Source URI (2013-08-24): http://feldenkraissoutherncalifornia.com/history.html
Feldenkrais Southern California Movement Institute was originally founded in 1982 by Mark Reese and Donna Ray-Reese. The name of the Institute at that time was Reese Movement Institute. Mark and Donna for more than twenty years worked as a team to train Feldenkrais Practitionerscm in the United States and Europe. Together they trained more than a thousand Feldenkrais Practitionerscm.
At their Institute in Southern California, they provided individual and group classes for the general public. Along with teaching the Feldenkrais Method®, Donna and Mark put efforts into research. Research was conducted with the late Esther Thelen, Ph.D. in her movement science laboratory at the University of Indiana. Donna completed a pilot study with Alan Fogel, Ph.D., examining the effects of the FM, Functional Integration® with a group of people labeled with autism. The Awareness Through Movement® lessons recored by Mark, referred to as “Moving Out of Pain” were used in a study with patients with fibromyalgia. The participants reported experiencing less pain and better sleep after the six week study.
Mark Reese was a certified Feldenkrais® Trainer, was one of the world's foremost authorities on the Feldenkrais Method®. Adding to a broad, interdisciplinary background including philosophy, biology, theater, and music, Mark earned his Master's and Ph.D. in Psychology. He is a graduate from the first U.S. Feldenkrais® training program and studied with Moshé Feldenkrais from 1975 – 1984 in San Francisco, Amherst and Tel-Aviv.
Mark trained practitioners in more than 30 Feldenkrais® Professional Training Programs in such locations as San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, New York, Sidney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Rome, Milan, Munich and Toronto. He gave advanced training workshops for practitioners throughout the world and taught at both the Esalen and Omega Institutes.
Mark published extensively on the Feldenkrais Method® and related health issues, and is co-author of Relaxercise: The Easy New Way to Health & Fitness. He also appeared on television and radio. At the time of Mark's passing on June 23rd, 2006 Mark was working on a biography of Moshé Feldenkrais. This book is currently being completed by Cliff Skoog his long time friend and editor and his widow Carol Kress.
Minor edits for spelling, formatting, and addition of service marks.