What is the Anat Baniel Method of NeuroMovement?
The Anat Baniel Method® of NeuroMovement® is a holistic, learning approach to improving the overall functioning of the brain through movement.
Anat Baniel Method NeuroMovement lessons use guided movements, directed attention and applied principles of neuroplasticity—The Nine Essentials—to increase differentiation in the brain—helping students overcome limitations and form new, more skillful, pain-free patterns of movement.
Rather than viewing an individual as a mechanical system of parts that need fixing, this method views people as dynamic, information-based intelligence systems moderated by the brain—with infinite possibilities for continuous growth, refinement and development.
It's a whole person approach; body and mind are one. This method uses movement as the language of the brain—to harness it's ability to re-organize for healing, rehabilitation, mastery of skills, and personal evolution.
Benefits FOr Adults & Children
Improved mobility, strength, balance and coordination
Effortless, more skillful, pleasurable movement
Better breathing, anxiety relief, sounder sleep
Holistic, non-invasive pain relief for your neck, back and joints
Reduction of habitual, limiting muscular contractions
Improved ability to effectively match intentions to actions
Develops creativity and problem-solving
Increased well-being, self-awareness and mental clarity
My offerings
I offer one-on-one ABMN lessons to infants and children with special needs to help them become bright learners, acquire new movement skills, and enhance their overall well-being.
I also teach group and one-on-one ABMN lessons to adults who want to learn how to move without pain, regain mobility, function and strength after an injury, surgery or stroke, have neurological disorders, or want to enhance their performance skills and increase their vitality.
"Movement is the language of the brain" —Anat Baniel
The brain organizes itself through movement—and in turn, movement organizes the brain: the movement of our body, our thinking, our feelings, our emotions.
We form our self-image through the sum of our experiences of movement throughout life. This process of mapping of ourselves through movement is dynamic and changeable in response to what we learn from our experience—what neuroscientists refer to as 'neuroplasticy' or 'brain plasticity'.
Over the course of our life we are either in the process of acquiring mapping and differentiation in the brain or losing it. The great news is that under the right conditions, we can harness our enormous potential to change and continue to learn and improve, no matter what our age or ability is.
Learning depends on perceiving differences
Learning is a process of becoming more and more differentiated in our movements, our thinking, our feelings, and emotions. External stimulation from our environment does not become useful information to the brain until we perceive a difference.
The brain needs a wide variety of experiences in different contexts to gather the information it needs to self-organize and make a quantum leap to the next level of skill. This process of acquiring skills through increased differentiation is holistic and non-linear.
Once the brain has enough information and differentiation it needs for an action—it will pull all of it's resources together—and spontaneously there will be a change. As the brain acquires more mapping and differentiation, positive outcomes are a spontaneous result.
When we become highly skilled at something, our ability to perceive differences in relation to that skill is nuanced and sophisticated. For example, a professional musician is able to hear very subtle changes in pitch and tempo that an untrained ear is unable to distinguish.
A high degree of differentiation in any skill is associated with choice, reversibility, resilience, pleasure, flexibility, spontaneity, creativity and a sensation of effortlessness.
A more refined mapping of ourselves through movement allows us to have many more choices around our actions. In addition, the quality, timing, and accuracy of matching our intentions to our actions improves. And, it feels empowering to do what we love to do with ease and mastery.
Ideal conditions for positive brain change
Anat Baniel has defined The Nine Essentials the brain needs in order to learn, differentiate and do it's job well. All Anat Baniel Method NeuroMovement lessons use The Nine Essentials combined with guided movements to create the ideal conditions for positive brain change—helping students of any age and ability dramatically enhance their physical, cognitive, emotional, and creative performance.
About Anat Baniel
Anat Baniel, is the founder of The Anat Baniel Method® of NeuroMovement® and the author of two highly acclaimed books, Move Into Life and Kids Beyond Limits.
Trained as a clinical psychologist and dancer, Anat Baniel became a student and close professional colleague of Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais, who pioneered a learning system of movement lessons to bring about remarkable changes in the human brain, body, and mind.
The Anat Baniel Method of NeuroMovement is an evolution of the work of Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais combined with her own principles and techniques honed from over 30 years of experience helping adults and children move beyond their limitations.
For more information, visit her website.