Why Become a Feldenkrais Practitioner?

Becoming a Feldenkrais Practitioner is one of the most rewarding things you will ever do. If you decide to become a Feldenkrais practitioner, many of your reasons will be unique to you—others will be shared with your colleagues.

Some people become Feldenkrais practitioners with the goal of having their own independent private practices. Many others want to use the Feldenkrais Method® in conjunction with other professions—because its principles are foundational to any profession that deals with human development, functional movement, and attentional resources. Practitioners have applied the principles of the Feldenkrais Method to a wide range of professions including physical and occupational therapy, rehabilitation medicine, psychology, education, physical education, massage therapy, art, ergonomics, gerontology, theater, martial arts, dance, music, and professions that support people's spiritual practice.

Here are some common responses to the question, “Why did you become a Feldenkrais practitioner?”

I love watching my clients grow, improve, and live their lives anew.

I’m drawn to caring for others… the Feldenkrais Method gives me a capacity to help people discover their innate ability to improve and heal. This work also allows me to have the kind of connection with my clients that I don’t experience anywhere else.

I’m a life-long learner, intrigued by embodied learning, neuroplasticity, and the human capacity for refinement. The Feldenkrais Method holds layer upon layer of fascination for me.

I’m always looking for a challenge and my Feldenkrais practice pushes me to learn and be creative every day. No matter how difficult the situation, I know how to find a way to use what’s happening now as the basis for what can happen next.

I wanted a flexible profession that provides the opportunity to be self-employed.

I love the way the Feldenkrais Method helped me transform some of my biggest challenges into my proudest memories.

I wanted to learn a skillset that would allow me to help a broad range of clients. Feldenkrais helps people in ways that no other work can.

From Jeff Haller:

In 1972, as a university athlete, I attended a class where my professor taught 15 minutes of Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement®—there was more implicit intelligence about learning and improving function in those 15 minutes than in anything I had been exposed to as an athlete. After completing my PhD in Transpersonal Psychology, I had multiple choices of professions. I could work as a psychologist. I could teach Aikido, Tai Chi or yoga. I could have gone on to chiropractic or physical therapy school.

But when I looked closely, I chose the Feldenkrais Method because it had the educational tools that were foundational for all the above practices. As a practitioner, every day I experience something new that enhances my life. Every day I am enriched by helping my clients to discover their own implicit ability to learn; helping them refine their own function, and enhancing the quality of their lives in ways that are simple yet profound.

Every Feldenkrais Practitioner takes their own unique path to becoming a practitioner.