Israeli-born Chava Shelhav was one of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais' first students and his assistant both in Israel and abroad. She is a certified physical education teacher (Seminar Hakibbutzim) and holds a master’s degree (Boston University 1985). Her thesis, "Working with Brain Damaged Children Using the Feldenkrais Method," was published in 1989. She was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg in the Departments of Sociology and Life Sciences in 1998. Her doctorate examined the effects of the Feldenkrais Method on learning processes and other aspects of life.

From 1971 - 1984, Dr. Shelhav worked at the Feldenkrais Institute and assisted Dr. Feldenkrais in training programs in the United States. She collaborated in writing the chapter on learning in The Elusive Obvious, Dr. Feldenkrais' book on human learning processes.

In Israel, Dr. Shelhav has taught the Feldenkrais Method at Seminar Hakibbutzim, the Wingate Institute, the Asaf Harofe Medical Center's Complementary Medicine Services, and child development centers.

Dr. Shelhav is the educational director for Feldenkrais training programs in Israel and abroad. In Germany, she is head of the Center for the Feldenkrais Method - Feldenkraiszentrum-Chava Shelhav.

She has recently begun training coaches in "Child'Space - Chava Shelhav Method".

Dr. Shelhav on Dr. Feldenkrais

Chava enjoys recalling her first encounter with Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais in Tel Aviv in 1959:

“After graduating Seminar Hakibbutzim, where I studied physical education using the Gindler approach (where the emphasis is on developing sensitivity and awareness to movement and self), I met Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. He invited me to study with him as a pupil and work with him as an assistant. I had just given birth to my first child and was suffering from severe back pains that prevented me from dancing, an activity I enjoyed. I was afraid my back pains would prevent me from joining the study group, but Dr. Feldenkrais insisted that back pains are no obstacle. He was right. Not only were they not an obstacle, but I was able to benefit from the change and healing processes that were an integral part of the studies. I literally learned on my own back.

The learning process includes personal experience. I acquired a deep understanding of the great complexity of the mechanism of human movement and the way it is connected to the senses, to self-awareness, and to personal development.

We were a group of 13, who met with Moshe Feldenkrais every day between 1968 and 1971. This was the first group working under his personal guidance. We had the privilege and the pleasure of taking part in developing his thesis, and working with our class was the cornerstone for developing and disseminating his method. My meetings with Feldenkrais had an impact on my way of thinking, my self-image, the way I perceive others, and on my later work and life.”

Dr. Shelhav on "Child Space: the Shelhav Method"

Extensive experience accumulated during years of observation of movement in people from different cultures, and my reciprocal relations with them, enabled me to understand that movement has an important influence on all fields of life. I realized that identifying motor and behavioral problems at the earliest stages of childhood is vital. This perception led me to develop a method of working with children and adults whose problems had not yet been identified and diagnosed. Early detection and intervention, using touch and movement, affect a person’s self-image, behavior, feeling, and activity throughout life.

Observing people suffering from back problems, I detected a common denominator. I discovered that some back problems were the result of anxieties and inhibitions in early development that led to a lack of balance between developmental components, such as equilibrium, coordination, and orientation. There are many people who suffer from orientation problems and do not distinguish between left and right. Such phenomena cause stress, which eventually imposes on joints and muscles and impairs posture.

These discoveries allowed me to focus my research on the first stages of infant development. This research evolved into a method for working with infants and their parents – "Child'Space–Chava Shelhav Method".

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