Alexander Yanai Lessons (Volume 5) [5]

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The Feldenkrais Method® Awareness Through Movement® Lessons Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais at

Alexander Yanai Volume Five, Part A Lessons #201 - 225

Translated by Anat Baniel Edited by Ellen Soloway

© Copyright December 1997 AH rights reserved by and to the International Feldenkrais® Federation, Paris, France in cooperation with The Feldenkrais Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel. © Copyright Decembre 1997 Tous droits d'adaptation, de traduction et de reproduction reserves par et pour 1'International Feldenkrais Federation, 30 rue Monsieur le Prince, 75006 Paris, France

This project is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais

•1904 -1984*

j_ he International Feldenkrais Federation wishes to acknowledge Michel Silice-Feldenkrais, on behalf of The Feldenkrais Institute for his help and consideration.

]_ he members of the International Feldenkrais community extend a special thanks to Franqois Combeau, former President; Cliff Smyth, President; and the Board of Directors of the International Feldenkrais Federation for making this project possible.

Introduction

From the early 1950's to late 1970's, Moshe Feldenkrais taught eight (8) weekly public Awareness Through Movement classes in Tel Aviv. The street where these classes took place was named after Alexander Yanai, and this collection of lessons have taken on the same name. Moshe taught in Hebrew and he recorded his lessons. Once Moshe created a new lesson, he taught it to one of the Alexander Yanai groups and recorded it. Then he used the recorded lesson to teach the following group. If he thought any changes were necessary, he re-recorded the lesson over the previous one and then used it to teach the next group. He continued this process until he felt he had the lesson exactly as he wanted it. Over a period of 25 years, Moshe recorded close to 600 ATM lessons in this manner and covered an astounding range of possible human functions. He considered every lesson a masterpiece that stands in its own right. Making these lessons available to the community of Feldenkrais practitioners/teachers is a monumental event. For years, the tapes of these lessons lay in the archives of the Feldenkrais Institute in Tel Aviv. The lessons have, to some extent, found their way into Feldenkrais Trainings, from the notes of those students - later to become trainers - who were students of Moshe during those years. Although the rights to publication of the Alexander Yanai lessons have been much sought after for years, Mchel Silice-Feldenkrais, Moshe's nephew and Director of the Feldenkrais Institute, Tel Aviv, has only recently given his approval to their publication. He has chosen the International Feldenkrais Federation (IFF) for this task to insure that these unique documents will be available worldwide to all practitioners at a reasonable cost. With Anat Baniel as translator for this series, the IFF has found an experienced trainer and close associate of Moshe, to guarantee not only accurate translation but the benefits of Anat's own lively sense of language as well. The printed format of the lessons is designed to enable the reader to distinguish easily between basic movements, their variation and elaboration, and comments. This gives the practitioner an opportunity to scan the lessons quickly and obtain an overview of their content. The timing of these lessons is important. All of the ATM's were taught within a one-hour framework, and are therefore ideal for presentation in public classes and workshops. Though some of these lessons may seem difficult, the purpose of doing them is for information and learning, not achieving and accomplishing specific movements. This project is managed by the IFF through the generosity of Michel Silice-Feldenkrais and The Feldenkrais Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel. Our appreciation is given to all those who have helped bring these lessons into the hands of Feldenkrais practitioners and teachers around the world. •I* •»• •>