Faculty Biographies
Paul Rubin and Julie Casson Rubin, Certified Feldenkrais Method Trainers and Practitioners, are the Educational Directors of Training Programs for Certification as Teacher of the Feldenkrais Method in Houston; Chicago; Basel, Switzerland; and Turin, Italy.
Paul Rubin
Paul Rubin, Certified Feldenkrais Teacher and Certified Feldenkrais Trainer, founder and Executive Director of ISSE, has been lead Educational Director for nine Certification Trainings for Feldenkrais Teacher/Practitioners in Cincinnati, Chicago, San Francisco, Australia, Switzerland, and Italy.
Paul has taught as Guest Faculty in Feldenkrais Training programs in France, Germany, Australia, the U.K., and Italy.
As Chair of the North American Training Accreditation Board 1993-1997, and founding member of the training Accreditation Boards for both Europe and Australia/South Pacific, Paul has contributed significantly to the evolution of training programs and procedures world-wide.
Paul, a graduate of the 1975-1977 Feldenkrais Professional Teacher training in San Francisco, is one of only 80 people to have completed training entirely under Dr. Feldenkrais, and to have received diploma from him. Additionally, Dr. Feldenkrais served as Chair of Paul’s PhD committee at the Humanistic Psychology Institute 1975-1977.
Julie Casson Rubin
Julie Casson Rubin, Certified Feldenkrais Method Trainer and Certified Feldenkrais Teacher, is co-Founder of San Francisco’s Feldenkrais Center for Movement Education, and co-Educational Director of all nine ISSE Teacher Training programs. As a highly sought-after and frequent Guest Trainer in programs in North America and Europe, and as a former member of the North American Training Accreditation Board, Julie has contributed to the evolution of training models the world over, and has collaborated with other leaders in the field.
Julie has pioneered the use of the Feldenkrais Method in medical setting through her work at the ground-breaking University of California’s San Francisco General Hospital Behavioral Medicine Clinic 1978-1988.
As a graduate of the 1975-1977 Feldenkrais Professional Teacher Training in San Francisco, Julie is also one of the few Teacher/Practitioners trained entirely by Dr. Feldenkrais and to have received diploma from him.
Julie holds a degree in dance and physical education from San Francisco State University. She has recorded a popular introductory series of Awareness Through Movement lessons: Moving with Ease and Grace. Email julie@feldnet.com for more information or to purchase this set.
Deborah Bowes
Deborah Bowes, P.T. and Certified Feldenkrais Teacher and Trainer, brings the diversity of her long experience in related fields as well as from her strong and continuous private practice in San Francisco since 1987.
She has 30 years of experience teaching in private practice, schools, hospitals and clinics. Starting as a Physical Education teacher in 1973, she has always been intrigued by the relationship of learning, movement, and self-image. She earned her Physical Therapy degree from Columbia University in 1975, and became a Feldenkrais Practitioner in 1987. SInce 1994 she has taught in Feldenkrais training programs in the U.S., Germany, and Australia. In 2000 she became a Certified Trainer of the Feldenkrais Method, the first Physical Therapist to do so. Deborah is known as an innovator in the design of teaching modules for Feldenkrais teacher Training programs and in applications of the Feldenkrais Method.
She is co-founder of the Feldenkrais Center for Movement Education in San Francisco, maintaining a full-time private practice working with adults and children. She co-developed the Delayed Recovery Center, a mind/body approach to pain and injury in the Occupational Health Clinic of Kaiser Permanente Medical Center. She is a consultant to several pain programs and her CD Awareness Through Movement Program is used in them.
Her other relevant studies include Tai Chi Chuan, martial arts, yoga, Chinese medicine, sensory awareness, Middendorf breath work, and dancing.
She has recorded two Awareness Through Movement programs: Discover Easy Movement and Pain Relief, and Pelvic Health and Awareness for Women and Men. CD sets available here.
Dennis Leri
Dennis Leri, Certified Feldenkrais Teacher and Trainer, has worldwide experience presenting the Feldenkrais Method in training programs, seminars, and workshop. He apprenticed with Dr. Feldenkrais at the Feldenkrais Institute in Tel-Aviv, Israel, and has taught the Method for nearly 30 years. His accessible and challenging teaching style reflects training in Western and Eastern philosophy, psychology, martial arts, and poetics.
He has published articles, translated into several languages, on the Method. Read them here.
MaryBeth Smith
MaryBeth Smith, Certified Feldenkrais Teacher, is the Director of the Feldenkrais Center of Houston. She holds degrees in Music from the University of Illinois and the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is a 2004 graduate of the ISSE Chicago Feldenkrais Training Program.
With over 20 years experience teaching in university, community, and business settings, MaryBeth now uses the Feldenkrais Method to help people to improve their self-image, function, and enjoyment in movement and in life. She maintains a full-time practice in Houston working with adults and children, specializing in the issues of performing artists, head injury, stroke, body dysmorphia, and stress management.
MaryBeth teaches at Houston’s Jung Center and the Place. . .of wellness at the MD Anderson Cancer Center; presents classes and workshops in Houston and throughout the region, and writes extensively about human performance and the Feldenkrais Method.
She has recorded numerous Awareness Through Movement lessons, which are available for purchase and download online. She also invites you to read her blog, SomaQuest.
