A big part of Feldenkrais history is a collection of lessons known as the "Alexander Yanai sessions." You may sometimes hear Feldenkrais practitioners refer to them simply as AY.
The Alexander Yanai sessions are a large collection of group lessons taught by Moshe Feldenkrais starting in the 1950s. It was a very fertile and experimental period in the development of his work.
Some of the sessions were taught live by Moshe. But many were recorded on reel-to-reel tapes, which was cutting-edge technology at the time. And when you read the transcripts of him teaching, you can sometimes feel how alive the situation was. Moshe was watching. He was noticing. He was testing ideas.
To me, these sessions are fascinating because they show Moshe Feldenkrais actively developing his ideas. This was a time before Moshe was teaching other people how to “do Feldenkrais” in any formal way. He was still figuring it out for himself. He was experimenting with how to teach, what to teach, and how people responded to different movement ideas and instructions.
To me, that makes the Alexander Yanai sessions even more valuable. They are not always polished, finished lessons.They are working sessions exploring ideas.
We have access to the sessions now because after Moshe's death the recordings were transcribed, translated, and published.
That is part of what makes the work so interesting.
The lesson was not simply about doing the “right” movement. It was about discovering something through the process of paying attention, sensing, trying, adjusting, and learning.
They are not museum pieces.
They are not just old material.
They are a record of a living, experimental process.
Many of the ideas in these lessons later became more familiar parts of his workshops and trainings. You can often find early versions of movements, themes, and teaching strategies that were later refined into other lessons.
That is one reason I keep returning to them.
They give me a glimpse into how Moshe was thinking, teaching, testing, and developing his work in real time.
And for anyone interested in Feldenkrais, movement, learning, or the history of somatic education, the Alexander Yanai sessions are a rich and important source. There are times in my life whe I do several a day, as I spoke about in my post on Alexander Yanai deep dives.
Peace!
