“Without your functional integration work on me, it would have been difficult to do the activities I love … like alpine skiing, tennis, x-country skiing and golf. We need more people like you out there to spread the good news of new methods of effective physical therapy.” – H.M. Stephenson, MD, FRCP (C)
Founder of the Feldenkrais Method
Moshe Feldenkrais (D.Sc.) (1904-1984), founder of the Feldenkrais Method, devised an approach to re-educate the body through increased awareness, which results in releasing the habitual habits that cause us pain and restricted movement.
In the 1940s, Feldenkrais was incapacitated by an old soccer injury to his knees. He was given the choice of living with debilitating pain for the rest or his life or undergoing surgery. But the surgery offered only a 50% chance of success and carried the risk of increased debility. He refused the surgery and took on the task of rehabilitating himself.
Already an internationally recognized physicist, engineer and martial artist, he began an intensive study of neurology, anatomy, biomechanics and movement. What he learned in the process of restoring his own health became the basis of what was, at that time, an entirely new approach to physical well-being – The Feldenkrais Method.