Moshe Feldenkrais, (1904-1984) was a distinguished scientist and engineer whose career included work at the Curie Institute in Paris in the 1930's. He was also one of the first Westerners to receive a black belt in Judo and became a respected instructor. It was, however in the new field of somatic education that Feldenkrais achieved his greatest success.

He was born in what is now the Ukraine and at the age of 14 left to walk to Palestine where he continued his education while working as a labourer. He had always been fascinated by medicine but gained a bursary to study electrical and mechanical engineering in Paris.

An injury to his knee in his youth threatened him with severe disability. Despite being given little hope of ever walking normally, Feldenkrais refused surgery, and instead applied his extensive knowledge of anatomy, physiology, psychology and engineering, as well as his mastery of martial arts, to healing his own knee. A person who had walked across continents was not likely to accept such a prognosis

During the process he realised the vital importance of working with the whole body and indeed the whole self in order to achieve lasting, radical change. He developed his insights into what became the The Feldenkrais Method^®, and developed ways of teaching it equally effectively for individuals and groups. His pioneering work continues to influence disciplines such as child development, physical medicine, gerontology, the performing arts, education and psychology.

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