The beginning is the most important part of the work.
― Plato, The Republic
During the summer of 1972, Moshe Feldenkrais taught a six-week course introducing his method to some of the leading people in humanistic psychology and bodywork in the United States. This program, his first go at training teachers of what would become known as Awareness Through Movement, was held at the Esalen Institute in California.
During the workshop, Moshe taught nearly 50 movement lessons and presented his educational approach to developing awareness and coordination. Thanks to the conversations with the participants over the five weeks at Esalen, Feldenkrais came up with what to call his classes.
This morning the members of the international Feldenkrais teachers’ peer study group, an AY a day, started listening to the nearly 50 lessons from the so-called Esalen Workshop. Any Feldenkrais teacher or trainee is welcome to join the group, which is available free of charge to all eligible colleagues, at 8:00 AM US Pacific time.
If you can’t attend or if you prefer to listen on your own, the audio recordings are also available for purchase from Feldenkrais Resources.
If you’re interested in what happened during that long-ago summer at Esalen, you might like to check out my interview with one of the attendees, Judith Stransky. You’ll find it here.
Alissa Goldring, who participated in one of Moshe’s workshops at Esalen in the 1970s, took the photo above. She gave the photographs and negatives to my friend and colleague Marcia Margolin, who passed them on to me.
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Responses:
Rachel Potasznik -August 03, 2023
Hi Larry, Your interview with Judith Stransky was fascinating, revealing and revelatory. So much history of the FM and of Moshe. What an amazing memory Ms. Stransky has (or a product of her prodigous note taking) Don't know if she is/was writing a book but her knowledge of the early days of the FM in Tel Aviv & the US would be a valuable addition to the Feldenkrais historical record. Thank you for this wonderful interview!
Heidi Carlsen -August 02, 2023
Thank you for passing this info on! I didn't know AYaDay was doing this.
Larry Goldfarb -August 02, 2023
Hi Rachel - Thanks for letting me know you found the interview with Judith so valualbe. My aim in talking to her and publishing the interview was to add to the historical record.
Larry Goldfarb -August 02, 2023
You're most welcome, Heidi. See you in the meetings!
Larry Goldfarb -August 03, 2023
Thanks, Mark!
Jerome Karzen -August 02, 2023
Judith Stransky's notes are really a mixture of the lessons and frequently NOT in order often within the lesson itself....and difficult to follow. David Bersin could not be a Feldenkrais practitioner prior to the Esalen workshop...as he was first a student in the SF training which started in 1975 in SF.
Kraemer Winslow -August 03, 2023
Thanks for this context, Larry. It's very helpful to have the perspective you provide here and to learn more about how Moshe's work came to be as we now see it. I never knew that the genesis of Awareness Through Movement was from those workshops. Cool!
Mark Hirschfield -August 03, 2023
You’re the man, Larry! Thx.
Larry Goldfarb -August 03, 2023
You're welcome, Kraemer. I'm glad you find the history and context valuable. I didn't know that the term ATM cam from this era in Moshe's life.
Larry Goldfarb -August 03, 2023
Hello Jerry - You're right. Judith's notes are not accurate. We all know how difficult it is to create accurates transcript without careful review and revision, and without having someone else check them. We need an updated and corrected version of these lessons both for historical and pedagogical reasons. The Feldenkrais Guild of North America gratned her and the other members of the Esalen course special status as Awareness Through Movement teachers.
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