Biography

Born in the Russian Empire, Feldenkrais departed alone at the age of 14 for Palestine. 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. He 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 worked to develop a system that would help countless others. The Feldenkrais method was developed from this healing process. By the mid-50s he was teaching full-time in Tel Aviv, and began training teachers in 1969. 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.