The Anat Baniel Method℠

Our brain organizes and controls our movements, thoughts, and emotions. It tells our muscles when and how to contract. In turn, our movements provide information that the brain needs to grow and organize itself. This mind-body connection is key to our development as children, to continuing vitality as we age, and the idea behind the Anat Baniel Method℠ of NeuroMovement®.

How well your brain directs your muscles depends upon the quality of information it receives. The brain’s pathways are flexible and elastic and as we learn new facts, complete new tasks, and perform new movements, our brain changes and rewires to reflect these experiences.

When you give your brain the right information, its commands to the body can become faster and better organized – you develop new neural connections that can improve your athletic performance, your recovery from injury or stroke, your flexibility, strength, balance and coordination.

Improved neural connections are at the foundation of the Anat Baniel Method (ABM), which has a track record of effectiveness in improving the functioning of adults and children with special needs such as cerebral palsy, ADD/ADHD, stroke and brain injury.

ABM was developed by Anat Baniel, a clinical psychologist and dancer who was a close associate of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. She combined his teachings with her own understanding and techniques to develop ABM, along with a reputation for success working with infants and young children with developmental difficulties.

In addition to helping people improve their range and ease of movement, overall well-being, balance and coordination, ABM can specifically benefit:

• Athletes, dancers and musicians
• Children with developmental disabilities and special needs
• People recovering from stroke or brain trauma
• People with movement limitations

ABM is based on the principle that to improve, you have to involve both your mind and body, and feed the brain new information. A precise series of movements, executed with heightened awareness and attention, can create new connections in your brain, giving it the improved information it needs to guide your body to higher levels of coordination and function.

• Back, neck, joint and shoulder pain
• General aches and pains
• Sports injuries
• Traumatic brain injury or stroke
• Scoliosis
• Cerebral palsy
• Repetitive stress injury

A trained practitioner guides you through a series of slow, gentle movements, (the method is gentle enough for babies and seniors), paying close attention to what you feel as you move. As treatment progresses, the brain grows new neural connections in response to your experience. The new connections help the brain discover new solutions for your needs, such as figuring out how to move when you have a limitation, run more efficiently, or relieve pain.

To find out more about the Anat Baniel Method℠ and NeuroMovement®, please visit www.mlstanley.com/about-anat-baniel/

Learn more about Mary Lou Stanley, our ABM practitioner.

To arrange an appointment, please call our office at 604-228-1474 or use our online request form.