What is the Feldenkrais Method®?

The Feldenkrais Method® developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais is considered an educational system that uses movement to teach and learn awareness of oneself and to improve overall function. The method employs a manipulative and a group technique. The manipulative technique, also called "Functional Integration", is working with the individual and customizes its approach to fit the particular need of the person. The group technique, also called "Awareness through Movement" is helping to produce the effect of Functional Integration in a larger group pf people. 


Who was Moshe Feldenkrais?

Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais was a Russian born physicist, mechanical engineer, educator and had a black belt  in the Japanese martial art of judo. In the early 1940's Moshe Feldenkrais found himself having difficulties walking due to a serious injury. He began to study the relationship between bodily movement and healing, feeling, thinking and learning. Not only did he restore his ability to walk again, he also made revolutionary discoveries, which led to the development of his method. In the early 1960's, a decade after developing and testing his theories, which were the make-up of the Feldenkrais Method®, he began to devote himself to applying his ideas to help people with a variety of problems and disabilities.


How does the Feldenkrais Method® differ from other Methods?

Unlike some forms of movement instructions, like yoga or dance classes, where someone visually demonstrates the movements, Feldenkrais's  ATM rely exclusively on auditory means of communication. Through this form of communication Feldenkrais gives the student the freedom to make their own choice of how to move, which enables people to live the way they want to. Feldenkrais's belief was that the most effective way to freedom of choice is self-awareness, because it increases the number of options available.


What are some of the underlying principles of the Feldnkrais Method®?

-  A brain cannot think without motor function
-  If you want to improve your movements you need awareness of it.
-  if you keep the movements slow and small you ll gain awareness, which is the key to learning
-  make sure you reduce the effort 

- by differentiating possible sensory distinctions between movements, our brain starts creating new pathways.