bonafide motion {children & special needs}
From an early age, Rebecca was exposed to the Feldenkrais® Method and has spent the last 15 years studying and teaching the method. She trained with Anat Baniel who specializes in children, hence Rebecca is an ABM Practiioner. She has developed a refined ability to help individuals learn and transform from limitation including children with special needs and behavioral issues. The focus is on improving the functioning of the child's brain and approaching the child as a whole, unified, moving, feeling and thinking human being. This includes children with brain trauma, children who are on the Autism spectrum as well as children with cerebral palsy, ADD/ADHD and undiagnosed developmental conditions. Rebecca brings her knowledge of Yoga, Feldenkrais®, Anat Baniel Method℠, Biomechanics, Positive Psychology, and Neuroscience into a mosaic of learning rooted in self-awareness.
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Rebecca working with a boy with Autism
“My son, Naji, who is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, works with Rebecca and has gained a heightened sense of his body mechanics. He has learned to engage his muscles and navigate space in an unassisted way. Each session with Rebecca leaves him stronger and more self- sufficient.”
“The Feldenkrais method has greatly helped my eleven year old son. His sensory integration issues are decreasing and his confidence is increasing. With his practitioner, he has developed methods of coping with situations that had previously been overwhelming. His focus, acceptance of responsibility, grades & overall happiness are improved.”
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[ Private Hands-on Lessons ]
These sessions involve the child or adult and the practitioner usually on Feldenkrais table, the floor, or a chair. The essentials, listed below, are what set apart this method from other therapies. Different games, yoga techniques and whatever is useful to awaken the child are brought into the lesson. The movement is gentle, safe, and noninvasive. Private lessons are recommended for more accurate precise outcomes for the child because the lesson is tailored to the needs of him or her.
[ The Nine Learning Essentials ]
1. Movement with attention- research shows that movement done automatically creates little or no new connections in the brain.
2. Slow- slow gets the brain's attention and the chance to feel. The feeling of what happens dictates one's ability to think and move.
3. Variation- growth and development happen through the perception of something new that stands out form the background and habits.
4. Subtlety- working with subtle sensory awareness the child can recognize finer distinctions and increase their ability to feel and perceive.
5. Enthusiasm- as the child senses differences within themselves positive emotions and enthusiasm tells the brain the changes are important and the new neural pathway is grooved in.
6. Flexible goals- being flexible with goals allows space for learning and moving around the edges of present ability where the experience of success are most accessible to child.
7. Learning switch- this is a child being in a receptive curious space created by safety, playfulness, comfort, and acceptance.
8. Imagination- imagination has the power to upgrade the functioning of the child's brain because they begin to create a broader image of themselves and the action which helps them move beyond limitation. Action exists form the clear intention to act. So how the child imagines what they are doing or wish to do creates new possibilities.
9. Awareness- awareness elevates the brain to discover choice rather than being reactive and habitual. Awareness is an action and humans are designed to generate the capacity to be aware through experiences.
"The greatest potential for transformation, though often difficult to grasp, is not in trying to make children do what they can’t, but in finding ways to help each child’s brain differentiate and spontaneously discover how to go beyond his or her limitations.
It is of utmost importance to understand that the neuro-physiological processes in the brain of the typically developing child which lead to successful learning and growth are the exact same neuro-physiological processes that need to occur, and can occur, in the brain of the child with special needs."
Brain Development in Kids
- The Anat Baniel Method
- Promoting Brain Development in Children