Exercise Method Puts Therapy in Motion

Photo: Paul Goldman

What do anthropologist Margaret Mead, pro golfer Duffy Waldorf, actress Whoopi Goldberg, basketball player Julius Erving and first Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion all have in common?

All five have used Feldenkrais to either improve their game or cope with chronic pain.

(In fact, the famous picture of Ben-Gurion doing a headstand, at right, demonstrates what he learned through the Feldenkrais Method.)

The Feldenkrais Method is a type of somatic education that focuses on the nervous system and on how people move their bodies. The North American Feldenkrais Guild describes the Feldenkrais Method as "an owner's manual for your body."

Essentially, those who take Feldenkrais lessons learn to use their bodies more efficiently. In doing so, they can be free of chronic pain, expand their range of motion and improve physical performance. In fact, both practitioners I spoke with became certified instructors after using Feldenkrais as clients to recover from injuries.

"Lessons are exploratory, allowing you to experience different options for movement and find a way to move that is easiest for you. This 'sensory-motor' approach is similar to the way that we all learned to move as children," says Barbara Leverone, a practitioner in Sarasota, Fla.

Feldenkrais is an experiential type of learning -- as New Orleans-based Evelyn Rodos explains, "You can tell someone all day to stand up straight [but] if they don't know how, it won't help."

Sound Science

The Feldenkrais Method was developed by the late Moshe Feldenkrais.

Born in Slavuta (now the Ukraine), and trained as a mechanical and electrical engineer as well as a martial arts practitioner, Feldenkrais escaped during World War II and ended up in England. There he perfected the therapeutic work he had begun early in life in order to heal from a debilitating knee injury.

Putting his new methods to work, Feldenkrais regained his mobility, and in the 1950s he relocated to Israel and began to spread his teachings. He published numerous books on his system and trained hundreds of practitioners before he died in 1984.

Since then, numerous studies have shown the efficacy of the Feldenkrais Method for alleviating chronic pain, aiding multiple sclerosis patients with balance and even helping to heal eating disorders.