Two Beloved Matriarchs

Dear Students:
This post is dedicated to two beloved women that recently passed to the spirit world.  On April 1, my wonderful Mother passed at 89 years old and on February 15, Mia Segal, the “mother” of the Feldenkrais Method passed at the age of 94.

My Mom, Dolores Bervinchak was a natural born teacher who shared her gift with me throughout my life.  She had an innate awareness of herself & others & loved the lessons & classes I taught her.  She was a nimble mover until the day she passed & taught me that age has nothing to do with immobility or stiffness. The picture to the right is my Mom during a class in 2016.

My Mom’s passion was helping people in unique ways and at her memorial services an abundance of people came out to share their stories about how she touched them and it moved me deeply.

Here is an example of what is was like to grow up around her. When I was in kindergarten my teacher teased me about my shoe being untied & then embarrassed me by tying it in front of the whole class.
When I got home from school, I was devastated & demanded that my Mom teach me how to tie my shoes.  My Mom had been trying for quite some time but I literally could not keep a “bunny ear” in place long enough to wrap the other lace around it. I will never forget how gentle & caring my Mom was that day as she patiently invented another way for me to do it.  She had me loop the first lace around my thumb so I could hold it steadily & successfully circle the other one around it. To this day, I tie my shoes like this & for decades thought it was the norm until my brother pointed out the difference!   

This is what I said when I spoke at my Mom’s memorial mass: When I was a little kid I remember asking my Mom what her favorite flower was and she instantly said, “Daisies”.  I thought, “what a good choice - I like daises too!” Over the years I have thought about her choice quite often. Daises are plain & simple and they have no fragrance but when you really look at them they are incredibly beautiful. 

This was my Mom-her beauty was plain and simple.  She did not try to be someone she wasn’t. She had no facade or false pretenses and it came naturally. This was where she had strong confidence in herself & was one my most favorite qualities about her.
I knew when she was proud of me or disappointed in me.   She never tried to hide it.  By just being around her, my Mom quietly & consistently taught my siblings & I, moral & ethical, life lessons. She instilled in my heart & soul what is needed to get me through the hardest times in life and I am grateful. Thank you Mom! Whenever you see a Daisy please send your love and prayers to my Mom - I know she will appreciate it.

Mia Segal was another kind & caring woman that influenced my life on a different level.  I was fortunate to take two Advanced trainings from her.  One was in Berkeley, CA when I was a new Feldenkrais Practitioner and the other one was in San Francisco many years later.  She took the time to get to know me during each training and despite her busy schedule and “famous” status, left me feeling like she really cared about me as an individual.

I call her the “mother” of the Feldenkrais Method because Moshe Feldenkrais asked her if she would give him feedback when he first began developing his method in 1957.  She was at his side as he gave birth to the hands-on modality that became known as Functional Integration and then when he decided to create Awareness Through Movement lessons so he could help more people at once.

Most likely as a result of being around Moshe from the beginning, when Mia taught her wisdom & confidence was evident & she was able to clearly & precisely present information.  This helped me to see that Functional Integration and Awareness Through Movement are interchangeable and because of this my understanding & teaching of the method became more effective.  Thank you Mia! (Click here to view a memorial page for Mia).

Peace & love to Dolores & Mia and to all on Earth!
~Donna