Body Awareness as Healing Therapy

This article is part of the Legacy Feldenkrais Books Archive.

INTRO

Body Awareness as Healing Therapy: The Case of Nora is one of Moshe Feldenkrais’s most remarkable and personal works. In this book he documents his work with Nora, a woman recovering from a severe stroke that left her with profound difficulties in movement, perception, and communication.

Through careful observation, experimentation, and an extraordinary sensitivity to the learning process, Feldenkrais guides Nora as she gradually rediscovers lost abilities. The book provides a rare glimpse into the practical thinking behind the Feldenkrais Method® as it unfolds in real time.

This page offers an overview of the book along with an excerpt illustrating Feldenkrais’s unique approach to learning, awareness, and recovery.

Body Awareness as Healing Therapy: The Case of Nora is one of Moshe Feldenkrais’s most remarkable and personal works. In this book he documents his work with Nora, a woman recovering from a severe stroke that left her with profound difficulties in movement, perception, and communication.

Through careful observation, experimentation, and an extraordinary sensitivity to the learning process, Feldenkrais guides Nora as she gradually rediscovers lost abilities. The book provides a rare glimpse into the practical thinking behind the Feldenkrais Method® as it unfolds in real time.

This page offers an overview of the book along with an excerpt illustrating Feldenkrais’s unique approach to learning, awareness, and recovery.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Body Awareness as Healing Therapy tells the story of Nora, a woman whose life was profoundly altered by a cerebral hemorrhage. The stroke left her unable to perform many ordinary actions, including reading, writing, and coordinating her movements.

Moshe Feldenkrais worked with Nora over an extended period, exploring how movement, perception, and attention could be reorganized to restore function. Rather than treating the condition through conventional therapeutic methods, Feldenkrais approached the problem as a learning process.

The book reveals how small changes in awareness and movement organization can lead to major improvements in function. Readers follow Feldenkrais’s reasoning as he experiments, refines his understanding, and gradually discovers ways to help Nora regain independence.

KEY IDEAS IN THE BOOK

• Recovery depends on learning rather than mechanical correction.
• Movement, perception, and thought are deeply interconnected.
• Awareness allows new possibilities for action to emerge.
• Small changes in coordination can transform overall functioning.
• The nervous system retains a remarkable capacity for adaptation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword to the Second Edition — Walter Witryol, M.D.
Preface to the Second Edition — Elizabeth Beringer and David Zemach-Bersin

Preface
Introduction

Who Is Nora?
A Way Out of the Maze
Mistakes: Part of Learning
Improving vs. Curing
Talking without Words
Sensing to Understand
The Essence
Questions — and Avoiding Answering Them Fully

EXCERPT

Preface to the Second Edition

Originally published in 1977, Body Awareness as Healing Therapy: The Case of Nora has become a classic in the field of somatic education. The book tells the compelling story of a woman recovering from a cerebral hemorrhage that left her with severe physical and psychological difficulties.

Moshe Feldenkrais leads the reader step by step through the remarkable process of Nora’s recovery as she gradually relearns many of her lost abilities. Through a series of lessons and experiments, he helps her reorganize the way she senses herself and interacts with the world.

What makes the book especially fascinating is the way Feldenkrais describes his own thinking as the work progresses. He shares not only his successes but also the dead ends and uncertainties that arise along the way. The reader witnesses the unfolding of a creative investigative process in which Feldenkrais acts simultaneously as teacher, detective, and therapist.

CLOSING REFLECTION

Body Awareness as Healing Therapy remains one of the most vivid demonstrations of Feldenkrais’s approach to human learning and recovery. The story of Nora illustrates how awareness and movement can open unexpected pathways for healing and development.

For students of the Feldenkrais Method®, the book offers an intimate look at the curiosity, creativity, and patience that shaped Moshe Feldenkrais’s work.

Related Reading

About Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais
What is the Feldenkrais Method®
Research on the Feldenkrais Method®
Other books by Moshe Feldenkrais