Okay, this is what I have been up to these days. Nisarga’s development still seems behind schedule and the attitude of his pediatrician is wait and see. That seems fine, since he isn’t ill or unhappy, but I was getting concerned about his lack of movements.
A lot of research online led me to discover the Feldenkrais method and then the Anat baniel method for children.What I liked was the attitude of sensitivity to the child’s comfort and the focus on creating learning experiences rather than training or therapy. I was eager to have this for Nisarga, but there aren’t any practitioners in India. Not to be stopped, I have turned my considerable aptitude for learning toward this and learned through reading and teaching materials purchased online.
I tried to understand the principles and used the abundant videos on YouTube to see example after example of them in action and started applying these learnings to assist Nisarga. It started showing results almost immediately. I felt encouraged and worked further, helping Nisarga to roll over and gain neck control.
Then, I became complacent, till I realized that he is now 8 months old and still not sitting or crawling, and have been working with him gain for the last few days. Again, I am encouraged to see that within four days he learned to hold his back straighter, sits with very little support, uses two hands to play with toys and as of today, has started crawling – all of which he was not able till four days ago.
What began as a disappointment over lack of access to practitioners is leading to me becoming a practitioner!I am not a certified practitioner, but I would be happy to work with other children who need help with motor development. I am not promising any competence and of course, if, unlike me, you can fly abroad and get those experts to work with your child, its best. But if that is not possible for you, I dare say that this may be worth a shot. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t harm for sure. But if it does… the changes in Nisarga in the last four days are miraculous.
Of course, in an ideal world, I will be able to afford to fly abroad to learn when Nisarga is older. Or, there may be other practitioners who begin working in Mumbai…
vidyut, will you stop amazing me, please?
i think, i should get used to such mini-miracles when i am in your space…
i totally love you. 🙂
and… in an ideal world, people like you don’t find an access to a practitioner… so that they learn on their own, catch the pure essence of any work/theory… and then use it most ‘ideally’, to create a still more ideal world…
what an ‘ideal’ set-up.
what a world you are showing me.
I am amazed from ur work done by you on Nisarga .
We also got different therapies used in poland and USA ,
If you like to visit and want to know about more therapies, you can login to our website for more information.
Thanks And Regards,
IIAHP
Hi
Great to see this post – how is Nisarga now? Are u continuiing with some ABM style work?
I too am interested in learning ABM as i volunteer with children of special needs. Any pointers in India?
Or we could share info we have.
THanks,
Ravi
Hi Nisagra’s Mother,
I really want to congratulate you for such an achievement. I strongly believe in Feldenkrais and Anat Baniel Methdod. It makes a lot of sense then other therapies.
I am thinking of getting some training in this too and will be moving to India.
will update you about it soon..
good job
Hi mom to Nisarga-congrats to you and I love your determination. I also found the anat Baniel method amazing. I’m looking to free my daughters head and to help her initiate movement to be able to nod yes and no. It is a goal that I will achieve. Kyla had cerebral palsy and we are going to Delhi for treatment. But I know in conjunction with medical treatment (stem cells) she will go even further. I too feel moms are great practitioners and had my first lesson in California this summer/ workshop and observation with therapist. If I get chance to video tape myself with my daughter helping her release her tummy I would love to swap for any videos showing how you help relax the neck/ head . Keep studying I admire your tenacity!!!
‘
Hi Nisarga’s mom,
How is she now?
I know this post is old, but my son has spastic diplegia. Im curious about ABM.
Have you read her book Kids beyond limits? Did it help you? Woold you suggest i buy it?
NAMI : Have you finished your training? And back to india?
Guys, id appreciate any suggestions, insight on ABM for spasticity.
Thanks
Savi
I have the book – Anat Baniel’s Kid Beyond Limits. It is very good, but I don’t think you will find specific “fixes” for specific problems. However it is indeed a valuable resource for parents of all children, particularly those with disabilities.
I have been able to get some success relieving my son’s spasticity. I am in Virar, near Mumbai and feel free to drop in and I can see if what I know is useful for him. If so, I can easily share what and how I learned it.
While my ability seems to be improving in this last year or so, considering that I have not learned formally, as well as have worked on only my son, I lack the diversity that a proper practitioner would have. However, I’m confident that I will do no harm, and am likely to be at least somewhat useful.
Thank you very much. I just placed order for the book online, I live in chennai. I’d love to chat with u sometime when u r free. I’m not sure how to mail u
Regards
Savi
I have been reading about the Anat Baniel Method and i am so inspired by you. I am still trying to read up and was wondering if you could guide me. As of now I am trying to sift through all the information and dont know where to start. I live in Bhutan and my son is 2.5 yrs old and was diagnosed with CP at 6 months of age. he cries all the time during OT/PT and I am going crazy. If need be I will be happy to travel all the way to Mumbai to meet you and learn with you.
Thank you for your kind words. If you are looking to learn from books, videos and online resources and such, I’m happy to share insights from my learning experience (be warned that it is a long learning curve). However, if you are willing to travel to learn, I would recommend you travel to meet some “real” trained practitioners – much as I am self-learned, each day brings awareness of how much it would have helped to be properly trained.
You should try connecting with people with the Anat Baniel Method, or Sheryl Fields or Paul Doron – there are others. They specialize with children and if you can travel for a week and get some sessions for your child, it will be money spent far more wisely than trying to self-learn from another self-learner.
Though of course you are welcome to come over and I will do all I can to help in any case.
Thank you for your prompt reply Mom 🙂
As of now I guess I will have to try to learn by myself. Travelling to India is more do-able than travelling overseas. Do you have any idea if there are certified practioners in India? I guess the first step for me would be to read ‘Kids beyond limits” right? Is it okay if I correspond with you via email or something? Just so I dont clutter up your page here.
Hi Gr8mom,
I m working very hard for my my 8years old cp child since last seven years, I just came to know abt this method, I know there is no practitioner here in India . Do u think this book can help me?, can you send me your address so that whenever I come to Mumbai , I will contact you.
Thanks a lot
Please feel free to get in touch any time.
Replying publicly, for you and anyone else who may need help with the Feldenkrais Method. I am no expert, but have spent 3 years of determined study and practice with my son. I can’t work miracles with a touch, but I have had definite success in reducing spastic movements, stifness and other limiting factors. I am also getting slow but very definite progress in helping him learn to move.
If what I learned is useful to more kids, I am at your service. I know how frustrating it is, to hear of these things but find no resources at hand in India.
I would like to get in touch with you regarding my son. I stay in Delhi and my son is 17 months old with a lot of developmental problems
Hello , mom to Nisarga. I have a daughter who is 6.5 years old and we have come to a stage where we have tried many things but still unsure. She has no definitive disease diagnosed but has an injury to the brain and has near normal intelligence but is hyperactive. Her brain injury affects her vision. If possible , we would like to have a chat with you and understand how you have gone about learning ABM and what benefits it may offer.
Many thanks and Regards
I have emailed you. Feel free to reach out any time. My knowledge is not vast, but I have got concrete results over time.
Hi Mom to Nisarga , For some reasons I have not received your email. Please could you re-send.
Many Thanks
Hi Sandip.
I resent email. Do confirm you got it.
Vidyut
(Nisarga’s mom)
Hello,
This is specifically on practicing AB method on a CP child. Since i happen to reside in Mumbai, i would like to get in touch with u as i need to get some basics worked out for practice to my son 9 1/2 years who is spastic dipligic CP , but with PT, swimming & other activities going to normal school now, IQ at 96 but SQ at 64 still a long way to go. Need ur contact details . already ordered for book by AB and expected in September.
Please write to me in detail about ur Mumbai contact.
Regards
V.gurumurthy
Hi Vidyut,
Great going!! I am a physiotherapist working in pediatrics since the last 10 years and since a while now I have been following videos online to incorporate Feldenkrais method,ABM & now moreso Movement Lesson (https://www.youtube.com/user/movementlesson/videos) on the kids I work with. We had a brief session of Michelle Turner coming over to India (Delhi in Dec’14) & we could all appreciate how beautifully the method works with the kids. So finally we are getting these methods to India too. I am getting beautiful results in my kids with what I am able to apply of movement lessons too. We are hoping to have Michelle come over in June this year to see some more children & train us too. Do see the above link….she is a very open source person & so theres a lot you can learn through her youtube channel itself. All the best with Nisarga.
Hello,
We are really interested in meeting Nisarga and you! I had already posted on your other blog entry and hoping this time I might be luckier. I have just completed reading Kids Beyond Limits.. (Thanks to you!) and gathering/ digesting other relevant resources. I haven’t started working it yet on my son (1.5 yr ).
While the therapy is surely paramount, medicines (allopathic – valparins and baclofens etc..) seem to have alternatives in Ayurveda. Only recently AIIMS has openly endorsed Ayurveda (Ashwagandha powder, Sidh Makardhwaj) for Rheumatoid Arthritis. I believe, similar studies on Turmeric (as Anti-epileptic) are going on. If someone has any experience with this, kindly come forth.
It has not been uncommon to run into parents who have endorsed kalaripayattu, panchakarma as having done good things for their special children. However, unlike Dr. Feldenkrais’ and ABM, there is no way to gauge the good practitioners from bad ones .. since we donot know the theory. I request all who have worked with such methods or had special training to come forth.
@ Swati .. please let me have your contact.
Thank you.
Amar
Hi Amar,
Come over and meet any time! We are mostly home.
Vidyut
Hi Amar,
Sorry for the delay in response. You can reach me on my email id rswati@gmail.com. @Nisarga’s mom- I realized after reading some more of your posts, that you are familiar with Michelle’s work. I do find it very effective and its good to see the quality of movements improve too. All the best.
Regards,
Swati
Hi Nisarga’s mom. Would love to hear from you as my daughter is severely delayed. She hasn’t yet started crawling. Would love to take your valuable guidance as ABM is not available in India. How may I contact you?
hi
My son has Down syndrome and is 1 year old. He does not crawl as yet. Someone suggested ABMfor hi but I do not find any one practicing it in India.
Would like to seek your help, do let me know how to go about it
Rajita
Hi Vidyut
My email id is [redacted to protect privacy] please let me know how can I get in touch with you?
My son got injury name brachial plexus while birth this therapy, is this beneficial..? Now he is 1yr 3 months
Should be useful. At least it is worth a shot and unlikely to harm.
hi, Vidyut, I am also curious to learn this method for my child, I did search a lot online, but could not find any resource to exactly know the method practical details. can u please share online resource links which u used , so that I can also purchase the same. it will be really very beneficial for me. Thanks
There aren’t training videos as such. But if you watch a lot of functional integration videos and try doing the awareness through movement exercises yourself as well as applying your observations from the lessons, you slowly start “figuring it out”. It takes a lot of patience and gentleness. Books that helped me were “The Feldenkrais Method” by Yochanan Rywerant and “A case of Nora” by Moshe Feldenkrais”. The first is very good for understanding how the movements are planned. The second is useful for understanding the sheer diversity of “tricks” you can use to communicate with the body. At the end of the day, the movements too are “tricks” of sorts. More important for what they make the body learn than the actual movement itself. The videos of Functional Integration are very useful to see how it all comes together. Soon you are able to see what movement is made, and what result was created and you know when a movement was made, but nothing much happened to the student. Just observation. Lots and lots of observation and practice.
Hello everybody…i stay in Mumbai wanted to meet nisarga mom….can anyone help me out with her mail id….my child is 4 year but can’t sit or move properly….I request group member help me out.
Thanks
Sneha.
HI Vidyut
My daughter is 5. she has spastic dystonia. Her both the legs and left hand is affected. I have doing PT OT for last 4 years consistently but not much of progress. That progress also fluctuates after every few months. She rolls on one side . Doesn’t sit up on her own , if we put her in supported sitting then she slides , at times manages to sit up with support. Could you send me your contact details? I am interested to start the ABM for my daughter but dont know where and how to start. Currently I am reading “Kids beyond Limit” by Anat Baniel .
TAI !
Hi Vidyut
I am a mom to 3 months old boy, diagnosed with HIE III (going towards cp) due to serve birth asphyxia. I would like to know if this technique help me. I am v
Heart broken, please help me. Also need help regarding his visual stimulation as he has not started observing yet.
https://www.anatbanielmethod.com/search
Searching for practitioners in INDIA leads to two names…..one in Mumbai and one in Hyderabad.
Hope its useful.
My 9 months daughter has been diagnosed with leukodystrophy. Would this method work for her. She has neck tremors and hand tremors and has not achieved her milestones.
Hello vidyut mam.
Regards
My son is 8 months old ( corrected age 6 .5 momths old) he is identified with stroke on the left side of brain. Thus his right side is weak. I am reading book kids beyond limits n trying to understand. My son cries when we go for or ot pr. This we are doing the therapies at home. We are getting guidances from OT at IPH college, delhi. Mam if u can help me in treating my son i ll be very thank fl oease help. This is my 2 nd child. I have lost my first child aa he was still born. Mam please help.
Hi… My daughter is almost 2 month old she gorlt injured during delivery …she diagnosed with brachail plexus (erb palsy)..no stiffness in hand but left hand is not working at all only fingure movement is there….like to meet you if possible kindly …share how to reach you…
Hi Vidyut,
Read your post. Very informative , affectionate . I want to contact you. My son also has some issue. I would like to take your advice. Can you share your email id