MBS Academy has been recognized for four decades as a leader in developing, documenting, updating, qualifying world class practitioners in the original teachings of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais.
Leora Gaster and Mia Segal created their Mind Body Studies (MBS) Academy in 1987 to pursue their promise to Moshe Feldenkrais to carry forward the full scope of their work with him to the public and to new generations of trainers and practitioners. Mia Segal and Leora Gaster had the most direct, extensive, and intensive trainings and experiences with Moshe, exploring all aspects and influences of their work and life together over 25 years. Mia Segal and Leora Gaster have the distinction of being fully qualified as Professional Trainers and Practitioners by Moshe Feldenkrais himself. Mia and Leora have passed on their heritage of Moshe’s training to their MBS trainers. The MBS Team strives to achieve the goal Moshe didn’t have time to reach himself: how to refine the work so that people are better able to take what they learn in a lesson out into their lives.
What is Mind Body Studies and how does it work?
Mind Body Studies (MBS) is a set of easy and simple movement-thought exercises anyone can do, which guides your through toward expansion of choices and ease of movement and thought. Based in cutting edge neuroscientific and physiological research, these awareness through movement exercises leverage the loop of brain, body and internal thought process. It looks a bit like yoga with awareness and mindfulness rolled into one, guiding you to discover and apply your optimal potential. The techniques and tools you acquire transform habitual patterns so you can achieve your personal and professional goals. Progress is immediate and continues to expand through a huge array of movement configurations, which anyone can do. MBS is also explained as a language of communication between brain and behavior, empowering individuals to regain self-mastery of both physical and mental states.
Mind Body Studies
Where Neuroscience, Psychology, Education and Movement come together. Managing behavior through thought, and thought through movement. The exercises are exceptional in that they affect eight key behavioral components simultaneously: 1. Movement: Experiential learning of our bodies is abilities and connections. 2. Technique: Enhancing and improving the movement of self and others. 3. Sensing: Developing simultaneous attention on multiple levels. 4. Cognitive: Understanding principles and patterns of thought and movement. 5. Beliefs: Experientially re-examining existing beliefs about self and motivation. 6. Values: Revisiting culturally instilled goals and achievements. 7. Self Image: Checking subjective experiences in our environment. 8. Identity: Connecting with innermost identity and center of self.
Our Mission
MBS Academy’s mission is to keep building on the core principles developed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais and continued in collaboration with Mia Segal. Since our founding by Mia Segal and Leora Gaster, we have developed and offered succinct and effective curriculum for all our trainings. We are dedicated to spread this teaching and make it’s wisdom and practical applications available to all: from school children to seniors, professional performers, individuals with physical challenges, the medical community and professionals of varied vocations. Our courses are designed to empower our students with clear, useable tools for personal and professional development. Our students thrive in a supportive, encouraging environment, with personal attention and guidance throughout; thus providing students with confidence and a high level of technical ability. Our courses weave theory, philosophy and practice, and are taught in the spirit of the joy of discovery and empowerment of the individual. Our students, in person and online, benefit from attention and personal guidance as needed, to support insight, confidence and technical proficiency. We weave theory, technique, philosophy and practice together, to empower each person to live and perform at their best.
The international body of students and graduates of MBS Academy demonstrate continued success as practitioners and teachers, carrying forward the mission of spreading this work, to expand the reach, benefits and opportunities for many worldwide.
As well as, arguably, the most experienced masters in this field, we are a team of highly professional and proficient trainers of all levels, who can help your specific needs and interests, in a variety of languages and locations. Lessons in those multiple-languages are available on our online academy: www.mbsacademyonline.org
Learning from centuries of wisdom and with 50 years of teaching successfully, we continue to be dedicated to improve your quality of life.
About MBS Academy
Overview of MBS Academy’s History and Feldenkrais Qualifications
Leora Gaster and Mia Segal created their Mind Body Studies (MBS) Academy in 1987 to pursue their promise to Moshe Feldenkrais to carry forward the full scope of their work with him to the public and to new generations of trainers and practitioners. Mia Segal and Leora Gaster had the most direct, extensive, and intensive trainings and experiences with Moshe, exploring all aspects and influences of their work and life together over 25 years. Mia Segal and Leora Gaster have the distinction of being fully qualified as Professional Trainers and Practitioners by Moshe Feldenkrais himself. Mia and Leora also studied connections to Judo with Moshe and then earned their black belts at the Kodokan in Tokyo. Altogether, the MBS Team strives to achieve the goal Moshe didn’t have time to reach himself: how to refine the work so that people are better able to take what they learn in a lesson out into their lives. MBSAcademy.org
Background
In 1957, Moshe Feldenkrais selected Mia to be his only associate. In 1958, Moshe personally authorized Mia to practice with clients on her own. They worked side by side in the same studio on the same clients and Moshe handed over to Mia some of his most prized clients, such as the then Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion. Moshe authorized Mia as a Feldenkrais Trainer in the 1960s, to conduct trainings with him and on her own. Mia became more than Moshe’s first authorized Practitioner and Trainer — he chose Mia to introduce the method around the world. Thus, they launched trainings in Switzerland in early 1972, then in the Netherlands and finally in the USA in 1975. Moshe Feldenkrais asked Mia to continue the international trainings on her own.
Leora Gaster was essentially the youngest student and beneficiary of Moshe Feldenkrais’s work. Leora, Mia’s daughter, grew up experimenting together with Moshe and Mia’s as they made discoveries and developed the work as part of family life in the Segal home, as well as in Moshe’s small studio and in the large Alexander Yanai classes. Leora was Moshe’s model in demonstrating the effectiveness of his method, connecting movement to awareness and to internal resilience as part of life. Interested in understanding the science behind this, Leora studied the interconnections between the brain and behavior at Stanford Unversity, earning her B.S. in Human Biology. With the invention of fMRI’s, she pursued advanced studies at Stanford in neuroscience, focusing on brain plasticity and its interconnection with movement and thought. Leora continued to develop her Feldenkrais teaching and qualified as an NLP trainer, enhancing the Feldenkrais work. She joined Mia in teaching internationally as a Qualified Feldenkrais Trainer in 1980.
Hallmarks of the MBS approach to Feldenkrais work are…
(1) Demonstrating how simple it can be to learn and apply knowledge and skills to manage your own body and mind, and
(2) Using a simple system of basic questions and principles to make any lesson clear and optimally effective,
(3) Teaching how anyone can learn to improve any action at any time.
With our team of highly experienced, dedicated and skilled professionals, we are here to address your needs.
