blog – Feldenkrais History X

The link to the letter below by Jack Heggie was originally posted on SomaSimple.com. It was sent to me by a reader. Thank you. Jack Heggie passed away, reportedly by suicide. Ryan Nagy talks about the apparent suicide (years apart) of Jack Heggie and Martin Weiner in this blog post (click). Jack's letter below gets to the abuse of power in the Feldenkrais Guild community that I believe ultimately led to the culture of sexual harassment and bullying that we see today. JACK HEGGIE'S LAST LETTER Dear Fellow Practitioners and Students of the Feldenkrais Method: I am taking the time and going to considerable expense to send this letter to each and every practitioner member of FGNA because I believe that our Method is in the midst of a crisis so severe that, if action is not taken...

Feldenkrais HistoryFeldenkrais Quotes

Moshe Feldenkrais: “Meditation is for Idiots”

feldenkraisAugust 26, 20200

Here is the great Moshe Feldenkrais doing what he does best attacking and criticizing other methods. Feldenkrais is better than everything you see...including meditation. Feldenkrais: Meditation is a drug for idiots "...doing, moving, and acting is better than meditating. If you meditate, it is only if you act wrongly that the meditation does something. If you act wrongly, and then correct it with meditation, or with any other drug, then what happens? You live so poorly that you need the drug or the meditation. If you need the relief, it means that you use yourself wrongly, in the state of relief, in the state of meditation; that is how you should live. And if you live like that, why meditate? Why take drugs? Can you see that it is very simple and very idiotic? It is so idiotic that

Feldenkrais HistoryFeldenkrais Quotes

Moshe Feldenkrais: “it is you who is a nasty idiot”

feldenkraisAugust 25, 20200

Toxic Feldenkrais Quotes: Moshe and his use of the word, “idiot” and “idiotic.” "...it is you who is a nasty idiot." - June, 22nd 1977, SF Training Could you imagine being in training program with Moshe Feldenkrais and having him scream at you and kick you and repeatedly call you and your fellow students "idiots" and "idiotic"? That is the way Moshe Feldenkrais taught and perhaps goes a long way to understanding why so many of his students became abusive and also engage in name-calling and personal attacks against their students and colleagues. Lift it until you feel pain. As you know that is idiotic. - June 30, 1977. Your head and leg begin approaching one another when the internal voice of the idiot truly stops pushing you to do more than you can. - Alexander Yanai #3...

Feldenkrais Sex ScandalFGNA

Nude Feldenkrais Trainer Asks Student For Sex

feldenkraisMay 19, 20200

"I went to Dr. Wildman's apartment over in south east Eugene near campus. I arrived and walked up the stairs to his door. When he answered he was completely nude. I had gathered that he was a nudist and tried to respect his personal choice as he was in his own home space. I ignored him; I came in, saw my computer and grabbed that. He sat down on the couch and said he wanted to discuss something. This is when he told me that he could not stop thinking about my body, that I was exceptionally beautiful, more than most women and that he just wanted me so much he didn’t know what to do. Defensively I told him that I have been told this before and that I wasn’t impressed. And I tried to laugh it off. He said he didn’t understand how I could have financial hardships because of my looks, ...

Feldenkrais Sex ScandalFGNA

FGNA Ethics Program Is Highly Unethical

feldenkraisMay 19, 20200

The Feldenkrais Guild of North America has an ethics policy. But they do not say who is on their ethics board. If you have an ethics complaint against a Feldenkrais Trainer, you are invited to contact the board via email or snail mail. But they do not tell you who is on the board: Inquiries and complaints may be sent in writing to: Ethics Committee Feldenkrais Guild of North America 401 Edgewater Place, Suite 600 Wakefield, MA 01880 Ethics@feldenkraisguild.com Retrieved on May 19th,2020 from https://www.feldenkraisguild.com/contact-ethics However, we have several sources who have told us that David Bersin and Paul Rubin have contacted those who have filed an ethics complaint. This is highly problematic as many of the complaints are against the longterm colleagues and busine

Feldenkrais HistoryFeldenkrais Sex Scandal

The Incoherence of Jeff Haller

feldenkraisMay 5, 20200

Jeff Haller, has a YouTube video called, "Moving Towards Emotional Dignity." I like Jeff as a Feldenkrais teacher and have experienced one of his advanced workshops. It was brilliant. However, listening to the video below, gave me the creeps. Jeff simply repeats - adnauseam - buzzwords from the popular culture. https://youtu.be/5eqALkuHwWs Feldenkrais helps you move towards emotional dignity?? How is that? Take a look at the abuse and harassment allegations listed on the current site. Many of the alleged harassers and rapists are Jeff's colleagues and friends. I wonder why he has not denounced them publically? Why does he continue to work with them? Why has he not spoken out? Does he have too much emotional dignity? And if the Feldenkrais Method is a powerful as Jeff suggests,

Feldenkrais Sex Scandal

Feldenkrais Abuse Allegations Ignored….

feldenkraisApril 29, 2020

We had high hopes for this website, but it looks like the abuse allegations in the Feldenkrais Guild community are being ignored. For several months we thought that Ryan Nagy was going to write about the allegations. But he is no longer responding to our emails. What a douche! Perhaps he is worried that the scandal will affect the sales of his "bullshit, shitty Feldenkrais mp3's" and other crap he does online. Or maybe he is just to chicken to deal with the abusive comments and attacks that he will likely get if he blogs about us. What a pisser! We may have to start blogging with our real names so that we can get more traction...

Feldenkrais History

Feldenkrais Via Negativa: What Feldenkrais is NOT

feldenkraisFebruary 29, 2020

Rather than talking about what Feldenkrais IS, let's talk about what it is NOT. If the allegations of rape, harassment, and bullying by Feldenkrais trainers in the Feldenkrais Guild are true, we can say that Feldenkrais is: - not a cure for being a rapist. - not a cure for being a bully. - not a cure for sexual harassment. Apparently, you can be a Feldenkrais practitioner and still be a monkey. Given that there have been mentions of the sexual harassment allegation on both the FeldyForum and Feldenkrais Practitioners Around the World (a Facebook group) and not a single person (other than me) have spoken out publicly about the matter, we can also say that being a Feldenkrais Practitioner is: - not about protecting the public (otherwise someone would speak and warn potential...

Feldenkrais HistoryFeldenkrais Sex Scandal

What’s “good” for the guild is bad for Feldenkrais students and practitioners

feldenkraisFebruary 19, 2020

Something that has been written by several Feldenkrais practitioners from the Amherst training when talking about the alleged abuse is that, "I knew about Frank (or Ned or Dennis etc) twenty years ago, but I did not say anything because I wanted to protect the method." The method (or more accurately, "The Guild system") was protected in the short term. But in the longer term the abuses continued and they continued while being hidden from the public, students and other practitioners. In essence, a system was created in which abusers could continue to abuse, knowing that no one would speak out. So while the integrity of the Feldenkrais Guild system was maintained, so was the ability of people (mainly Feldenkrais trainers) to harass, bully and rape.

Feldenkrais HistoryFeldenkrais Sex ScandalFGNA

FGNA Officers and Feldenkrais Trainers Urge Practitioners Not To Speak Out Publicly About Abuse

feldenkraisJanuary 16, 2020

"The official position is that this is not a public matter." - Feldenkrais Guild Board Member. "I just wanted to echo what the board [of the Feldenkrais Guild of North America] has been saying. ... In the case of the process for addressing these [sexual harrasment] concerns, I see that an incredible amount of care has been taken to follow due process and do the best possible to prevent future harms and increase clarity around the issue. The official position is that this is not a public matter. *I* don't even know what happened in the proceedings and I will not push to find out. This is completely legal, and certainly conforms to my own ethics." [From a 3/22/18 FeldyForum Post. The FeldyForum is a private YahooGroups forum] The Swiss Feldenkrais Guild Ask Members Not To Tal...

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Jack Heggie, Feldenkrais Assistant Trainer. His Last Letter