Two Masters and a Nerd: Exploring at the Crossroads of the Feldenkrais Method and the Martial Arts

Registration now open!

Open for everyone. Taught in English without translation.

August 17–25, 2024

February 6–9, 2025

Why these seminars?

Pure curiosity!

We—Moti, Jeff and Roger—initiated this project many years ago. We wanted to take advantage of our differences to answer a question we shared: “How did Moshe Feldenkrais create such a unique body of work?” In these seminars we will share the results of our ongoing inquiry.

Moshe Feldenkrais’ advantage was his wide-ranging education in three traditions. These were:

• The Talmudic and Hasidic traditions of his Jewish heritage.
• His self-defense inventions in Palestine and his classical Judo training with some of the twentieth century’s great judo masters.
• His university education in engineering, mathematics, physics, and the philosophy of science.

Each of these traditions embody a multitude of choices for thinking and acting. Each demands discipline, humility and critical thinking. Each prescribes an ethical standpoint for creative ways of interacting with other people. The Feldenkrais Method® is his astonishing synthesis of know-how and understanding drawn from his education and experience.

At the crossroads of these traditions, we will search for, clarify, elaborate and practice the parallels between Feldenkrais’ martial arts experience and the Feldenkrais Method.

What will you take home?

• More creative questions than answers
• Interesting, as well as uncomfortable, perspectives about how to explore on the border between what you know and don’t know
• Tools for discovering new skills and new ideas
• Recognition that the Feldenkrais Method is more complex than you believed
• Unexpected, and often, puzzling experiences that make a difference for your health and wellbeing.
• Confidence that you have an innate ability to recognize good movement.
• Realization that your belief that you “don’t know how to do x, y or z” is not necessarily true, therefore…. you perceive, in yourself, and….

Enhanced trust in your capacity for learning!

If you are a Feldenkrais teacher you will take home:

• New skills that can immediately enhance your teaching of Feldenkrais® ATM and FI lessons
• New ideas relating the Feldenkrais Method to evolution, neuroscience, functional anatomy, biomechanics and developmental psychology
• Insight about how Moshe Feldenkrais developed his method
• Clear criterion for evaluating the effectiveness of ATM® and FI® lessons
• New capabilities for movement self-organization for Feldenkrais teachers and Martial Artists
• New perspectives of the martial arts
• Unexpected explanations of Feldenkrais lessons
• Opportunities to participate in an international learning network

What will you be doing?

• Awareness through Movement® group lessons (ATM)
• Watching demonstrations and practicing martial arts techniques to discover their relationships to Feldenkrais lessons
• Watch and practice Feldenkrais Functional Integration® lessons
• Attend lectures drawn from multiple scientific disciplines
• Small group discussions
• Question-and-answer sessions
• Reading suggestions
• Have some fun
• Be occasionally bored or puzzled
• Be confused and explore your way out
• Meet new people with different perspectives and different ways of learning

For Feldenkrais teachers and training students:

• Six additional hours of Functional Integration practice and supervision in the August 2024 seminar
• Individual supervision
• Two three-hour online sessions between seminars
• A four-day seminar in February 2025 dedicated to Functional Integration for participants of the August 2024 seminar or Feldenkrais teachers who have streamed the recordings from that seminar online.

For participants with no experience in the Feldenkrais Method, we will offer a free online introduction in June 2024.

Who Should Participate?

The first seminar in August is open to anyone curious about human development. We expect an international and interdisciplinary group including:

• Feldenkrais teachers
• Martial artists, athletes and coaches
• Movement scientists and other academics
• Physical therapists
• Psychologists and teachers.
• Many others

Seminar Themes in August 2024

We will begin by exploring individual action in Feldenkrais lessons triangulating between three sources of insight: Feldenkrais group and individual lessons, martial arts techniques and theory. Our goal is to have an honest inquiry process. You will recognize that martial arts are more about finesse than force; and that finesse is the foundation of the Feldenkrais Method.

In the first four days, we will progress from Individual Action by exploring many elements of Feldenkrais lessons that contribute to what Moshe Feldenkrais called Reversibility. This capacity for choice in how we move is the foundation of balance in everyday life and in all martial arts techniques.

After a one day break, the next two days, we will follow up by exploring how reversible balance enhances our sense of self-confidence. The last two days will be spent in discovering how our choices in moving and acting are the key that opens a door to constructive engagement with other people while maintaining our own flexibility. Therefore, enabling us to act wisely in challenging situations.

Seminar for Feldenkrais teachers and training students in February 2025

The four-day seminar in February 2025 dedicated to Functional Integration for participants of the August 2024 seminar or Feldenkrais teachers and training students. The curriculum for these four days will be built upon the experiences, observations and questions that emerge in the August seminar and the online sessions between the two seminars.

Please note:

• Register early.
• No video or audio recording by participants will be allowed. The seminars will be recorded on video for streaming at a later time. You will be able to opt-out of being seen in the video recording.
• Housing will not be provided. A list of options for housing and travel will be sent after registration.
• A list of participants will be sent to registered participants to enable cooperation for housing or travel.

Fees:

• Until March 15, 2024: € 1630 both seminars; € 1100 August seminar only
• From March 16, 2024: € 1700 both seminars; ; € 1170 August seminar only