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 Moshe
Feldenkrais, D.Sc. (1904-1984), Russian-born
but emigrating to Israel, France, and eventually the
US, fits anybody’s definition of a Renaissance
man. A top physicist working closely with Nobel Laureate
Joliot-Curie in Paris on early nuclear research. A mechanical
and electrical engineer trained at L’École
Speciale des Travaux Publiques. One of Europe’s
earliest Judo black belts, chosen by the creator of
modern Judo (Kigaro Kano) to found the first Judo club
in the West. A student of disciplines ranging from childhood
development and psychology to Eastern medicine and philosophy,
linguistics, systems theory, neurophysiology, and the
emerging science of biomechanics.
A soccer injury that crippled his knee became the catalyst
for developing
the method that carries his name when surgery promised
less than 100
percent recovery. To heal, he used himself as a guinea
pig and observed
how babies with whom his pediatrician wife was working
first figured
out from sensory feedback how to move. Along with teaching
himself
to walk again, he extrapolated this system of coordinating
mind and body
to help other people function better.
Dr. Feldenkrais himself trained some 300 practitioners
of his method,
mostly in the US. Since the genius of his discoveries
was to change
the neuromuscular system by changing the firing of the
brain, his
findings continue to be confirmed by the latest research
in fields
such as neuroscience and dynamic systems theory.
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