What to expect from ABM® NeuroMovement® for Adults
We initially work with a client sitting or lying down, reducing the demand of gravity on the brain. We recommend having a series of five lessons in two weeks as having a cluster of lessons in a short period of time gives the brain an opportunity to create new connections and reinforce those connections. Clients are encouraged to rest after each lesson and sleep when they feel the need to and have a snack if they’re hungry.
We ask that clients do not repeat the movements performed during the lesson as this will take away from the connections created and allow the old painful patterns to seep back into place. We use many unconventional techniques (such as not starting with the affected area right away or guiding through movements that have no seeming connection to the issue). Clients are asked to reduce their workouts or other therapies over the course of a series of lessons.
Although there are benefits to other approaches, when considering the brain’s perspective, by using multiple approaches simultaneously, we are creating two different conversations at once. Imagine two people giving you directions to go to the same place only taking different routes. We can only listen to one set of directions or one conversation at a time, this stands true for our brain. With multiple important conversations happening at the same time, it degrades the potency of each approach and you will find minimal benefit from either one.
The perception of differences – visual, auditory, kinesthetic – are the source of new information to the brain. The more the brain is capable of perceiving finer and finer differences in the stimuli that is coming in, the more it has information to work with. These perceptions drive the creation of new connections, new patterns, and new solutions – physical, cognitive and emotional.
Most people perceive a difference and begin to integrate the changes after a single lesson. They also adopt and retain the changes after a five-lesson series.
ABM® NeuroMovement® is particularly effective for Neurological Rehabilitation
- Chronic back pain and sciatica
- Joint and nerve pain
- Chronic pain from injuries and accidents
- Balance and coordination issues
- Limited movement and stiffness
- Recovery from injury or surgery
- Occupational or repetitive strain
- Symptoms associated with aging
- Cerebral Palsy
- Brain injury and stroke recovery
- Autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger’s
- Sensory integration dysfunction
- Scoliosis
- Anxiety, PTSD, ADD/ADHD
- Neurological issues: MS and Parkinson’s disease
- High-performers to achieve to next level
Most experience
- A profound sense of calmness
- Reduced muscle tension
- Increased range of motion
- Functional movement such as reaching up or down, turning around, getting up from sitting and lying may become easier
- Renewed freedom with increased energy and vitality
- Walking may feel more effortless.
- Your mind may feel less anxious
- You may have a deeper more restful sleep
- Easier to make decisions
- Thinking is clearer and more focused.
Notice and focus on the new changes, big or small, not on what should be happening or looking to find the pain you came with.
“When one area of the brain is upgraded, the whole brain is upgraded.”
— Anat Baniel
ABM® NeuroMovement® for Adults
At any age and physical ability our brain can still grow and learn. Anat Baniel Method®, ABM®, NeuroMovement® give us that ability for the brain to upgrade and improve our physical, cognitive, and emotional well-being.
Traditional approaches work, until they don’t. Pushing through the pain to achieve a goal can be very limiting. ABM® uses a learning approach to our health and well-being by working from where you are, slowing down and bringing more clarity to your movement. ABM® is based on the fact that movement is the language of the brain, providing the brain with the information it needs to upgrade how it functions.
By using this learning approach, we can reduce pain, increase flexibility and have more energy in a pain free and enjoyable way! We organize our bodies around our experiences; when we have pain free, enjoyable experiences of movement, the brain spontaneously shifts to recreate that experience. To make this happen, we have to click the “auto-pilot” off and get out of our old pain infused patterns. The brain is the computer of the body; it instructs what, when and where areas of the body need to move.
Shifting from fixing (looking at the body as a mechanical system) to connecting by looking at the body as an information system, we can create a conversation within which the whole body can be connected and move as one complete unit. Most back pain is caused from the pelvis not being organized to support the weight of the upper body, when the skeleton is not organized to allow gravity to flow through it, the muscles have to take over and create that support, leading to over use and muscle fatigue causing pain.
What is possible for my child?
Through a series of learning events every child can experience transformational change. Whether the child has special challenges or not, expect limitless possibilities. We are developing an increasingly large and sophisticated knowledge about how to make better use of the brain’s capacities, thanks in part to the science of neuroplasticity – that is the brain’s ability to reorganize itself and gain new skills by forming new neural connections. When a child had a stroke, causing damage to some part of the brain, it wasn’t understood in the past that other parts of the brain could take over and organize actions that they do not ordinarily do. Today discoveries in neuroscience, of the remarkable ability of the brain to change, has helped to explain why the Anat Baniel Method® and the Feldenkrais Method have been so successful over the past three decades, rehabilitating children and improving their lives by guiding them on paths of learning as functional movement becomes easy and possible.
Hands on Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® lessons are tailored to meet your child’s unique needs. We often work in what is referred to as “intensives”, which are a series of one to two lessons a day for a week or more. Depending on the child’s unique needs we can work with the parents to customize a series of lessons that meet the needs of the child. With an intensive, new skills have a chance to be better integrated so that the child is able to change and retain the changes. We usually recommend a four-to-six-week break between intensives; this allows the child time to integrate the flood of new information that was absorbed during the intensive week(s). Their skills will be further refined during the break and the next series of lessons will reinforce the new skills and provide opportunities to continue to build new skills.
A NeuroMovement® intensive takes advantage of the brain’s newfound clarity to better retain new information and be positively reinforced by working with the children multiple times in a close period of time producing greater outcomes. The lesson approach remains the same, still slow and gentle, the context and content within the lessons shifts and changes to match your child’s abilities. Each new skill that the child attains (big or small) is solidified through a cluster of lessons and will be readily available to be used to achieve the next goal. Each lesson lasts up to 45 minutes, the length of the lesson depends on the child’s ability to learn, once they’ve reached their limit to take in new information the lesson is over. When this happens, we take the time to talk with the parents giving them the opportunity to ask questions, which normally they wouldn’t have a chance to ask during a lesson. We ask parents or caregivers to observe the lessons and at times the parents/caregivers are brought into the lesson(s). This is so children can learn to self-regulate and discover new possibilities with little intervention from others.
What types of Special Needs does ABM® work on?
- Cerebral Palsy
- Global Developmental Delays
- Autism
- Genetic Disorders
- ADHD
- FASD
- Undiagnosed Conditions
Parents and Caregivers note that their child display:
- Improved functional movement
- Improved sleep
- Longer attention span
- More verbal sounds
- Improved mood
- Improved balance
- Improved problem-solving skills
ABM® NeuroMovement® for Children
Discover a revolutionary way to harness the ability of your child’s brain to change and heal, allowing them to overcome their limitations! The Anat Baniel Method® Neuromovement® is supported by today’s latest neuroscience research and uses subtle, gentle movements to wake up your child’s brain. This provides opportunities for your child to understand their physical, cognitive, emotional abilities and how they can further develop those areas.
By making the shift from trying to fix our children to connecting with them gives both the parents and children opportunities for more clarity around areas of growth to their highest levels possible. Essentially upgrading children to Mint condition no matter what their diagnosis is!
The Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® is successful in bringing transformational learning to children, regardless of age and diagnosis; working with your child from where they are and not where we think they should be.
NeuroMovement® is based on the understanding that diseases and traumas in the early stages of life, interrupt the brain’s development and process of learning. This interrupts the communication needed to create the relationship in the child’s body, world, and loved ones. It is possible to directly communicate with the child’s nervous system using the Nine Essentials of ABM® in a very gentle, powerful way especially through movement, greater awareness and non-verbal kinesthetic experiences.
Many traditional modalities – physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy as well as most body work – often have a very direct approach trying to make the child be where they should be based on developmental milestones. For example, repeatedly placing a child in a sitting, standing or walking position or asking them to speak, and hoping they will learn enough from that experience to be able to master it. By focusing on the rigid goal of fixing or putting a child where they “should be” robs them of opportunities and experiences their brain needs to create a developmental foundation learned by putting all of the random and seemingly unimportant movements together themselves at their own pace.
The brain does not learn through repetition and does not respond positively to being forced. Thus ABM® NeuroMovement® stresses the distinction between “making your child do” and “calling upon your child to find their own solution.” If your child cannot roll or crawl, sit up, stand on all fours, or stand up by himself, we don’t force him into these positions or into repetitive motions.
Instead, we will engage the child, meeting them where they are, in a gentle movement process that provides the brain with the conditions and information required to achieve the different skills and developmental milestones. Through this process the child gains the missing pieces, which skills are built and can then spontaneously learn to do what he or she couldn’t do before.
Rather than focus on the limitations and try to directly fix the presenting problem on the level of the muscle, bone joints, and soft tissue, NeuroMovement® uses a different approach; the focus is shifted to where the most powerful solutions lie – the brain. Built on the work of Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc., NeuroMovement® works by communicating with the child’s brain to facilitate the formation of new neural connections and patterns, irrespective of the child’s limitations. Movement and awareness are the primary tools a practitioner uses to communicate and upgrade the brain to bring about the potential for learning and change. Change often presents itself in a number of ways, such as better movement, balance and coordination, increased focus, reduced anxiety and so on. By upgrading the entire system, the child learns to perceive finer and finer differences, which is essential for learning. Outcomes include the child being able to improve physically, cognitively and emotionally as they increase their capacity for learning.
By providing opportunities for your children to learn through ABM® lessons, their progress continuing with traditional modalities is often greatly improved and enhanced by partnering to assist them to reach their goals and potential.
If you have any questions, please contact us for more information. We recommend parents read Anat Baniel’s book Kids Beyond Limits to be inspired by the possibilities for your child and to start using the Nine Essentials for learning even before lessons are scheduled.
Anat Baniel has a library of podcasts, which are a great resource for busy parents.
For a worldwide listing of certified NeuroMovement® professionals serving Children with Special Needs, please visit neuroconnect.world.