Introduction to AY lessons
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Moshe Feldenkrais developed, revised, and recorded the five-hundred and fifty “AY lessons” between the mid-1950s and mid-1970s in a studio at the corner of Alexander and Yanai streets in Tel Aviv. Consequently, Feldenkrais students worldwide refer to these as “the AY lessons.”
Over twenty-five years, Moshe taught eight lessons a week and recorded nearly 600 of them. He would teach a lesson and record it on a reel-to-reel tape, then replay it to the next group and observe their process. He would then make changes to the recording until he was satisfied with the lesson.
He taught in Hebrew, of course, and the transcriptions and translations of these lessons into English took nearly ten years of intense dedication and hard work across multiple Feldenkrais communities. The last English volume became available in 2004.
Many people have analyzed the progression of Moshe’s teaching between the AY lessons and his trainings in the US in the late 1970s and early 1980s. One conclusion is that the AY lessons are more gymnastic and bio-mechanical, and his later teaching is more sensory-awareness based. This may be true, and I can see the logic of it, having gone—slogged!—through the Amherst training twice. Regardless of how he progressed through his teaching, I will share my own synthesis, which, of course, represents only where I am at in this moment.
Notes
The AY lessons here are what’s already in the Treasury, it’s not the whole list by any means.
While these lessons are based on Moshe Feldenkrais’s work, they are all my own language, pacing, interpretation, and teaching style.
For ease of use for trainee-students and practitioners, I’ve included Moshe’s original titles. Subtitles show the Treasury reference if you want to look at more lessons in that theme.
As of December 29, not all the AY lessons from the Treasury are here yet. The remaining AY lessons from the Treasury will be up by the first week of January.
“The aim is not complete relaxation, but healthy, powerful, easy and pleasurable exertion. The reduction of tension is necessary because efficient movement should be effortless. Inefficiency is sensed as effort and prevents doing more and better. The gradual reduction of useless effort is necessary in order to increase kinesthetic sensitivity, without which a person cannot become self-regulating. ”
