What is the Feldenkrais Method?
The Feldenkrais Method aims to reorganize the connections between mind and body, thereby enhancing physical movement and psychological well-being. In this sense, this powerful method shares similarities with yoga, including Kundalini yoga.
Developed in the mid-20th century by Israeli Moshé Feldenkrais (1904–1984), the Feldenkrais method seeks to improve disrupted or weak connections between the motor functions of the body and the mind, enhancing both physical movement quality and overall well-being. Naturally, we experience ourselves through the body; thus, strengthening the connection between body and mind intensifies our overall experience of the world.
David Gorski of the Feldenkrais Guild of North America claims that the method “reorganizes connections between the brain and body, profoundly affecting physical movement and daily psychological states.” Experienced practitioners also suggest that Feldenkrais can benefit individuals with various conditions, including children with autism and people with multiple sclerosis, by enabling them to rediscover their physical and mental capacities.
How is the Feldenkrais method related to Yoga or Kundalini Yoga?
Feldenkrais shares a core similarity with yoga and Kundalini yoga in creating a space—both physical and internal—for connecting deeply with oneself. Yoga, like Feldenkrais, opens a gateway to enhanced awareness through careful observation and mindful movement, creating a transformative inner experience. This internal space is central in Kundalini yoga, which strongly emphasizes heightened internal awareness.
Everything we are emerges at the moment when our conscious self meets the world. This meeting point is at the heart of every mindful yoga practice and also central to the Feldenkrais method. In this regard, Feldenkrais creates a foundation of mindful awareness and conscious experience.
Yoga primarily utilizes two methods to establish this conscious connection. The first is mindfulness: directing concentration and attention to sensations occurring in the body. This mindful awareness is remarkably similar to the Feldenkrais approach and fosters deeper self-understanding.
The second method, particularly prominent in Kundalini yoga, involves awakening powerful energies within the body—intensity that stimulates and activates awareness through physical sensation and energetic experience. Techniques like bandhas and mudras in Kundalini Yoga intensify this energetic awakening, closely linking them to the tantric tradition of invoking consciousness through powerful sensations.
While the energy-focused method of Kundalini Yoga differs from Feldenkrais, the Feldenkrais method provides an essential foundation that helps practitioners better integrate these powerful experiences. In this sense, Feldenkrais becomes a supportive partner to yoga, grounding the experience in mindful awareness.
Thus, Feldenkrais is an excellent partner to yoga—a foundation for mindful awareness.