“Genius, of the magnitude possessed by Moshe Feldenkrais, defies categorization… He could function at the highest level in nuclear physics, as a martial artist, as an inventor, as a developer of top-secret counterespionage projects, and as one of the most prescient observers of neuroscience.”
Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais (1904 - 1984) was a distinguished mechanical and electrical engineer, physicist, inventor, author, and Judo master.
Born in the Russian Empire, Feldenkrais departed alone at the age of 14 for Palestine. Penniless, he supported himself as a day laborer and tutor, and then a cartographer for the British. Traveling to France to further his education, he earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering at the Sorbonne while conducting atomic fission research under the direction of the Nobel Prize winning chemists Irene and Frederic-Joliot Curie. Feldenkrais narrowly escaped the German invasion of Paris in 1940, and subsequently worked as a scientific officer for the British Admiralty in Scotland doing anti-submarine research during the war. In 1951 he became director of the Israeli Army’s Department of Electronics.
Aside from his professional accomplishments, Feldenkrais was a lifelong student of martial arts. In Paris, he was accepted as an elite student by Kano, the founder of Judo. Feldenkrais opened the first Judo studio in the West, and his keen insights into the principles of Judo strongly influenced the development of the Feldenkrais Method.
He had also loved playing soccer in his youth, and sustained serious, untreated knee injuries that would plague him as he got older. The pain was so disabling that he would sometimes spend weeks in bed. Knee surgery at that time was crude, and Feldenkrais resolved to solve the problem himself.
He spent years immersing himself in anatomy, neurophysiology, psychology and child development, and used himself as a human laboratory to study movement. In the process of healing himself, he discovered that habitual movement patterns can create or aggravate existing problems. Learning new patterns is accomplished by using directed attention, slow movement and specific movement sequences. The result is easier, more efficient movement that reduces wear and tear on the joints, relaxes chronically tight muscles, and helps people to regain and improve function for a more fulfilling life. Feldenkrais learned how to walk again without pain, but didn't stop at serving his own needs. Intrigued by the healing ability of the nervous system, he developed a system that would help countless others. By the mid-50s he was teaching full-time in Tel Aviv, and began training teachers in 1969.
Dr. Feldenkrais's clients included Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, anthropologist Margaret Mead, director Peter Brook, conductor and composer Igor Markevitch and violinist Yehudi Menuhin. But his work was not limited to improving the performance of high-functioning people. He was keenly interested in helping individuals severely limited by debilitating injuries and neurological issues like stroke, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis. In cases where conventional medicine could not help, Feldenkrais vastly improved the quality of life for children and adults, helping them learn or re-learn functions necessary for daily life like crawling, standing and walking.
Curious to read more? Start with Norman Doidge’s The Brain’s Way of Healing or Awareness Through Movement.
