Meir Schneider was born in Ukraine in 1954 and immigrated to Israel with his parents at the age of four. At age seven, after five unsuccessful corneal surgeries (due to a congenital cataract…Meir Schneider was born in Ukraine in 1954 and immigrated to Israel with his parents at the age of four. At age seven, after five unsuccessful corneal surgeries (due to a congenital cataract and other visual complications), he was deemed permanently blind. He learned to read and write in Braille, and at age 16, he began a personal rehabilitation program consisting of eye exercises and movement therapy that helped him recover some of his lost vision.
Through this work to develop functional vision, and subsequent studies with physically disabled individuals, Meir drew attention to the discovery of the principles that helped him structure the basic foundations of his own method, which he would later name Self-Healing.
In short, we can say that Meir’s Self-Healing is a process of self-treatment, where one primarily learns to recognize postural and movement patterns so that, at a later stage, they can be linked to the pathological processes and tensions of each individual.
At its core, the method combines massage, movement, breathing, and visualization. Furthermore, to achieve satisfactory results in the treatment not only of vision problems but also, and primarily, of a wide variety of pathological conditions, the patient must first and foremost become an active and creative partner of the therapist, since the process is eminently educational and is based on the belief in unlocking the innate powers that the body and mind possess to heal their own deficiencies. This is because it is through awareness that the individual can experience different levels of physical and mental relaxation, thereby increasing their well-being, their range of motion, and, consequently, optimizing all their bodily functions.
Following the founding in 1977 of the Center for Conscious Vision in San Francisco (Meir had emigrated to the United States two years earlier to further his studies), which three years later would be renamed the Center for Self-Healing, Schneider’s work began to gain international recognition.
Based on his method, it is clear that many illnesses result from tense, restricted movements and from poor circulation and breathing. Through his work—and through his own journey from blindness to full functional vision—he demonstrates the paramount role of the body and mind in creating well-being and maintaining the health of each and every one of us.