We want to share with you some more stories of the children and the families we work with. Today we will introduce you to Emma  Zupko. Her father found us, like so many parents after exhaustive searches on the internet. He watched a video online of Anat working with “Elizabeth” rushed upstairs to try a move out on his daughter and saw something in her response that he had never seen before! It led him to us both for lessons for his daughter and to enter the training to become a practitioner. Here is some of their story;
Emma will be 1 year old this weekend
To date she has been diagnosed w/ a rare genetic disorder called “Fryn’s Syndrome and complete agenesis of the Corpus Callosum.
She does not have a herniated diaphragm which is a life threatening characteristic of Fryn’s Syndrone. Most infants do not survive the first months of life because of the herniated diaphragm.
She was born with extreme Hypotonia, uncontrollable/unexplainable tremors throughout her entire body, feeding delays(g-tube), GERD(reflux), cortical blindness, peripheral neuropathy, extreme developmental delays, extreme irritability, sleeping issues,   and a  few other  minor issues.
Her prognosis was/is a big question for the medical industry: ”WAIT AND SEE”. The best Drs. In the world could only shrug their shoulders and tell us that “Emma is teaching us”. Fryn’s Syndrome has only  a handful of living survivors, so using prior cases as a benchmark for her development is not possible.
Emma began ABM at 4 months of age. Her tremors had gotten a little better but were still a  problem.
To Date:
1.       Her tremors are almost gone. They are apparent only when extremely tired and still they are very mild.
2.       She takes a bottle in small amounts and has two meals a day with baby food(spoon fed). Her initial ass. was that she could not be mouth fed and questionable whether she ever would.
3.       GERD is not an issue because while having her g-tube surgery she also had a nissen done.
4.       Emma’s vision was just re-evaluated  two weeks ago and the doctor was extremely happy to say that she sees signs of vision
5.       She has become a very happy baby and smiles and talks all day long.
6.       I question whether she has neuropathy or not. But she has begun to move a lot more and seems to have become ticklelish. Her movements are still that of a very young infant but they are so much more  than she ever had . her startle reflex is more apparent.
7.       She is aware of her family and will often turn in the direction of one’s voice or give us a smile.
8.       Irritability is just about gone and her crying is more like the characteristics of a normal child. i.e. , hungry, tired.
9.       THE BALL IS ROLLING

Emma has lessons with Marcy Lindheimer in New York and Kathy O’Neil in Pennsylvania. Here is an e-mail that her father just sent to Marcy concerning the  latest lessons;

Hello Marcy,
After  Emma’s lessons last week with you and Kathy, I felt the need to give you a follow-up.  She is doing great !!  She has been in a great mood, smiling all day long, and a lot more inquisitive about her surroundings. Her sleeping has greatly improved and just the other day she decided to drink 6 oz. instead of her normal 2 0z. We have taken your advice on her head positioning and that has helped tremendously. Other family members have noticed a great improvement in her neck strength and positioning as well. The list goes on!!
Equally important, last week’s lessons have given my wife and other family members a refreshing breath of hope for our little angel and has given them the opportunity to see what possibilities can be reached with Emma and their own lives as well. Tiny miracles are happening all around us and there are no words that express my thanks. Acceptance is a huge obstacle for parents with children with special needs, and seeing results so quickly and beautifully, only helps.
I am forever grateful that there is such thing as You-tube. It was what drew me to ABM. I was convinced by the first video of Anat’s work that I saw. I can only imagine the feeling You, Kathy, or any other practitioner must have when seeing such huge results with children. I am so glad I am in the training and only hope, that as a practitioner,  I may have some of the results I’ve witnessed with you and Emma.
Every time I bring Emma for her lessons with Kathy, I know that in the days to come after her lessons,  I will be witness  to some great gift.. It could be Emma’s movement, her speech, or maybe her vision.  One never knows.  But it’s inevitable and that’s what’s so great about ABM.  Last week’s lessons not only helped Emma, but my wife as well.  You and Kathy have given my wife the most beautiful gift any human can give another: HOPE.  I can only express my thanks and hope you know how much of a difference you have made in my family’s lives.

LOVE AND LIGHT,   David Zupko

Anat Baniel Method Workshop

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Anat Baniel Method(R) Transforms the Lives of Children with Special Needs – Anat Baniel to Lead One-day Workshop for Parents and Practitioners

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New study may explain why children with autism are different in how they learn

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Yesterday Anat appeared on the popular ABC Bay area TV show View from the Bay. She was interviewed by and you can watch it by clicking here! Her topic was Busting Popular Exercise Myths and this topic will be expanded in subsequent posts.

In terms of exercise and fitness Anat talks about three popular myths.

1) The myth that stretching is beneficial

2) The myth that having a flat stomach is healthy

3) The myth that your brain cannot change as you progress through adulthood.

Anat will be giving a 2 hour presentation and book signing from 4-6pm on Thursday June 4th at the Subud Center on W 29th between 7th and 8th and then a one day workshop from 10am-5pm at the same venue on Saturday June 6th. Bost events are hosted by Rebecca Gardiner, the Manhattan based Anat Baniel Method practitioner. There are still a few spaces left.

There is still time to register for Anat’s free presentation in Northmoor on Saturday from 4-6pm and the one day workshop on Sunday at the Renaissance Hotel from 10am-5pm.

Anat will be speaking in De Anza College, Cupertino this thursday evening from 6.30 – 8.30. She will be hosted by Andrea Bowers and the Anat Baniel Method Center of San Jose. The event is free and is a great chance to experience Anat’s teaching first hand, to meet her, have the opportunity to ask questions and have your copy of “Move into Life” signed by her.

On Friday Anat gave a presentation at Posit Science, the company headed by Michael Merzenich where he is continually looking to find new practical applications for the knowledge he has gained in 40 years of brain plasticity reasearch.

Anat initially won over the few skeptics in the audience before utterly captivating them as this e-mail we recieved shows;

Dear Anat,

Thank you so much for coming today- everyone really loved it. I wanted to share one comment I received afterwards:

“Anat Baniel!  Wow!  She is absolutely terrific!  Her subject matter is fascinating.  She is charming, delightful and a breath of fresh air!  What a brain!  And it seems that she has harnessed a corner on healing, and gentle, positive change.  Wow…I for one was truly impressed and can’t wait to go get my book!  And I can’t wait to put some of her concepts with the body to practice!  I’m jazzed! Thanks again for having her.”

So, that about sums it up- thank you again!

Best,
Karen

Karen Merzenich

Michael Merzenich himself continues to be a champion of Anat, her work and her book. Amongst several moments of testimony during her presentation he described her work and her book as a tour de force that all of his staff should read in order to have a clearer understanding of what they are working to achieve at the corporation.

A new study in the Journal of the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences gives further support to Anat’s views on the importance of daydreaming as outlined in the chapter in her book on the eighth essential Imagination and Dreams.

Got a tough problem to solve? Try daydreaming.

Contrary to the notion that daydreaming is a sign of laziness, letting the mind wander, can actually let the parts of the brain associated with problem-solving become active, a new study finds.

Kalina Christoff of the University of British Columbia in Canada and her colleagues placed study participants inside an fMRI scanner, where they performed the simple routine task of pushing a button when numbers appear on a screen. The researchers tracked subjects’ attentiveness moment-to-moment through brain scans, subjective reports from subjects and by tracking their performance on the task.

Until now, scientists had thought that the brain’s “default network,” which is linked to easy, routine mental activity, was the only part of the brain that remains active when the mind wanders. But in the study subjects, the brain’s “executive network” – associated with high-level, complex problem-solving – also lit up.

The less subjects were aware that their mind was wandering, the more both networks were activated.

“This study shows our brains are very active when we daydream – much more active than when we focus on routine tasks,” Christoff said.

The findings, detailed in the May 11 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that daydreaming is an important cognitive state where we may unconsciously turn our attention from immediate tasks to sort through important problems in our lives.

“When you daydream, you may not be achieving your immediate goal – say reading a book or paying attention in class – but your mind may be taking that time to address more important questions in your life, such as advancing your career or personal relationships,” Christoff said.

That’s particularly good news, because daydreaming can occupy as much as one third of our waking lives, previous studies have found.