Training Program Staff

David Zemach-Bersin

Co-Director David Zemach-Bersin is one of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais’ original American students and studied closely with Dr. Feldenkrais from 1973-1984 in the U.S., Europe, and at the Feldenkrais Institute in Israel. He has been involved with the practice and development of the Feldenkrais Method for more than 30 years, and is one of the world’s foremost Feldenkrais Teachers and Trainers. With Elizabeth Beringer, David founded Feldenkrais Resources in 1983. Feldenkrais Resources is the primary publisher of Dr. Feldenkrais’ English language books and audio programs, as well as programs from the world’s leading Feldenkrais Teachers and Trainers. In 2005, David co-founded The Feldenkrais Institute of New York. In 2007, he also co-founded The Feldenkrais Research Foundation, a non-profit devoted to initiating and supporting scientific research on The Feldenkrais Method. The first projects of The Feldenkrais Research Foundation will be to look at the efficacy of The Feldenkrais Method with multiple sclerosis, scoliosis, and recovery of mobility from mastectomies.
David is the long time Educational Director of the New York City, and Washington, D.C./Baltimore Feldenkrais Method Training Programs. His programs attract students from across the U.S. and Europe, and the faculties are composed almost entirely of teachers who studied directly with Dr. Feldenkrais. David has taught in Feldenkrais Training programs throughout the U.S. and Europe, and teaches popular post-graduate courses for Feldenkrais practitioners. Since 1977, David has maintained an ongoing and varied private practice working with a diverse population including those with severe movement limitations, neurological problems, children, seniors, world-class musicians, dancers, actors, and those in chronic pain. Since 2004, David has been teaching the Feldenkrais Method each summer at the prestigious Marlboro Music Festival in Marlboro, VT. David is a Honors graduate of UC Berkeley, with extensive post-graduate work in physiological psychology, and is the co-author of Relaxercise (HarperCollins), a popular introduction to The Feldenkrais Method. In addition, he has authored many Feldenkrais audio programs for both the public and Feldenkrais Teachers.
For many years David has been involved in the development of clinical and workplace applications of The Feldenkrais Method, and has taught courses for physical and occupational therapists throughout the United States. David has served as President of The Feldenkrais Guild of North America, and for nearly a decade sat on the Training Accreditation Board of The Feldenkrais Guild of North America. He lives with his wife and three children in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. For Functional Integration lessons on the East Coast in the New York or the Philadelphia area with David Zemach-Bersin, please contact: (215) 230-9208 or The Feldenkrais Institute at (212) 727-1014.

Sheryl Field

Sheryl Field, the Executive Director of the Field Center for Children’s Integrated Development, is a certified Feldenkrais practitioner and teacher with more than 20 years of full-time clinical experience using Functional Integration to improve the functioning of children with motor disorders.  Sheryl trained with Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais in Israel and in the United States. An Assistant Trainer in the Institute’s Professional Training Program, Sheryl is one of the few Feldenkrais practitioners in the world who has extended the method to working with infants and children.

During her 20 years of experience using the Feldenkrais Method of Functional Integration, Sheryl has observed much greater improvement in children with motor disorders than is currently reported with other therapies. She has recently submitted a research proposal to the National Institutes of Health to test the efficacy of the Feldenkrais Method scientifically.  Sheryl is also an assistant trainer in the Feldenkrais professional training program with David Zemach-Bersin.

Anat Meiri

Anat Meiri is a certified Feldenkrais practitioner on the Institute’s faculty and is the Institute’s Administrative Director and the Program Coordinator of the Institute’s Training Program. Anat started her Feldenkrais professional training in 2003 in Berkeley, CA, and moved to New York in 2006 joining the New York Professional Training with David Zemach-Bersin. She has danced professionally since 1995 with the Rina Schinfeld Dance Theatre in Tel-Aviv and with the Deborah Slater Dance Theatre Company, Papas and Dancers and the Peck-Peck Dance Ensemble in San Francisco. Anat teaches individuals and classes and mentors dancers at the Institute.  In her mentoring work she combines her experience as a dancer with the philosophy of learning and teaching gained from The Feldenkrais Method to help dancers achieve their potential.

Anna Johnson-Chase

Anna Johnson-Chase studied with Dr. Feldenkrais in the first North American training in San Francisco and has been a practitioner since 1977. As an Assistant Trainer, she has taught in Feldenkrais professional training programs in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and throughout the US for over twenty years. In her private practice, she has worked with instrumentalists, actors, dancers, and people with a wide range of disabilities. Anna came to this work from a background in theatre and a great curiosity for how we learn and change.

Deborah Bowes, PT

Deborah Bowes, PT, is a Feldenkrais Trainer and has worked closely with David Zemach-Bersin for many years.  She is known for her clarity and depth of clinical experience gained from over 25 years of teaching in private practice, schools, hospitals and clinics. Starting as a Physical Education teacher in 1973, she has always been intrigued by the relationship between learning, movement and self image.  Deborah received her Physical Therapy degree from Columbia University in 1975 and became a Feldenkrais Practitioner in 1987.  She is co-founder of the Feldenkrais Center for Movement Education in San Francisco where she maintains an active private practice teaching the Feldenkrais Method to adults and children. Deborah has taught widely in Feldenkrais training programs since 1993, was Director of Somatics at the Delayed Recovery Center in the Occupational Health Clinic of Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Francisco.  She brings an avid interest in the neurosciences to her teaching, and lives with her family in San Francisco, California.

Elizabeth Beringer

Elizabeth Beringer has been involved with the practice and development of the Feldenkrais Method for over two decades and integrates current advances in the cognitive sciences into the Feldenkrais perspective.  Elizabeth studied directly with Dr. Feldenkrais, in the U.S. and Israel, from 1976 to 1983. She has been the editor of the Feldenkrais Journal for over 10 years and has served the Feldenkrais Guild in numerous capacities.  She is the co-founder of Feldenkrais Resources with David Zemach-Bersin and they have worked together for over 20 years. Elizabeth is the Educational Director of Feldenkrais Method Training Programs in Italy and Switzerland, and teaches courses for physical and occupational therapists. Elizabeth has maintained a private practice since 1981, working with a varied population including those with severe limitations, infants, seniors, musicians, those in chronic pain and has worked extensively with athletes, martial artists and dancers.  She currently holds the rank of 5th degree black belt in the martial art of Aikido and lives with her husband, cognitive scientist, Rafael Nunez, and their daughter, in San Diego, California.

Carl Ginsburg. Ph.D.

Carl Ginsburg, Ph.D., originally trained to become a scientist, but after teaching college chemistry for a number of years, he decided to study with Moshé Feldenkrais, in his first North American training program held in San Francisco from 1975 to 1977.  He is the editor of Feldenkrais’s book, The Master Moves and has written extensively about the Feldenkrais Method, with his most recent article appearing in the March, 1999 special issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies.  Carl has studied psychology and cognition extensively, has served as a Past-President of The Feldenkrais Guild and was involved for many years with the Shake-A-Leg Program, where he worked in depth with individuals with severe neurological injuries.  He has been teaching in Feldenkrais Method training programs since 1986 and has directed training programs in Rome; Montreal; Vienna, Austria; Heidelberg, Germany; Lewes, England and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Carl is currently living in Germany, and is the Educational Director of the Heidelberg, Germany Feldenkrais Method Training Program.

Aliza Stewart, M.Mu.

Aliza Stewart, M.Mu., was trained as a concert pianist and performed extensively in Israel, England and the U.S. She holds a teaching degree and Artist Diploma in Performance from the Rubin Academy in Israel. Her search for more efficient, relaxed movement patterns at the piano brought her to Moshé Feldenkrais in 1980. She completed her Feldenkrais training in 1987 and became an Assistant Trainer in 1996. Aliza has worked closely with David Zemach-Bersin for many years as his assistant in his trainings. Aliza is well known for applying the Feldenkrais Method to her work with musicians. She teaches Feldenkrais classes and graduate courses at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and at the Mannes College of music in Manhattan. She is also in residence at the Yellow Barn Music Festival and the Marlboro music festival. In her private practice, both in Baltimore and in New York, she works with a wide range of clients, including children and has an active teaching and lecturing schedule.

Carol Kress

Carol Kress is an Assistant Trainer who brings her experience of an ongoing and varied private practice to the program.  In addition, her work is informed by her long time involvement in the equestrian art of dressage, and her practice of the martial art of Aikido for which she holds a black belt.  Since finishing her Feldenkrais training program in 1993, Carol has been an associate of Elizabeth Beringer and David Zemach-Bersin, and together they are the owners of Feldenkrais Resources. Carol is the Continuity Assistant in the Feldenkrais Resources’ Berkeley, California Training Programs and lives in Marin County and San Diego County, California.