Elsa Gindler

Who was Elsa Gindler?

Elsa Gindler was a somatic bodywork pioneer in Germany.

Born in Berlin, gymnastics teacher, student of Hedwig Kallmeyer.

From her personal experience of recovering from an attack of tuberculosis Gindler helped originate an entire school of bodywork, in close collaboration with Heinrich Jacoby.

What Gindler had called Arbeit am Menschen emphasised self-observation and growing understanding of one's individual physically related condition. Simple actions such as sitting, standing, walking etc. were explored, also in everyday situations.

This became one of the bases of body psychotherapy since many of the most influential body psychotherapists studied with her or "Sensory Awareness" with Charlotte Selver at the Esalen Institute around 1962. Two other students of Gindler were Elsa Langenfeld then the wife of Wilhelm Reich and Laura Perls wife of Fritz Perls

During the Nazi-period of Germany, Gindler used these investigations and experimental exercises with her students to covertly help people who were persecuted by the regime. For her assistance to the Jewish population of Berlin, she was distinguished as a righteous among the nations and a tree was planted in Yad Vashem in her honour.