What If Moving Better Didn't Mean Trying Harder? The Story Behind Feldy

A few weeks before her wedding, Chava Sorani could barely stand.

She was in severe back pain and had tried everything she knew to find relief. Nothing helped. Then a childhood friend mentioned something Sorani had never heard of: the Feldenkrais Method®.

"I was skeptical, but I was also desperate," Sorani recalls.

A Feldenkrais practitioner came to her small apartment in Givatayim for a session. What happened next changed the direction of her life.

"Right after that first session, I felt enormous relief, and a wonderful lift in my spirits. After two sessions, the pain was gone."

Seventeen years later, Sorani is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and the founder of Feldy, an online program that brings her guided Feldenkrais lessons into people's homes.

But the path from one apartment session to Feldy was not a straight line.

From curiosity to a new profession

A few years after that first experience, Sorani's back pain returned. This time, she sought out a Feldenkrais teacher near her home and began attending Awareness Through Movement® lessons.

"I left every lesson feeling lighter and more at ease," she says. "I became curious. I wanted to understand how this worked."

That curiosity led Sorani to professional Feldenkrais teacher training in Tel Aviv. She went on to become a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and began teaching herself.

Over the years, she has worked with hundreds of students in person: people living with chronic pain, recovering from surgery, struggling with stiffness, or simply noticing that their bodies no longer move as easily as they once did.

Again and again, she saw the same thing. People often assumed that feeling different in their bodies was simply a matter of getting older, being out of shape, or living with pain. And again and again, she saw that small changes could make a meaningful difference.

"I've seen people who thought it was too late to improve," Sorani says. "Then, through small, guided movements and learning to use themselves differently, they began to experience possibilities they had forgotten were there."

One student told her she could get up from the floor for the first time in years without fear. For Sorani, moments like that became the heart of her work.

When the lessons needed to go home

The idea for Feldy grew naturally from years of teaching. Sorani noticed that the benefits of a lesson did not have to end when someone walked out of the studio. The practice could continue at home, quietly and gently, without special equipment or a large block of time.

So she began turning her lessons into audio: Feldenkrais at home, guided by her voice. Every Feldy lesson is created and voiced by Sorani, from short practices for the morning and evening to longer, sequenced lessons. Most are practiced lying down on a mat, rug or bed.

The goal is not to push the body harder. It is to pay attention, explore movement, and make regular practice possible.

"It doesn't have to be intense or time consuming," Sorani says. "But it does need to be regular."

That idea is at the center of Feldy: less effort, more awareness, regular practice.

A different relationship with movement

Research on the method is still growing. A 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis of 16 randomized controlled trials found improvements in balance and mobility among older adults, and effects comparable to other physiotherapy techniques for people with spine pain, while noting that many of the studies were small.

Sorani sees Feldy as a gentle home practice that sits alongside physiotherapy and other clinical care, rather than replacing it.

"What makes this approach different is that it isn't about pushing the body harder," she says. "It's about discovering how you can move with less effort and more awareness."

For someone who once could barely stand, that philosophy has become much more than a professional interest. It became a way of life, and eventually a way to help others find their own way back into movement.

About Feldy

Feldy is an online movement program built on the Feldenkrais Method®, delivering short guided Awareness Through Movement® audio lessons for practice at home, on a mat or rug. Founded by Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner Chava Sorani, Feldy makes gentle daily practice a habit rather than an occasional treat. A free 7-day trial is available at feldy.me/free-trial.