Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement is a movement-based approach that uses the capacity of the brain to improve physical, cognitive and emotional functioning. Neuromovement uses movement with awareness as its important tools develop, improve or restore peoples functional skills.
When a problem is created in the brain, the solution also lies in the brain. This is why Neuromovement aim for (changes in) the brain. The entire method is developed from the point of view of the brain and the nervous system.
Neuromovement is a practical application of the principles of neuroplasticity, the capacity of the brain to change itself in response to new information, and to form new connections. With Neuromovement, clinical improvements are regularly seen which fall beyond the medical diagnosis and related expectations.
Neuromovement uses hands-on touch and movement of the body, but also verbal instructions which the client executes themselves. Due to how we do this, new and more detailed connections are formed in the brain and nervous system. The functioning of the brain improves.
In Neuromovement, movements are specifically not used as physical training or exercise. What we do, and yet more so how we do it, is intended solely as a means to provide information to the brain.
Anat Baniel Method Neuromovement
Neuromovement was developed by Anat Baniel. The complete name of the method is Anat Baniel Neuromovement. Mrs. Baniel worked and studied with Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais. After his death in 1984, she continued to develop het work into what is now known as ABM Neuromovement. Over the years, she has trained hundreds of people in her method. Read more about Anat Baniel here.
The ‘Nine Essentials’
Based on her several decades of experience, Baniel identified nine preconditions to allow a brain to optimally receive information and change (i.e. learn). She called these the ‘Nine Essentials’:
- Movement with Attention
- Slow
- Variation
- Subtle
- Enthusiasm
- Flexible Goals
- The Learning Switch
- Imagination and Dreams
- Awareness
The functions of the brain
In contrast with many organs, the brain has a large number of varying functions. Examples are to process sensory sensations, to filter these, to think, emotions, behaviour, influencing many automatic processes, to instruct our muscles.
But underneath this all, the brain has two primary roles. First, to process information. Each of the examples above constitutes the processing of information. Secondly, the brain constantly reorganises itself; it changes based on the demands which we place on it and the information which it receives. We call this neuroplasticity.
To summarise, the brain processes information and the brain reorganises itself. Neuromovement makes use of this.