Mind Body Studies

Advancing Knowledge in Mind Body Studies with Leora Gaster

Trainers and practitioners participating in the MBS workshop, February 2025

Recently I was delighted to attend a three day Mind Body Studies Advanced Practitioner Training taught by Leora Gaster, Master Trainer and co-founder of MBS Academy, to enhance hands-on skills. Grace Doh, Senior MBS Trainer and Feldenkrais Guild Practitioner assisted. Trainers and practitioners from Korea, Japan, Austria, Canada, and other locations convened at S3NSE in Cupertino, California for this wonderful training.

The workshop coincidentally began on February 15, 2025, the same day of the passing of MBS co-founder Mia Segal, Segal being the first person Moshe Feldenkrais informally trained in and authorized as a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method. Additionally, Mia Segal was a close friend and collaborator of Feldenkrais’s and raised her daughter, Leora, immersed in the method.

Mia’s recent death imbued extra meaning and sentimentality into our workshop. I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to study with Leora and wistful that I never studied with Mia. I am looking forward to continued learning in future workshops.

During this workshop, I learned the benefits of doing some hands-on work with my eyes closed. It increased my ability to sense what my hands could feel. I also learned a new way to approach rolling the head, picturing the way the bottom of the client’s head makes contact with the table when their head is being rolled. These takeaways continue to make this work fascinating and exciting to me. 

To experience head rolling yourself, click here.