How Does NeuroMovement® Work?

Ana Maria Pardo Author

By taking advantage of neuroplasticity - the brain's ability to change at any age - we can learn to move better so we can feel better.

How Does NeuroMovement® Work?



Brain Change can Lead to Less Pain


You hurt, and you want to move better so you can feel better.  You’re focused on the part of your body that’s painful or uncomfortable.  


That’s kind of how pain is - it demands your attention.  The last thing you’re thinking about is your brain.  


I’m here to explain why your brain is the FIRST thing you want to think about.  Read on to discover how you can feel better by using movement to change your brain.  




Neuroplasticity Means We can Change Our Brains!


We now know that the brain has the ability to change at any age.  We call this brain plasticity or neuroplasticity.


And it's GREAT news!  It means we can improve brain functioning throughout our lives. 


Gone are the days when we thought that “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”  You CAN teach an old dog new tricks.  You just have to know how.  


If you understand how the brain works, you can adapt how you take in information so that you can actually learn. 




The Brain is a Dynamic Information System


In Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement®, we recognize that the brain is constantly working to make sense out of all the data we take in every day: what we see, hear, taste, smell, and feel.  And in order to understand something better, we need new information.  


Getting the same information over and over again doesn’t give our brains anything new to work with.  


Without new information, the brain will always come up with the same old answers.  

The Brain is a Dynamic Information System by Move and Bloom



Think back to the last time you took a class.  Some things you understood, and some things you perhaps thought a bit confusing.  


So what helped clear up the confusion?  


Maybe you asked a question.  And if the teacher just kept repeating the same explanation over and over, you got... frustrated.  


But if the teacher tried to explain it in a slightly different way, the concept started to become clearer to you.  


It's the same thing with movement.  

Most Movement is Controlled by the Brain by Move and Bloom 

Most movement is controlled by the brain.  


And when we practice a movement, simple repetition makes it permanent.  


To learn a new or different movement, though, we need to go through a series of movement explorations.  


Babies do this naturally.  One of their earliest movements is to bring the hands to the face.  


Each time the hands land in a slightly different spot, until one day part of a hand lands in the mouth.  Success!  


With every new piece of information, the brain changes and grows.  

Early Movement: Baby Brings Hand to Mouth by Move and Bloom

To learn, though, we actually have to perceive a difference.  


So many young dancers have told me that they were told repeatedly by their teacher to "point your toes!"  The dancers thought their toes were pointed.  


To them, having the toes pointed felt an awful lot like having the toes not pointed.  They couldn't feel the difference accurately.  


If they could have, they would have pointed their toes.  What they lacked the perception of a difference.  

The Perception of a Difference is the Unit of Learning by Move and Bloom

It is information coupled with the perception of a difference that develops discrimination - the ability to notice distinctions or to differentiate between one thing and another.  




Differentiation Leads to Changes in the Brain.


Differentiation is coupled by changes in the brain: the brain grows new connections, and brain maps are enhanced.  


Yes, our brain maps our physical body in the brain.  These maps look different than our physical paper maps, but they serve the same purpose: they help us move our body in space.  


If you don’t know where you are, where your “parts” are relative to each other, you can’t organize your movements.  If you’ve ever watched a really young baby, you know what I mean.  


Sometimes a baby’s random movements mean that they throw their hands in their face.  A finger lands in their eye, and the baby cries.  


As the baby maps their body more and more clearly in their brain, though, the movements become less random and more purposeful.  The hand lands in the eye less often.  


For that to happen, the baby has to map smaller and smaller areas of the body.  Instead of having a map that represents just “The Head”, it starts to become a map of “The Greater Head Region with maps of the Eyes, the Nose, the Mouth, and neighboring suburbs.”

Finer Distinctions Make More Accurate Brain Maps by Move and Bloom

The finer the discrimination, the fuller the picture we have of a process.


Fuller, more accurate brain maps give us more options and more possible solutions to any movement puzzle.  


When we have a full enough picture, an accurate enough brain map, we can execute an action.  


The better the map, the easier it is to complete the action.  



If we can't execute an action, it's most likely because we need more information so we can begin to differentiate.  


In the absence of enough information, trying harder doesn't help. Repetition doesn't help.  Only getting the right kind and amount of information in the right way will help us find the answers we need.  


We know this when the example is driving to a new location.  


Without accurate directions, we can't arrive at our destination.  If we're lucky, we'll find it by accident.  Most likely, though, we'll get lost.  


Driving faster won't help.  Trying over and over to get there won't help.  Getting instructions that include landmarks we don't recognize won't help.  


Only stopping to find directions that make sense to us will get us to our goal.  




NeuroMovement® Helps us Learn Functional Movement Patterns.


Learning functional movement patterns is very similar to learning to find a destination.  It's a process of noticing what we feel as we move.  


NeuroMovement® lessons are skillfully arranged movement explorations that gradually introduce more and more pieces of a movement puzzle, till we can put together an action.   


The exploration is structured such a way that we learn to move easily and comfortably, rather than with strain and effort.  


In my experience, NeuroMovement® is the easiest, most effective way to learn how to move.  



Conclusion


Harnessing the power of the brain to change to learn to move well is the best way to avoid and even eliminate pain. 


Even if you have a “horrible” MRI, I bet there’s someone out there with a similarly “horrible” MRI who moves more easily and comfortably. 


Why?  Because they have more accurate brain maps and can better organize their movement.  


They didn’t get those better brain maps by studying.  Those maps formed as the person explored movement in very specific ways - possibly with the help of a NeuroMovement® Practitioner.  


If you haven't already, try NeuroMovement® for yourself. 


Enjoy a free lesson from my courses.  Do the lesson, and let me know what you notice during and after you do the lesson.  I’d love to hear what changes you feel. 


And if you still have questions about NeuroMovement®, feel free to get in touch.  I'd love to hear from you!

Categories: Natural Pain Relief, Neuroplasticity