Moshe Feldenkrais

Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc. (1904 – 1984), developer of the Feldenkrais Method®, was an engineer, physicist, martial artist, and student of human development. Born in eastern Europe, he emigrated to Palestine as a young man. Later he studied at the Sorbonne and worked in the Joliot Curie laboratory in Paris during the 1930s. His interest in Ju-Jitsu brought him into contact with Professor Kano, who developed Judo. Dr. Feldenkrais was a co-founder of the Ju-Jitsu Club of Paris and was one of the first Europeans to earn a black belt in Judo. Escaping the Nazi advance, he went to Britain and worked on anti-submarine research for the Admiralty. In the 1940s, he began to develop his Method and wrote his first book on the subject. He authored many seminal books on martial arts, movement, learning, human consciousness, and somatic experience. Dr. Feldenkrais worked with people with a wide range of needs, from children with Cerebral Palsy to performers such as the violinist Yehudi Menuhin.