LEARN &
EXPLORE
“What you truly learn best will appear to you later as your own discovery.”
What is the Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement®
The Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® is a learning-based approach that invites the brain to reorganize, refine and expand its possibilities through movement, attention and curiosity. Rather than focusing on exercises, drills, or “correcting” what is wrong, it creates the conditions for the brain to discover easier, more efficient, and more comfortable ways of moving, sensing and being. For people of all ages, from children to seniors, the work opens up new options—movement becomes not just an action, but a rich conversation between the body and the brain.
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NeuroMovement® grew out of the Feldenkrais Method®, created by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. Anat Baniel, who studied and worked closely with Feldenkrais, expanded his work by integrating new insights from neuroscience, child development, and the study of learning and brain plasticity.
While Feldenkrais focused on improving movement and awareness through gentle exploration, NeuroMovement® builds on this foundation with the Nine Essentials for Neuroplasticity—practical tools that actively wake up the brain’s ability to form new connections.
In this evolution, the work became more accessible, more structured for children and adults with neurological challenges, and more clearly grounded in current brain science—while staying true to the original principles of gentle movement, awareness, and learning.
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The Nine Essentials are core principles of neuroplasticity that wake up the brain to create new neural pathways and patterns. WIth these principles we can upgrade our learning process, enhance creativity, and overcome limitations.
The Nine Essentials are:
Movement with Attention / Slow / Variation / Subtlety / Enthusiasm / Flexible Goals / The Learning Switch / Imagination & Dreams / Awareness
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Neuroplasticity is central to NeuroMovement. In simple terms, neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to form new connections, reorganize its internal maps and learn throughout life. When you move slowly and vary your movement while attending to how you move and what you feel, the brain receives richer input and is invited to update how it acts. As you notice small differences in movement or sensation, your nervous system begins to reorganize itself and open up new possibilities.
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NeuroMovement is for people of all ages — infants, children, teens, adults, and seniors. The brain remains capable of learning and creating new neural connections throughout life. The approach is always adapted to the individual. Adults often come for help with pain, injury recovery, neurological conditions, or simply to move with more ease. Seniors use it to improve balance, prevent falls, restore confidence, and stay active. For children experiencing challenges with movement or learning, the method offers a way to move beyond limitations and improve function.
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Through gentle NeuroMovement lessons, children learn to move more easily, gain functional abilities, and develop new possibilities in their daily lives.
NeuroMovement can support children with:
Learning disabilities
Cerebral Palsy
Autism, Asperger's syndrome
Undiagnosed developmental delays
Bracchial plexus injury
Torticollis
Scoliosis
Hypertonia and Hypotonia
Spinal muscular atrophy
Down's syndrome, fragile X syndrome
Genetic disorders
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Adults can benefit from NeuroMovement if they are seeking to:
Improve quality of life and well-being
Rehabilitation from brain injury or stroke
Reduce chronic pain in the back, neck, shoulders, or hips
Move comfortably despite their scoliosis
Improve balance and coordination
Recover from injury or surgery
Enhance performance as athletes, musicians, or artists
Address symptoms associated with aging
Manage anxiety and PTSD
Address ADD/ADHD
Manage neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease or Multiple Sclerosis
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Yes, often it can. When progress plateaus in traditional therapy, it doesn’t always mean the brain can’t change — it may just need a different approach. NeuroMovement focuses on creating new possibilities rather than pushing for correction. Many families and adults come after being told to expect minimal improvement, and they are often surprised by new changes, sometimes very small at first, but meaningful and real.
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Yes. The movements are extremely gentle and always within the child’s comfort. We do not force or stretch or try to make them do something they can’t. Instead, we help them feel safe, comfortable, and ready to learn. Because the work is so respectful and non-invasive, it is suitable for infants and children with a wide range of neurological and genetic conditions.
The Approach
In my practice I see people of all ages, from just a few weeks old into their nineties. While the reasons for lessons vary widely from person to person, the approach to improving the quality of movement and learning is the same. The positive changes in physical and cognitive function allow the person to participate in life more fully.
Anat Baniel and colleagues recently described the approach of NeuroMovement in a Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience article titled, “From fixing to connecting.” Here are the key aspects.
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NeuroMovement is positioned as a learning-based modality rather than an exercise program or therapy designed to “fix” deficits.
The practitioner’s role is to create conditions for the person to discover new ways of organizing movement and sensing, rather than instructing them to perform a specific, “correct” way.
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The process always begins by joining the person’s current state—physically, emotionally, and neurologically.
This means noticing how they move, sense, and respond right now, and working with that, instead of trying to impose an external standard or push them toward a specific skill.
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Movements are slow, gentle, and varied, often involving small differences in direction, timing, or coordination.
The variation stimulates the nervous system’s capacity for neuroplastic change—the person feels differences and begins to self-organize in new ways.
There’s no repetition-for-drilling; instead, each variation is fresh and exploratory.
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Attention is a key ingredient: when a person pays attention to how they are moving or sensing, the brain creates richer maps of the body and movement possibilities.
Movements are done slowly enough for the nervous system to detect differences—allowing for refinement of movement and perception.
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Learning is not done to the person; it’s a two-way, in-the-moment exchange between practitioner and learner.
Practitioners listen with their hands, eyes, and whole presence, adjusting based on the learner’s responses.
This creates a sense of mutual trust and safety, essential for curiosity and learning.
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The aim is for the learner to initiate and own new patterns—to discover rather than be taught.
Instead of enforcing a “correct” way to move, the practitioner offers opportunities for the person to find options that feel easier, more efficient, or more pleasurable.
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The process is not limited to motor improvement—changes in movement organization affect:
Thinking (clarity, flexibility)
Feeling (emotional regulation, sense of safety)
Interaction (social connection, communication)
By working with the whole person, FM and ABMNM® help develop broader self-image—how the person perceives themselves in space, in action, and in relation to others.
In short:
NeuroMovement is about creating safe, varied, and attention-rich movement experiences in real-time connection, so the learner’s own brain can reorganize movement and perception. It’s an open-ended, curiosity-driven process where transformation comes from within the learner, not from external correction.
Client Experiences