Moshé Feldenkrais

Biography

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Moshe Feldenkrais

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This article is part of the famous people in CAM series.

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Feldenkrais was born on May 6, 1904 in the Ukrainian town of Slavuta. In 1918, at the age of 13, he left his family, then living in Baronovich, Belarus, to emigrate to Palestine, the land of his Jewish ancestry. There he worked as a laborer before completing his high-school diploma in 1925. After graduation, he worked as a cartographer for the British survey office. During his time in Palestine he began his studies of self-defense, including Jiu jitsu. A soccer injury he incurred in 1929 would later figure into the development of his method.

Related Topics:
May 6 - 1904 - Ukrainian - Slavuta - Belarus - Jewish - Jiu jitsu

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During the period of 1930-1940, he lived in France where he earned his engineering degree from the Ecole des Travaux Publics des Paris, and later his Doctor of Science in physics at the Sorbonne. During this time he worked as a research assistant to nuclear chemist and Nobel Prize Laureate Frederic Joliot-Curie at the Radium Institute. In 1933, he met Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, and began studying Judo. In 1936, he became the first European to earn a black belt in Judo, and later gained his 2nd degree black belt in 1938. He was a founding member of the Jiu jitsu Club of Paris, the city's first. Frédéric, Irène Joliot-Curie, and Bertrand L. Goldschmidt took Judo lessons from him during their time together at the institute.

Related Topics:
Sorbonne - Nobel Prize - Frederic Joliot-Curie - Radium Institute - Jigoro Kano - Judo - Irène Joliot-Curie - Bertrand L. Goldschmidt

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Feldenkrais fled to Britain just as the Germans were about to arrive in Paris in 1940. Until 1946, he was a science officer in the Admiralty working on anti-submarine warfare. His work on improving sonar devices led to several patents. He also taught self-defense techniques to his fellow servicemen. On slippery submarine decks, he re-aggravated his knee injury. The degree of medical advancement at the time would have almost certainly meant that any surgery would result in a disappointing degree of functional impairment. This prompted him to intently explore and develop self-rehabilitation techniques which later evolved into the method. His discoveries led him to begin sharing with others (including colleague J. D. Bernal) through lectures, experimental classes, and one-on-one work with a few.

Related Topics:
Admiralty - Sonar - J. D. Bernal

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After leaving the Admiralty, he lived and worked in private industry in London. His self-rehabilitation enabled him to continue his Judo practice. From his position on the international Judo committee he began to scientifically study Judo, incorporating the knowledge he gained through his self-rehabilitation. In 1949 he published the first book on the Feldenkrais method, Body and Mature Behavior. During this period he studied the work of Gurdjieff, F. Matthias Alexander, and William Bates. He also traveled to Switzerland to study with Heinrich Jacoby.

Related Topics:
Gurdjieff - F. Matthias Alexander - William Bates - Heinrich Jacoby

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In 1951, he returned to the recently formed, modern state of Israel. After directing the Israeli Army Department of Electronics for several years, in 1954 he settled in Tel Aviv where he began to teach his method full-time. In 1957, he gave lessons in the Feldenkrais method to David Ben-Gurion, the Prime Minister of Israel.

Related Topics:
Israel - Tel Aviv - David Ben-Gurion

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Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and into the 1980s he presented the Feldenkrais method throughout Europe and in the North America (including a workshop at Esalen). He also began to train teachers in the method so they could, in-turn, present the work to others. He trained the first group of 12 teachers in the method from 1969-1971 in Tel Aviv. Over the course of four summers from 1975-1978, he trained 65 teachers in San Francisco. In 1980, 235 students began his teacher-training course in Amherst, Massachusetts, but unfortunately, he was not able to continue with them through the end due to illness in 1981.

Related Topics:
Esalen - Tel Aviv - San Francisco - Amherst, Massachusetts

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Feldenkrais died on July 1, 1984.

Related Topics:
July 1 - 1984

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