There are approximately 5000 Feldenkrais practitioners worldwide and 2,000 in North America.
How do you become a practitioner? Trainings are given all over the globe. Trainings in North America are regulated by The Feldenkrais Guild of North America. These trainings require an aspiring practitioner to attend 800 hours of training over a four year period before receiving certification. While some films from the trainings that Feldenkrais himself gave before his death are used in training programs, primarily the content is based on the trainings but taught hands on and interactively with the new generation of trainers.
Who trains practitioners? Many of Moshe's original 12 trainees are still alive. Most of them work in Israel but do travel and teach advanced trainings. The second generation of practitioners trained in San Francisco and Amherst, MA are the primary trainers for practitioners in North America.
Who becomes a practitioner? Many practitioners found the method through their own journey seeking recovery or relief from injury or pain. Musicians, dancers, teachers find the method's focus on awareness useful and productive in working with themselves and with students. It is common for physical therapists
to attend trainings and become practitioners. They find it very
enhancing to their work and goals with their students. The spectrum of practitioners is broad not distinguished by any particular age, gender, education or professional group.
Who comes to work with Feldenkrais practitioners? Stroke victims, musicians, people with cerebral palsy, children with learning difficulties, dancers, Pilates teachers, people with back pain, runners, golfers, people suffering from TMJ syndrome and the average person who just wants to move better and feel better in everyday life.
How has the Feldenkrais Method expanded and developed? Some practitioners work with very specific populations like musicians or children with developmental delays. Others have made their own methods based on their Feldenkrais work like Bones for Life, which focuses of bone health and stabilty, or the Tellington-Jones Method, that applies the method to animals. Other practitioners develop work around a movement like walking (On Your Feet! Workshops) or running (Running with Your Whole Body). The range of possibilities is infinite because the Feldenkrais Method works with the neural pathways that retrain movement and improve brain function, it is reasonable to expect that many interesting innovations will spring from Moshe Feldenkrais's method.