Note: Beth Rubenstein originally wrote the following article for the LA chapter of the MS Society.

Working with People with Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis has left its indelible mark on my family. My paternal uncle, Benjamin (for whom I am named) was diagnosed and died of it in the 1930's. In the 50s, the disease took my father two weeks after my fourth birthday. In 1986, it claimed the life of my sister, Susan. 

My family has been involved with the MS Society for as long as I can remember. As a small boy, my brother Eli walked house to house with the little box collecting for the MS “hope chest.” As a child, my friends and I charged money for our backyard shows and donated the proceeds. Today, my brother and I remain involved. I write and speak about MS to whoever will listen. My daughters and I have participated in the MS walk every year since they were born. 

When I was a young physical...

David Zemach-Bersin talks with Ira Feinstein about the importance of our shoulders, parasympathetic organization, and his upcoming course, Shoulder Rescue.

Ira: I’m curious why you decided to teach a new series focused on the shoulders. You’ve taught classes about shoulders before; what made you want to revisit this subject?

David: After I taught my previous course, I felt a sense of incompleteness around the subject. Our shoulders are a very important area. One of the things that has always interested me is the way in which they are connected to our involuntary nervous system. The rising and pulling up of our shoulders is directly connected to the sympathetic response of our involuntary nervous system to stress, anxiety, and fear and is often the easiest signal to observe that somebody has a history of anxiety and fear.

In my 50-plus years as a Feldenkrais Practitioner, nearly everyone I have seen maintains a high level of unnecessary contraction in their...

by Ira Feinstein, MFA

I've lived with chronic pain for over two decades. The pain isn't wholly debilitating: I can go on long walks, ride a bicycle, and practice gentle yoga. But I avoid hikes with steep elevation changes. I move two large pillows around the house to use wherever I sit. And it's been a long time since I engaged in more intense exercises, like running. 

For fifteen years, I focused on curing my chronic pain. To me, 'curing' the pain meant being able to return to the bench-pressing, soccer-playing athlete I was before my back and arms started hurting. As my health insurance and budget allowed, I sought help from chiropractors, osteopaths, allopathic doctors, acupuncturists, massage therapists, and physical therapists. At best, the pain would abate temporarily, but I remained undeterred. I'd always thought that 'cure' was such a powerful word—reassuring in its definitiveness. "Once, I had this problem. Now, I don't," had a nice ring. But 'cure' proved...

by David Zemach-Bersin 

While developing a series of Feldenkrais classes to help people improve the health of their joints, I've been remembering my teacher, Dr. Moshe  Feldenkrais. He had been a scientist, living in London and working in the highest level of physics, when he found himself unable to walk due to excruciating pain in his knee joints. Feldenkrais went to respected doctors hoping that they could help him but learned that due to the extent and type of damage in his knee joints, medical help was not likely. Faced with the prospect of having to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life, Feldenkrais turned his attention to the project of finding a solution to his painful predicament. He was determined, curious, and personally motivated as he focused on his studies.

With a keen scientific mind, Feldenkrais explored the fields of neuroscience, psychology, infant motor development, and physiology and made a series of discoveries about how our...

Ira Feinstein: How did you find out about the Feldenkrais Method?

Garet Newell: I was a graduate student at New York University in the Department of Dance, and Awareness Through Movement by Moshe Feldenkrais was one of our required reading books. This was in the mid-‘70s, and there were no teachers of the Feldenkrais Method in New York. So, I didn't have a chance to experience it, but I was impressed by what I read in the book.

Ira: What led you to become a practitioner?

Garet: After I finished my MA, I moved to San Francisco because I had done some courses with Anna Halprin, a dance and performance innovator, and I wanted to work with her. One night, I was at a meditation group I belonged to, and someone asked me if I’d met the Feldenkrais teacher who was there. I made a beeline for him and it was Jerry Karzen, a student in Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais’ first professional training in the United States.

I’d been having neck problems as a result of an...

Chronic knee pain was one of the catalysts in the development of the Feldenkrais Method. Dr. Feldenkrais, a Physicist, Engineer, and Judo Master, had suffered a series of injuries that had resulted in a painful knee problem that threatened his ability to walk. Hoping to avoid surgery -which at that time was more invasive and less sophisticated than it is today- Dr. Feldenkrais began to study how posture and movement are organized in the brain. He found that it is possible for us to engage our own neuroplasticity to benefit our body and created a process of sensory-motor learning that allows for new neural connections and results in dramatically better musculoskeletal organization and efficiency. Thanks to his studies and discoveries, Dr. Feldenkrais was able to avoid surgery and walk for the rest of his life. Fortunately, he continued his explorations and developed an approach that enriches and helps us today.

In Intelligent Knees for Better Walking...

Ira Feinstein: Thanks for talking with me today, Juniper. I'm excited to learn more about your path to becoming a Feldenkrais Practitioner. How did you find out about the Feldenkrais Method?

Juniper Perlis: The first time I heard about the Feldenkrais Method, I was getting my master's in fine art, and a guest practitioner taught a class. I didn't enjoy it, and afterward, it left my mind. Fast-forward six years, and I was working as a nanny for two artists. One day, working in the studio, I spent hours peeling paint, when I got frustrated and moved in such a way that I dislocated a rib. I was instantly in excruciating pain.  It changed the course of my life.

It didn't take long before the pain got worse. I had pain radiating into my hands, facial pain, and other weird symptoms that didn't seem related. I saw nerve doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, Reiki practitioners, pain management specialists, Alexander practitioners, everything under the sun....

Ira Feinstein: How did you find out about the Feldenkrais Method?

Maggy Burrowes: I was living in a small town on the south coast of the UK called Brighton. It's an adventurous, very forward-thinking little town. I'd been taking various classes at the natural health center for a long time when a Feldenkrais workshop was offered by Garet Newell, who had come to the UK with the intention of running a training and moved into the neighborhood. At the time, I'd never heard of Feldenkrais, but I thought, well, I'm just going to try it out. 

I have hypermobility issues, and it is easy for me to injure myself when moving too enthusiastically. I'd been dealing with a long-running lower back issue that manifested mainly as intermittent sciatica. Whenever it came on, I would limp around for a week or so until it got better. As luck would have it, and I do think it was luck, I had an attack the night before the Feldenkrais workshop. So I limped in on that first day and...