spent most of his time in the United States. He
worked with the famous anthropologist Margaret Mead
as well as the great basket ball player, Julius Irving
“Dr. J.” He also worked
with composer
Yehudi Menuhin, director actor Peter Brook
and
David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of the
state of Israel.
Dr Feldenkrais trained
personally three groups of people to be teachers in the
Feldenkrais Method. The first group in 1969, was trained in
Tel Aviv,13 people. The second group graduated 60 teachers in
the USA in 1977.
In 1983 Feldenkrais managed to train his
third group of teachers, 250 in number. These teachers under
Dr. Feldenkrais’ instruction, founded the Feldenkrais Guild
in the USA. There are now over 5500 teachers of the
Feldenkrais Method. These teachers are spread out all over
Europe, North America, Israel and Australia. Dr Moshe
Feldenkrais died peacefully at the age of 80, in Tel-Aviv,
Israel.
Rinat
Levin Chervin
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David Ben Gurion |
Dr. Feldenkrais and his
students in the trainning in the USA |
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