Remembering Yochanan Rywerant: A Student’s Farewell to a Feldenkrais Master

Article Summary

Moti Nativ remembers studying with Yochanan Rywerant during the final two years of the distinguished Feldenkrais trainer’s life. Through scenes from the training room and hospital, he portrays a demanding, curious, humorous, and fiercely independent teacher whose dedication remained centered on Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais and the practical laws underlying the Method.

Yochanan Rywerant began learning the Method from Dr. Feldenkrais in 1952, when I was two years old. Many people learned from and followed Yochanan for decades. I was lucky to have the opportunity to become Yochanan’s student and friend during the last two years of his life.

My First Meeting With Yochanan

by Moti Nativ

Since my first contact with the Feldenkrais Method® in 1986, I had known about Yochanan Rywerant. Since 1994, when I became an Israeli Feldenkrais practitioner, I had heard interesting stories about him from my colleagues but had rarely encountered him.

After I retired from my position with the government, I continued my research about Dr. Feldenkrais and wanted to interview Yochanan as part of that research. We met in a coffee and bookshop near his home in Tel Aviv. I was surprised by his unique knowledge and impressed by his attitude.

After this first real meeting with Yochanan, I had no doubt that I wanted to learn from him.

Becoming Yochanan’s Last Accepted Student

Unfortunately, the training had already started, and Yochanan’s assistants refused my request to join. They said that I had missed too much material.

I dared to call Yochanan and ask his permission to enter the training. After my second request and another refusal, I was about to let go. Then I attended Yochanan’s advanced training in December 2008 and met with him privately a few more times. Somehow, he softened, and before the beginning of the second year, he sent me a “yes” through his assistants.

I was the last student to be accepted into his training.

A Demanding and Dedicated Teacher

I will share my feelings about Yochanan and his teaching with you. After experiencing many great trainers of the Feldenkrais Method, I found Yochanan’s teaching to be the one that fit me.

My first feeling was that Yochanan’s teaching style was very similar to that of the martial arts teachers I had met. Yochanan was tough and stubborn, an example of dedication to the way and concepts of his teacher, Dr. Feldenkrais.

I asked myself why a master, 86 years old, never discussed himself, every day preferring to talk about Feldenkrais. He would repeat every day, “Feldenkrais thought about this,” or, “You see, this is Feldenkrais.”

For those who did not learn from Yochanan, imagine an old guy walking around the room from one student to another, nonstop, responding to questions, showing and explaining over and over again. Not a young man—never resting, even after teaching for hours, not taking a drink or going to the toilet.

Sometimes, Yochanan would come up to me, seemingly angry, and loudly say, maybe yelling at me, “Why did you do this?” He would catch my hand powerfully to change my hold or direction. To me, these were acts of kindness and thoughtfulness. I thought that he was a funny guy. I laughed and promised him not to do it again, and then he smiled and walked away.

No one slept, and no one felt safe arriving late in the morning or after breaks. Yochanan always watched the door. When I got up during a demonstration or lecture, Yochanan would ask, “Where are you going?” He was aware of everything happening around him.

Curiosity, Physics, and “This Is Feldenkrais”

I liked it very much when Yochanan would say, “I’m curious.” Apparently, he was inquiring even while he was performing a known manipulation, in Yochanan’s terminology. Then everyone could see the happiness on his face when the change happened—and, as usual, he would say, “This is Feldenkrais.”

Yochanan’s approach to the Method was very much about physics and physiology: formulas, careful attention to Newton’s laws, and expertise in anatomy. I would say it was very realistic and clear.

Maybe I could use the term “humble” to describe Yochanan, as he would often say, “It is not me. It is Dr. Feldenkrais and the laws of physics.”

But do not be mistaken—Yochanan cared about and was aware of people’s emotions. He listened carefully to the words people used to describe their feelings after a Functional Integration® lesson and would emphasize how difficult it is to express those feelings verbally.

I feel that I have touched upon and described Yochanan as a Feldenkrais trainer, and I have spent much time there, though there is much more to say about his teaching.

Yochanan’s Strength and Independence

I would like to say a few words about his struggle and his days in the hospital. I visited him and also talked with his widow, Berta, and with the students who spent much time with him, supporting him as much as they could.

I remember the day I was with him and he wanted to change his position to sitting. He asked me to move his legs, which were covered with wounds. I lifted his legs as gently as I could; I knew how painful it was for him. He did not say anything.

After he was sitting, I sat on his bed beside him, supporting his back with my arm. Yochanan started eating his food, and after a while, he suddenly turned his head to me and said, quite aggressively, “You can take your hand off my back. Don’t you see that I’m stable? I do not need support.”

I liked him very much. At that moment, I thought that this was a good sign that he was recovering.

Our Last Touch

After some days, he was moved to intensive care. I was there that day. He was asleep, but then I saw him look at me with a weak smile on his face, and he raised his right hand toward me.

I grabbed his hand and leaned close to him. He asked quietly for help turning onto his side. I pushed and pulled him a little onto his side and asked the nurse to put some pillows behind him. Then I kept holding his hand. I put my other hand lightly on his chest and followed his breathing until he fell asleep.

This was our last touch.

The next time I visited, he was always asleep.

Yochanan’s Humor

The last thing about Yochanan that I want to share with you is Yochanan’s humor. I already told you that, in my eyes, he was very funny; I laughed a lot during the training.

Yochanan had some old jokes, which we call jokes with a long beard.

On one of his “good” days in the hospital, he was annoyed by a patient in the same room who kept yelling nonstop because of pain. It was not the patient Yochanan was angry with.

“How could it be that, in the hospital, people are crying for help and no one is paying attention?”

Yochanan told me a joke about a hospital room where one of the patients kept crying and begging, “Oh, I’m so thirsty. Oh, I’m so thirsty.” It was a big disturbance to the others in the room.

After some time, with no reply from the nursing team, one of the other patients dragged himself from the bed. With great pain, he walked slowly, brought the crying man a glass of water, and returned to rest. For a while, it was quiet. Then the first patient began crying again: “Oh, I was so thirsty. Oh, I was so thirsty.”

Farewell to Yochanan Rywerant

I say goodbye to Yochanan Rywerant, a master teacher of the Feldenkrais Method.

Rest in peace, Yochanan. You and your way will not be forgotten.

Moti Nativ

Photos of Yochanan from his last training courtesy of Moti Nativ and Eva Laser.

See Review Of Acquiring The Feldenkrais Profession by Eva Laser.