The Feldenkrais Method as a Process for Improving Society

Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984), a man of spirit and action, the philosopher and the inventor of the method, the scientist and the sportsman, searched how to improve the overall human being and human society. From his point of view, improving human society can be done by improving each individual by him/herself. Four coexisting components, related to each other, are: feeling, sensing, thinking and movement. The first three components are very hard to change, but, changing the movement component most probably will initiate a change in the three other components. This is how the Feldenkrais method was created, a method which is based on the natural human movement. Unfortunately, although he was a scientist, Feldenkrais did not prove his method in his lifetime.

This lecture introduces research that was done in the Technion Institute in 2011-2012. The research involved how activity according to the Feldenkrais method, and according to a similar method developed by the researcher, is related to overall human being improvement. That is, as Feldenkrais assumed, improving the individual may improve society.