Anat Baniel Method = Amazing Body Movements? (Part 2)....

So in our last post, I talked about The Institutes. In this post, I will talk about the other therapy we looked into, The Anat Baniel Method.

I was introduced to the Anat Baniel Method (or ABM for short) by many of the other preemie mommies that I have met online. I must say that I am very thankful to live in a day and age where connecting with other people in similar situations is only a few clicks away.

So on many of the other Micro Preemie mommy blogs that I read, I kept hearing how many of them were doing a therapy called ABM. What is ABM?

In short, ABM evolved from the earlier work of a man named Moshe Feldenkrais. His approach is more a form of self-education through movement as opposed to manipulative therapy that traditional therapies are based on (like physical and occupational therapy).

What does this mean? In short, the therapy shows a person (or baby!) how to find their place in space by using movement. (This is the best way I can describe the method without having yet read Anat's book. I promise I will Lindsay!). 

Anat was a student of Feldenkrais, and she evolved the therapy into her own method that she calls the
Anat Baniel Method (named after herself!). Here is a video straight from her website that includes testimonies and a description of the method. 

How is ABM different from The Institutes? In short, you can bring your child to a certified practitioner who has been trained by Anat's center up in Northern California. For many of my fellow micro preemie mommies in other states, finding a practitioner was a challenge. 

For them, practitioner's were few and far between in states on the other side of the country, since it would require that those practitioner's would have to travel to get trained in Northern California, then go back to their home state to build their practice. And since this method is still in it's infancy of gaining acceptance, few practitioner's have discovered this method. 

In my search for a local practitioner, I was lucky to find out that there was one 10 MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE! Kind of a sign, huh? Each session would be similar in cost to a traditional therapy session, but would not be covered by insurance or our state Regional Center. 

Still, it was considerably less than The Institutes, and since a practitioner was so close to me, I figured ABM might be our method of choice. I know some mommies in other states who have to travel 4 hours to their nearest practitioner, or even travel out of state, so I feel pretty blessed in that aspect. 

So what would a session look like? Here is a sample video with a simple description:

While it doesn't look like much, I was told by our practitioner over the phone that in the FIRST FEW SESSIONS I would start to see results. Say what? Needless to say, I was intrigued...............

(Part 3 to follow.........)