In the karate world humility is emphasized greatly, to the extent that intuitively I understood that it would not be cool at all to put a video of me on Facebook jumping up and down and going ‘Yay, I passed!’ the day after my test for sixth dan. On the other hand, to ignore this accomplishment would be a disservice to the many women who struggle to achieve parity in what is still, largely, a man’s world.
I vowed that if I passed I would publicly thank the many people who helped me reach this goal. So, neither in alphabetical order nor in order of importance, I would like to say a few words of gratitude. Pictured above is Chaya Hevroni who teaches a Feldenkreis class on Sunday mornings at a community center near my home.
I first attended (a few years ago) out of curiosity and quickly realized I was in the presence of a great master. Chaya doesn’t have a blog or a Facebook page and probably thinks Twitter is what birds do in the morning, but she studied with Moshe Feldenkrais himself (and he passed away in 1984). When I asked for more details about her life she demurred, saying that it’s the method that is genius, not her, and that I should write about the method.
Feldenkrais was a physicist and engineer, a nidan in Judo who was Kano sensei’s pen-pal and credited with teaching Ben Gurion how to do a headstand. To understand his method, which he developed while trying to heal a knee injury, you simply have to do it. It involves paying attention to body mechanics and has greatly helped me for two reasons. One: Karate also demands paying attention to body mechanics. Two: It greatly relieves the pain I experience from fibromyalgia and overtraining.
Chaya Hevroni, thank you!