Resources
Here are some useful books and websites about Feldenkrais®
Useful Websites
Selection of Websites for more information, free lessons and resources.
www.feldenkrais.ie Association of qualified practitioners in Ireland. Look here for practitioners in Ireland teaching Individual Lessons, Workshops, Classes.
www.feldenkrais.co.uk is the Feldenkrais Guild UK website.
Look here http://www.feldenkrais.co.uk/audio.php for a variety of free audio ATM lessons (15-20 minutes) by various UK practitioners.
Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheFeldenkraisGuildUk
https://feldenkraisaccess.com/store is the extensive website of David Zemach-Bersin, trainer and senior practitioner, includes YouTube videos.
https://feldenkraisresources.com/ Based in the US, the primary site for purchasing books, audio tapes and DVDs.
https://mindinmotion-online.com Larry Goldfarb’s website
https://www.uncommonsensing.com/free-resources/ Alan Questel’s website, subscribe and receive a free ATM lesson every month.
https://feldenkrais.com Feldenkrais Guild North America
https://feldenkrais-method.org website of the International Feldenkrais Federation, IFF with archives, research, collections.
http://openATM.org The Open ATM (Awareness Through Movement) Project is open to anyone and to access free ATM lessons. Recommended for those who have some prior experience of ATM lessons with a teacher, this can provide valuable practice at home.
Books By Moshé Feldenkrais
Summaries thanks to Adam Cole
Awareness Through Movement
This is the first ‘go-to’ book which Feldenkrais wrote for the general public to become better acquainted with his Method.
It begins with some general explanations of the ideas behind his work. The rest contains twelve lessons which are designed to be undertaken by the reader and which cover topics as varied as ‘what is Good Posture’ and the well-known lesson ‘The Pelvic Clock’.
Intended for the average reader, the description of the Feldenkrais Method is fairly concise. In terms of understanding the Method, reading the book will be no substitute for doing the work and experiencing it.
While these classical lessons will produce extraordinary results if done correctly, it may be difficult for an untrained reader to go through the steps in the right mindset and with the correct attention to detail.
Body and Mature Behaviour
A Study of Anxiety, Sex, Gravitation and Learning.
Written as Feldenkrais was beginning to lay the groundwork for his Method, this book addresses the science behind self-understanding. Making the argument that our habits prevent us from fully maturing, he brings in ideas from physics, anatomy, developmental psychology and education to explain how we best can overcome habits and move towards the true maturity which is our birthright as humans.
Feldenkrais demonstrates his familiarity with a wide variety of subjects here and integrates them expertly to illustrate his thinking. The writing is well-informed and research on subjects such as neuroplasticity has since emerged over the last 70 years to support Feldenkrais’ well-defined ideas.
The case of Nora
The Feldenkrais Method is often used to provide therapeutic results to enable people to learn how to function with injury, pain and organisational challenges such as Cerebral Palsy.
This book documents Feldenkrais’ work with Nora, a woman who had suffered a severe stroke and lost her neuromuscular coordination, including the ability to read and write. Readers have the opportunity to see how Feldenkrais works, often in stark contrast to other methods of therapy and rehabilitation.
Feldenkrais is making the point that the benefits of somatic awareness involves the entirety of the self, mind and emotional state and can have powerful beneficial effects on those who feel that their body is not serving them well.
Higher Judo - Ground Work
Feldenkrais was one of the first Westerners to receive a black belt in Judo. Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, had high regard for Feldenkrais’ understanding of his work and looked to him to further its cause in Europe.
This book was Feldenkrais’ attempt to elucidate the art of Judo in a way that would make sense to Westerners.
Feldenkrais used many ideas from Judo to develop his Method, and this book is a document of where he was in that process at the time. Those interested in Judo will find an excellent teacher here, someone who looks below the surface of the art into its potential for self-development.
The Potent Self
A Study of Spontaneity and Compulsion.
This is a discussion of the limits of our current means of educating ourselves, the consequences of those limitations in terms of our happiness, and a better way forward. The way forward is the kind of self-development cultivated by a practice of the Feldenkrais Method. Feldenkrais explains that awareness of previously unrecognised patterns, discovered through slow, gentle and curious movement will have ramifications that empower the whole self – body, mind, and interactions with others.
This book contains little-to-no description of the Feldenkrais Method as taught in workshops or through one-on-one sessions with Practitioners. Instead, it seeks to make clear to the reader Feldenkrais’ reasons for developing his Method, and the theoretical groundwork by which he came to his conclusions. Feldenkrais arguments are lucid and convincing, and many of these ideas have been espoused for centuries in martial arts and meditation, and are currently borne out in recent research.
The Elusive Obvious
The Convergence of Movement, Neuroplasticity and Health.
In his final book, written over many years, Feldenkrais embraces his multidisciplinary approach to sum up his thinking for the reader. He brings together methodology and method in an explanation of what he has been doing, and what the way forward must be. It’s a marvellous summary of his ideas of his focused approach to somatic wellness, brought more up-to-date with experience and time.
more books on my shelf
Books on my shelf
The Master Moves. Transcriptions of workshop recordings by Moshe Feldenkrais.
Awareness Heals. Steven Shafarman. Practical handbook
A guide to Awareness Through Movement. Chava Shelhav. 18 lessons, practical handbook
The Brain’s Way of Healing. Norman Doidge. With 2 chapters on the Feldenkrais Method
Soft Wired. Science of Brain Plasticity. Michael Merzenich
Moshé Feldenkrais. Der Mensch hinter der Methode. Biography. Christian Buckard
Feldenkrais im Überblick. Roger Russell (editor) and others.
Methodik & Praxis der Feldenkrais Arbeit. Elisabet Bloom
Feldenkrais for Actors. Victoria Worsley
Soft Wired. Science of Brain Plasticity. Michael Merzenich
Die Entfaltung des Menschen. The work of Heinrich Jacoby. Rudolf Weber
Moshé Feldenkrais und Heinrich Jacoby. Norbert Klinkenberg
The Feldenkrais Method. Yochanan Rywerant
Books on Children & Babies
Child Space. Infant Development based on the Feldenkrais Method. Chava Shelhav
Kids beyond Limits. Anat Baniel
Diary of a Baby. What your child sees, feels and experiences. Daniel N.Stern
Seeing Babies with new eyes. Magda Gerber
Unfolding of Infants’ Natural Gross Motor Development. Emmi Pikler
A Dynamic Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action (Cognitive Psychology). Esther Thelen
Testimonials
What People Are Saying
“The lessons on Saturday were very beneficial to me, I’m so much freer, less pain and generally more energised and focussed.”
“Susanne I really enjoyed today … it was so thorough in every way. What you described made total sense … I’ve been watching myself and reeducating my body – even as I sit typing now I’m looking at how I am sitting … letting go of the rigidity and inviting a “letting -go”
“…self-knowledge through awareness is the goal of reeducation. As we become aware of what we are doing in fact, and not what we say or think we are doing, the way to improvement is wide open to us.”