Foreword, by Janie Randerson

Janie Randerson: Foreword, IFF 2006 1

The International Feldenkrais Federation (IFF) is delighted to share this collection of individual Portraits of 13 members of our global Feldenkrais community.

In 2005, Uta Ruge, a practitioner in Germany, was sponsored by the Feldenkrais Verband Deutschland e.V. (formerly: Feldenkrais Gilde Deutschland e.V.) to undertake a series of interviews for the German Guild's Newsletter called "Feldenkraisforum". Uta Ruge is editing this publication on behalf of the FVD and has herself been a representative to the IFF Assembly for her Guild (2000 - 2004) as member of the FVDs board. Collectively these portraits are a rich tapestry of the common and diverse experiences and practice of the Feldenkrais method; some issues facing National Professional Organisations and individual experiences with the IFF and its resources and activities.

The opinions expressed are from individual practitioners and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the National Organisations nor those of the IFF.

Although English is neither the native language of the author nor many of the participants, it is the working language of the IFF and most of the interviews were conducted in English. We have decided to leave the personal phrasing as it was recorded because it mirrors one of the constraints (but also the richness) of our communication in the IFF. The interviews were edited with consent of the participants before initial publication. All Portraits were originally published in German in Feldenkraisforum in 2005/2006, all English versions having been translated by Uta Ruge.

We are most grateful to Feldenkrais Verband Deutschland e.V, Uta Ruge and all participants for their generosity, support and consent to allow these texts to be available for wider distribution. Thanks also to Susanne Spitzer, Munich; for preparing and coordinating the texts for this publication.You will enjoy reading them and learning more about the environment within which the Feldenkrais method is practiced around the world. And you will get to know how Feldenkrais practitioners represent their Guilds and Associations in the IFF; how these "IFF Reps" represent the IFF in their respective countries and how they continue learning while contributing to the Feldenkrais professional community on this international level.

Janie Randerson, IFF Vice chair
For IFF Board of Directors, May 2006