May 6: Feldenkrais

Moshe Pinchas Feldenkrais, founder of the Feldenkrais Method of body-and-consciousness work, was born in the Ukraine on this date in 1906. A physicist, engineer, and student of martial arts (jiu jitsu and judo, which he studied with Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo), Feldenkrais rehabilitated his own injured knee in the late 1940s and developed his methods of exercise and bodily awareness for health and well-being. His primary residence was in Israel (where he taught David Ben-Gurion how to stand on his head), but he also taught extensively in Europe and the United States. Feldenkrais was strongly influenced by such mystics, body workers and “alternative healers” as G.I. Gurdjieff, Elsa Gindler and William Bates, and he in turn created a method that has more than 2,000 teachers around the world.

“What I am after is more flexible minds, not just more flexible bodies. — Moshe Feldenkrais