In an email that I sent to my list last week, I mentioned that I was going to talk about the importance of thinking of Moshe Feldenkrais as a Judo practitioner and teacher first—and that the brain sciences are very important but came later in his development.
I think it is important to show Moshe as an engineer and Judo teacher, guided by real needs and lived experience. He was NOT doing neuroscience as we know it currently. But he did draw from the brain science research of his day to guide his action.
Why does that matter?
Because you will often see ideas similar to this one online:
Feldenkrais is based on decades of research in physics, neuroscience, and biomechanics.
That gives people the idea that Moshe read books and research on biology and brain science and that he developed the work from that.
No!
It was the other way around.
He began developing his work first—and later used science to explain and expand on what he was doing.
He was already teaching, writing, and thinking deeply about martial arts and movement before he encountered the scientific ideas that he would talk about later.
Many of the ideas we could now call “Feldenkrais” came straight from his practical experience teaching Judo and self-defense.
Short timeline of his early publications:
1929 – Jiu-Jitsu and Self-Defense at age 25 in Israel (with a revised French version in 1934)
1942 – Practical Unarmed Combat
1944 – Judo: The Art of Defense and Attack
1949 – Body and Mature Behavior: A Study of Anxiety, Sex, Gravitation, and Learning—his most scientific and brain-based work.
His first 3 books on the martial arts are full of ideas that he developed into Awareness Through Movement. For example, from Practical Unarmed Combat:
"Real speed [in learning Judo] is gained by simple, smooth and well balanced movements... with calm repetition—especially in the beginning before you are absolutely sure that you have well assimilated the text."
Sound familiar?
Go slowly.
Do less than you know that you can do.
In Judo, it's related to seiryoku zenyo—using techniques that require the least amount of effort for the most effective learning and outcome.
It aligns with the Fechner–Weber law, which shows that to notice small changes—a just noticeable difference—we have to reduce effort. The nervous system can only detect subtle shifts when the overall intensity is low enough to make them stand out. (He would have encountered this in his engineering studies in France—if not earlier).
That’s just one example. Here are a few more ideas from his Judo practice that he later expanded with scientific support:
Reversibility of movement – Feldenkrais often spoke about reversibility. In Judo, a movement that can’t be reversed is dangerous. It makes you predictable and vulnerable to your opponent. Feldenkrais made reversibility a foundation in many of his sessions: every movement should be organized well enough so that it can be stopped or reversed at any moment. I do not think this was understood in science then or now. Though Moshe was likely aware of Russian neurophysiologist Nikolai Bernstein, who wrote about motor control and motor theory.
Learning through variation, not repetition – In Judo, one has to adapt constantly and Judo exercises reflect that. Feldenkrais adapted that idea from Judo by not practicing a movement over and over again, but by exploring it in different directions, speeds, and intentions.
And that was also a major focus of Moshe's "Awareness Through Movement." He designed hundreds of sessions to increase people's experiential base. This, to me, is where we see Moshe demonstrating neuroplasticity decades before it became a common idea.
Again, my point here is not to dismiss neuroscience.
It is incredibly important.
I love it and read it to clarify my thinking and action. And, yes, it most definitely influenced Feldenkrais (the man and the work).
You can see many of the scientific ideas in his 1949 book, Body and Mature Behavior. But that book wasn’t the start of his method. It was an attempt to explain and develop it further. He wanted to give his work a credible foundation using language the scientific world could understand.
So, Moshe was not working on abstract theories "inspired by neuroscience."
His ideas came from real, lived experience—on the mat, watching how people move, learn, and change.
And yes, he was relentless: If a scientific idea seemed useful, he’d test it in his sessions to see if it worked with his students.
And I had better stop now, before this becomes a book!
I hope that was useful.
More to come,
Ryan
