You’ve heard of yoga and Pilates. But what about Feldenkrais?

Moshe Feldenkrais, an engineer and martial artist, developed the fitness method named for him nearly 60 years ago. After a serious knee injury, Feldenkrais discovered a rehabilitation program to heal his body and avoid surgery.

“The Feldenkrais Method is a way of improving one’s movement to increase comfort and ability” to move, said Craig Trompeter, co-founder of the Feldenkrais Center of Chicago in Rogers Park. “[It’s] an educational system to help people move more efficiently, with greater ease and simplicity.”

Like Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais is extremely popular among performing artists and celebrities such as Willie Nelson, Whoopi Goldberg and Yo-Yo Ma.

Trompeter, who is also a professional cellist, teaches many artists. But everyone can benefit from Feldenkrais, he said. It helps someone who can’t fall asleep at night to relax the mind and muscles and the person with back pain to relearn twists and turns. It even helps people who love to run but can’t because of a leg injury gradually retrain muscles. Click here to continue reading…