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.

Anna Johnson

Anna Johnson studied with Dr. Feldenkrais in the first American training in San Francisco and has been a practitioner since 1977. As an Assistant Trainer, she has taught in Professional Trainings in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe, and throughout North America for over thirty years. In her private practice, Anna has worked with people with a wide range of abilities, from music & theatre professionals to people with injuries & serious difficulties. She came to this work from a background in theatre and psychology and has great curiosity for how we learn and change. She currently lives in western Connecticut and also practices in New York City.

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.

Paris Kern

Paris Kern has been a Feldenkrais^® Practitioner since 1992, and has studied and worked with David Zemach Bersin for the past 14 years. As the Primary Assistant Trainer in the last two Baltimore Feldenkrais Training Programs she has been a consistent presence with the students and brings a compassionate and light hearted manner to her work. By sharing the knowledge she has gained as a Practitioner and mentor to new Practitioners, she teaches people how to be independent and self sustaining in their own growth.

Paris came to the Feldenkrais Method^® in 1988, as a professional musician who had been suffering pain so severe that she had to cancel concerts. Searching for relief, she attended a one day Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement^® workshop. Her response to the exercises was so profound that she felt as though she was coming home. She was impressed with how the Feldenkrais Method was a system based on a profound understanding of human function, intelligence, learning, and behavior, and how Dr. Feldenkrais’ theories addressed her as a whole human being. After taking a series of private Functional Integration^SM lessons and a few Awareness through Movement classes she able to return to performing music without pain.

Paris’ background as a traditional and contemporary folk-singer helps her bring a spontaneity to her work, which she blends with the solid experience she has developed from 22 years of learning, practicing, and mentoring. She teaches in Feldenkrais Training Programs, and travels widely, teaching equestrians with her program, ‘Riding with the Whole Self’.  Paris lives in Baltimore with her husband and son, and maintains a full-time private practice, working with both adults and children.

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.

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 and is now a Trainer, working in Feldenkrais Professional Training Programs around the world. Aliza has worked closely with David Zemach-Bersin since 1995 and helped organize his first Baltimore program in 1997. 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. Aliza lives in Baltimore with her husband Delmar, a violist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

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 Moshe Feldenkrais, in his first North American training program held in San Francisco from 1975 to 1977. He is the editor of Dr. Feldenkrais’ 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 still teaches in training programs around the world and lives in Germany, where he writes and works.

Carol Kress

Carol Kress is a highly experienced Feldenkrais Practitioner and Assistant Trainer who brings to her teaching her involvement in an on-going private practice. Her work is informed by a long-time involvement in equestrian arts, yoga, and her practice of the martial art of Aikido for which she holds a 4th degree black belt. Since finishing her Feldenkrais Training Program in 1993, Carol has been an associate of Elizabeth Beringer and David Zemach-Bersin. She is the long-time Continuity Assistant Trainer for the Feldenkrais Professional Training Programs in Berkeley, CA. Carol is currently completing the editing work on Volume One of an in-depth biography of Dr. Feldenkrais, written by her late-husband, Feldenkrais Trainer, Mark Reese. She lives in Marin County, CA.

Dayana Henwood

Dayana Henwood is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, and the Administrative Director of the Institute’s Professional Training Program, directed by David Zemach-Bersin. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Dayana began studying the Feldenkrais Method in 1995. A classically trained pianist, Dayana moved to the U.S. to continue her music studies in jazz and composition in 2004. Her interest in movement combines music, theatre training, modeling for sculptors and painters, and performance art as a living statue in South America, Australia and the U.S. Dayana is also a serious student of the Japanese martial art of Aikido and enjoys interlacing Aikido principles into her Awareness Through Movement classes. In May 2010 Dayana gave birth to her first daughter, Sofia Joia. This experience increased her awareness of the importance of trusting our physical intelligence; and strengthened Dayana’s interest in development, neuroplasticity, and how to apply Feldenkrais to our everyday lives. Dayana loves working with parents and babies as well as musicians and anybody interested in using the Feldenkrais Method to improve their quality of life.

Something for Everyone

We've got what you're looking for: Nine open level classes; three beginner classes; one 'beginner-friendly' open class and two intermediate level classes.