Thinking and Doing

In 1929, a young Moshe Feldenkrais published his Hebrew translation of the book, The Practice of Autosuggestion by the Method of Émile Coué, originally published in English by C. Harry Brooks. Professor Hugo Bergman, first rector of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, wrote the foreword. Reading it many years after it was published singles out the uniqueness of the young translator. Moshe Feldenkrais not only translated the book, but composed and added his own observations in the two chapters in this book. For many years, Autosuggestion was a reference point for Moshe as he continued to develop his work. He mentioned Coué in various aspects in his later publications, among them his two books, Body and Mature Behavior (1947), and Improving Abilities (Awareness Through Movement) (1967). These two books are considered milestones in the development of the Feldenkrais Method.

"As addressed within Coués work and in Feldenkrais's commentary, one must begin by understanding that fundamentally in matters of self-control and self-direction Imagination trumps matters of self-control and self-direction. Imagination trumps Will. By locating the self-image as a product of self-imagining we can bypass notions of the unconscious and discern how Feldenkrais acquired one of the key pillars of his life's work." -Dennis Leri, Feldenkrais Trainer