|
NeuroMovement® PractionerLearn to move using the power of your brain
|
He's Standing! Whoot whoot! The joy of seeing your child stand for the first time is so exciting! For parents of special needs kids, who have been told that their child might never learn to stand or walk, the feeling is indescribable. Sleepless nights, worry, tears, heartache and hours and hours of therapy have been invested into creating this moment. But if some treacherous thought in the back of your mind is asking… Is standing in a stander really standing? You are not alone. There is NO doubt that using a stander has many, many benefits (it can help with digestion, aid in social situations, etc). Each family needs to decide when and where using a stander is appropriate and useful for their own child, but the most obvious reason we use standers, is because we want our children to stand!  So, What is Standing?Bearing your body weight on your feet, through your bones. Where Bearing Weight, can be defined as the body working against the force of gravity. What Standing is NOT...Standing is NOT static. Give it a try yourself and see how long you can stand still for. Like, really stand still. Just the motion of breathing, creates a chain reaction of itty-bitty movements as your muscles expand to inhale air into your lungs, causing a shift of the weight of your bones, so you can stay balanced in an upright position. Standing is complex. It’s dynamic. It’s also something that can’t be taught, but rather is learned through experience. Neuro-typical babies aren’t "taught" how to stand. Instead, they experiment themselves for over a year. They experiment with counterbalancing their body weights in space and how to work against gravity, until their brains figure out a way for them to do this really fun and cool thing called standing. Where they get to see fun, new things and reach higher. Leave a neuro-typical baby to their own devices and they will come to standing all on their own. Great, but...What happens if your child missed all those wonderful experiences of moving and wiggling and experimenting? My own daughter lay quiet and content on the floor for over 8 months before she even rolled over. She didn’t have the same random movements her older sister had. Those crazy, arm flailing, foot kicking movements that neurotypical babies have. They can look super adorable and sometimes a bit funny and result in suddenly finding a finger to suck on, or stare at, or end up in strange contortions. Those seemingly random movements are sending an enormous amount of information to their developing brains. As a baby kicks the side of the crib, their brain collects the info of how long his leg is, how heavy his leg is, how hard he needs to kick, what happens when he kicks, etc. Those random movements are tiny science experiments testing out the laws of physics. And growing brains gobble the data up, then organize it into something useful (like bringing that toy to her mouth to chew on!). My youngest daughter, due to her genetic disorder, didn’t have those random baby movements. She missed out on all those rich experiences. There were no physics experiments. No learning where her body began and ended. No learning about how her physical body could interact with gravity. Without that foundation, how in the world could I expect her to stand, just because I placed her in standing??? Which I did, because I didn’t know any better, and I even let professionals place her in standing. Those are moments I regret. I remember trusting the professionals, yet seeing the fear on my baby-girl’s face. She was terrified. She felt unsafe in standing. She couldn’t support herself, the fear of falling overrode everything. As it should! It is a sign of a healthy brain to be scared of falling.  Can a brain be in fear AND learn at the same time?Forced to stand up before she was ready, all of my daughter's muscles were tensed to the max. She expected to fall. Because her brain KNEW that it had no idea HOW to keep her upright. Her brain was not in learning mode. It was in survival mode. Her muscles were tight to prevent an injury when she fell. Her brain was doing a fabulous job of keeping her safe. But that certainly wasn't the outcome either me or the therapist were going for. I shudder now to think of all the missed opportunities and what-ifs. Thankfully, I stumbled across ABM soon after that therapy session. I watched Youtube videos of Anat Baniel gently guiding children through slow and gentle movements. There were no tears. No fear. It looked peaceful. Insightful. Curious. Joyous. I wanted my daughter to experience THAT. I wanted to learn how to do that. A NeuroMovement practitioner connects with your child wherever they are at in their developmental stage. The emphasis is on a safe learning environment so the child has the opportunity to explore variations to their own movement patterns. It worked so well for my daughter (she now walks, runs and recently learned to jump), that I became a NeuroMovement practitioner. But you don’t have to become a practitioner, (although I highly recommend it!!) to give your own child the same opportunities to explore bearing weight at home. I will be posting some videos to show you simple things you can do at home to explore bearing weight without standing. Stay tuned!  
January is the time to reflect on the past year (what a wild ride that was!) and make plans for the New Year.
A fresh year lies ahead! How do you want it to be different? What goals would you like to achieve? What resolutions did you make? As a mom of a special needs child, setting goals actually makes me cringe. Too many professional assessments and IEP meetings will do that to you. Plus after learning about Flexible Goals from Anat Baniel, my views about goal setting has changed so much. Having goals and dreams are important, but sometimes goals can become rigid and force you to do things in a specific way to obtain a specific goal. Rigid goals can be dangerous territory for learning brains! My ultimate goal for my daughter (and my students) is a learning brain. 
My end goal is for my child to be able to adapt to change. Forcing her to accomplish a certain task in only one specific way, teaches her ONLY that one specific way. If a variable is added in, she's lost. For example if my goal is to "teach" my daughter how to hold a pencil "properly". I'd have to do some really hard thinking about what a proper pencil hold is and whether that specific way would be the most useful for her throughout her entire life. It sounds like a heck of a lot of pressure. There are so many variables to consider. Think about how you hold a pencil.
These are subtle changes that most people can easily adapt to, and aren’t even aware that they are doing, but HUGE adaptations for stroke survivors or children with special needs learning to write. By teaching them ONE rigid way (through mindless repetitions), you take away their ability to adapt to change. That’s the beauty of the Anat Baniel Method. It focuses not on the end goal (such as holding a pencil with a "proper pencil grip"), but instead explores all the rich variations of how the task could be possible. There are so many different options for a pencil grip. (Tight grip, loose grip, using different fingers, different papers, different orientations, etc.) By allowing the child to experience the many variations and allowing them the TIME to play and experiment, it gives the brain a rich source of experience to draw from. Which can be quite a different approach than what happens in a traditional one hour of OT/PT. This is frustrating because life doesn't happen with the exact same circumstances of a controlled therapy environment (as anyone with children will understand!). 
Hold Goals Loosely
Think of goals as being fluid.
Creativity (and learning!) happen spontaneously. Not under time deadlines or specific criteria. Would a musical genius compose an opera only on Tuesdays with a 1 hour timer beside him? Probably not. True learning happens when your brain gathers up experiences and organizes it into something useful. The more experiences, the more your brain has to work with. Adding constraints of time along with lack of variety, can kill real learning faster than you can say “resolution”. So, what should one do? 1. Have Flexible goals. Be much more curious about the journey. It sure would be nice to get to your goal X. But how many ways could you get there? Have some fun and find out! 2. Don’t set a time limit. It took Jill Bolte Taylor 8 years before she considered herself fully recovered from her stroke. What mindset would she have and what life would she be living today if she had only given herself 4 years? Curiosity and experience take time. And not a certain allotment of time, but meandering, soft time, without pressure or expectations. Which is very, very hard to do in our culture! But it can be done with a little awareness and some flexible goals. So what are your New Year’s resolutions and how can you add flexibility to them? Learn more...
I am super thrilled to be partnering up with Leanne Scott of Move Therapies located in Osoyoos, BC for regular Intensives. She's an amazing practitioner and I am so looking forward to working with her. And I am REALLY looking forward to having her work with my daughter.
What is an Intensive?
The NeuroMovement® approach of the Anat Baniel Method, usually works best for kids with special needs when the lessons are grouped together in 'chunks'.
Think of 4 lessons over 2 days (2 lessons per day) once a month, instead of one lesson per week. By grouping the lessons together, the child's brain has an influx of quality information to build upon during those 4 days. During the days and weeks after, expect new changes to happen as their nervous systems incorporate the new information into functional changes. This is when things get exciting! Often the week after an intensive, you will notice some fun changes in your child. More communication, more engagement, better sleep, better coordination, less spasticity, new milestones, etc. The changes can keep appearing 1-3 weeks after the intensive. Most then notice a plateau in new developments around week 4-5 and that's when you want to have the next intensive booked. 
Our First Intensive
Our first collaborative intensive will be happening Dec 28/29, 2016 in Osoyoos, BC. Stay tuned for when we will be having one in Harrison Hot Springs!
Working with another practitioner is super exciting for me, but sooooo very beneficial for the kids. Each child gets two lessons per day, one with me and one with Leanne. Having two different pracititoners gives such great variation and feedback for the child and each practitioner has their own unique style and personlity. I know from experience from watching lessons with my daughter that it's a joy for your child to experience the richness of a variety of quality practitioners. Each one connects in their own unique way with the kids and you never know what information each child will gain from them.  Recovering from a surgery, stroke or brain injury is hard work. As the days or weeks go by, you may have some of these feelings:
So what's the Secret to Kicking Butt in Therapy?Shhhhh... there's actually a few secrets. 9 super awesome kick butt secrets to be precise. Otherwise known as "the 9 Essentials" as written by Anat Baniel. They each deserve their own blog post (they are that super awesome kick butt!), but today I'm going to focus on one of my top three favorites. Become a Variation NinjaVariation is the spice of life in a routine of repetition. If you find yourself staring off into space during your therapy or thinking about anything else but the next 500 repetitions you are supposed to be doing, then chance are you are NOT getting the full benefits of your therapy. Nope. Just doing mindless repetitions doesn't cut it. There is scientific evidence (check out Dr. Micheal Merzerich) that supports engagement in an activity increases the ability of your brain to create new neural networks. Basically, if you are paying attention to what you are doing, you are going to learn more and learn faster. Sounds good, doesn't it? And the best part is that it can be really easy! A fantastic way to create engagement is to add a bit of spicy variation!  How to Use Variation in TherapyBy giving your brain MORE variation for a specific action, you are giving your brain more options to do the action in a more efficient, pleasurable way for YOUR own body to move. You are feeding your brain quality stimulus so it can organize itself better. There are infinite ways to add variation to an exercise routine. Of course, some of it will depend on what type of exercises you are doing with which body parts, but below are a few ideas to get you started. You'll get the hang of it and soon you'll be kicking butt like a Variation Ninja. A few ideas to get you started:
I could go on and on and on! But I think you get the point! Give any of these a try the next time you do your therapy and see what happens. Be playful! Get curious about how your body moves. Become engaged. Kick some therapy butt! Can you think of 3 variations you can easily incorporate into your therapy routine to spice things up? Related Posts The information contained in or made available through this website is not a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other health-care professional. Do not disregard, avoid or delay obtaining medical or health related advice from your health-care professional because of something you may have read on this site. The use of any information provided on this site is solely at your own risk.
We all know hugging feels good and releases some awesome endorphins which make you feel better.
But did you know there's a simple movement lesson you can do right now, in your chair, to increase your mobility and ease your back pain? How does it work? Through slow, gentle movements you can harness your own brain's plasticity to create functional changes. Join me for a quick lesson and see for yourself! This movement lesson is one of my student's favorites because it feels soooo good. Plus you can do it almost anywhere. I broke this lesson down into 2 lessons, so follow along with this first one and then head over to my "Free Video" section to find the second "Self Hug" lesson. Grab a chair and become aware! Take your time and enjoy hugging away your back pain. Tired of Back Pain?
Tried everything and your back pain still keeps you from doing things you love? These free videos are for you!
Related Posts:
 Recovering from a stroke can be frustrating and the therapy daunting. As a single momma, I am a big fan of multitasking, while at the same time keeping things simple. One thing I love about NeuroMovement, or the Anat Baniel Method, is how easy it is to incorporate into your daily life. Anat Baniel has 9 Essentials to accelerate learning. All 9 are brilliant and could give you years of contemplation, but if you want to propel your stroke or injury recovery and see results today, this week, this month, then here are my top 3 favorite essentials that you can EASILY put to use right now. So, if you are:
3 Tips to a Fast Recovery of Stroke or Injury: Tip 1: Go Slow Slow allows you to feel HOW you are moving. The more you become aware of how you are doing activities, the more information your brain has to develop new connections. Fast movements are done on autopilot, a definite advantage to get us through most of our everyday lives, but what happens when a brain injury affects our autopilot mode? You may have discovered that the faster and harder you try to perform those tasks that used to be automatic, the more failure you experience and the more frustration sets in. So, what can you do? Those are the golden moments to slow things down. The next time you are doing an activity that you used to be able to do without thinking (let’s use drinking out of your favourite coffee cup as an example, but it could be anything… putting on your socks, zipping up your coat, etc), instead of attempting to grab the coffee cup like you always used to before your injury or stroke, pause for a moment and slow down! Take a deep breath. Let go of any expectation. As you slow down, you will begin to discover HOW you move. The slower you go, the more awareness you have of where your body is in space. The more awareness you have, the more information you can give your brain, for it to organize your movements efficiently. Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself! Start with slow. Then you’ll begin to notice more awareness.  Tip 2: Become AwareFollowing the above example of reaching for your morning coffee, the next time you do it, get curious about things. Become aware what you are doing. It sounds easy. But really becoming aware of what you are doing and where your body is in space is an amazing brain workout! Here are only a few examples of what you can become aware of as you reach towards your morning brew:
Find your inner curiosity and playfulness! Once you start noticing and feeling subtle changes in how your hand, arm, and body moves while doing a 'simple' action, the more fun it becomes and the more awareness you will have. You'll start to notice finer and finer details, which in turn upgrades your brain to know HOW to move finer, more delicate, and more precise. You might also notice that becoming aware is easier when you go slow. Moving fast and being on autopilot has it’s advantages, but when you are learning new things, moving slow accelerates the learning process! (see Step 1!)  Tip 3: Add VariationThis is the fun one! Adding a bit of variation to a seemingly routine movement, captures your brain's attention and turns on your learning switch. Get Curious and Explore! How many ways can you bring the coffee cup to your lips?
Oh boy, I could go on and on! There are an infinite number of ways to perform a specific task. No one does the same task exactly the same way as someone else, nor do they do it the same way each time. There’s always a variant! Your body is never in the same precise position more than once! You might sit in the same chair at the kitchen table every morning, but are your feet exactly in the same spot? Your elbows? Your head? There is always something different. Your brain is amazing at taking all the variants and creating a desired outcome (like bringing the coffee cup to your lips!). It’s what your brain does best! It’s what your brain is designed for!!! Your brain takes sensory information (like where your body is in space), then organizes it all so it can perform the desired outcome with minimum effort. Your brain is freaking amazing! By slowing down, becoming aware of where your body parts are in space and adding variations, you are giving your brain quality information. The higher the quality of information, the better chance your brain has to figure out the most efficient and pain-free way to move YOUR body to get the desired outcome. Got it? How exciting is that! You get to control the quality of information you are feeding your brain! Now go forth and conquer your new milestones! Slowly! With great Awareness!  Related Posts:
Whoot! Whoot!
Free video lessons are finally here!!!
I've been wanting to create a series of online videos for my peeps forEVER. Well, as long as I've been a Neuromovement Practitioner. haha. I LOVE teaching group lessons. There's nothing like a group of nervous systems settling into awareness. It really is a magical thing to be a part of. But I can't be everywhere at once. Booooo... yeah, I know. Life can be crazy for both practitioner and student. So when we can't connect in person, I am hoping a video will be the next best thing! Hop on over to my "FREE VIDEO" section and check them out. Right now I am focusing on chair lessons, as I have a larger goal of creating a series of videos just for folks recovering from a stroke, who are usually the most comfortable doing a movement lesson in a chair. For my regular Neuromovement peeps, who love the floor lessons, I will be doing a series of lessons for the floor. I know my peeps love the floor! And I know my peeps will love these Mini Chair lessons too! All of the FREE VIDEOS are short, around 6-10 min. So perfect for a little break throughout the day. Or how about a great way to START the day? Or even to end the day? Or for office workers who sit at desks all day? Note the emphasis on DAY. They are perfect anytime of DAY. EveryDAY! PS... bonus points for those who find my "keeping-it-real" moment in one of the chair lessons. I love my cat, but sometimes she has horrible timing!  Step #1 |
AuthorJen Stewart is a mommy of 3 amazing kids and a practitioner of NeuroMovement™ Let's Connect!Categories
All
Archives
April 2017
|
RSS Feed
