Optimize Every Child's Developmental Trajectory
via Experiential Movement®
Regardless of the Challenge or Disability
Europe’s Only Complete, Personalized
Movement Training Program
Dedicated to Empowering You
To Empower the Child With Special Needs
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Embody. Envision. Elicit. Empower.
Grow. Serve. Thrive.
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Individualized Instruction by Master Teachers
Authors of the essential, "big-picture" handbook for movement practitioners, parents, and caregivers seeking to elevate their service to Children With Special Needs.
“In our training programs we bring to life these key principles, priorities, and passions, all made possible by our small group size, expertly focused curriculum, and uplifting camaraderie”.
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Europe’s Premier Movement Training Program
Devoted to Parents, Caregivers & Professionals
Supporting the Child With Special Needs
Whether you are supporting your own Special Needs Child,
or want to serve others, our focused, dynamic, transformative
(and entirely in-person) training program gives you the
small-group education, experience, skill, and confidence to
optimize the developmental trajectories of these great kids.
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Our Core Focus, Quality, Value . . .
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SHIFT YOUR WORLD
through Experiential Movement® & neural plasticity - Movement is life (read more about this at theℹ︎informational button below). When we truly experience and embody our movement, remarkable learning and change take place.
- And, when we learn to move with a child in ways that elicit and cultivate the child’s native, experiential learning process, new developmental trajectories and possibilities unfold for the child, whatever their challenges. This is the beauty and power of Experiential Movement® and the NeuroScanBalance® Feinmotorik method, both inspired by the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. Sylvia and Kerstin have now distilled the most potent elements of their collective 50+ years of professional practice, and share these with you.
- You may be a parent or caregiver who wants to more effectively support your own child. Or, you already may be a movement or other professional who wants to expand your repertoire. Or, you may be looking to embark on an entirely new personal or professional journey by training in this powerful movement modality.
- Whatever your prior experience and goals, our small group setting and individualized program allow us to meet you where you are. You will experience the pleasure of embodied movement, a more vital presence, and improved function and quality of daily life. You will feel first-hand the power of neural plasticity, and the re-mapping of the brain and nervous system. Through this process, you learn to powerfully translate and transmit your own learning into your support of the child.
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THRIVE PERSONALLY & PROFESSIONALLY
while powerfully supporting these great kids - Thrive with highly personalized instruction by two seasoned practitioners and long-time colleagues ― Sylvia Leiner Shordike and Kerstin Baldischwieler ― sharing with you our combined 50+ years of private practice and expertise as professional teachers and trainers. We love to teach, and deliberately keep our training group small (at most 26 participants) in order to maximize our one-on-one time with you.
- We are passionate about sharing our know-how. With our expertly distilled integration of cognitive, experiential, hands-on, and practicum instruction, you acquire the skills and develop the confidence to effectively and creatively address the diverse circumstances faced by Children With Special Needs. Along the way we have fun, and savor the camaraderie.
- You will learn about a profound experiential learning process, not a product. By first experiencing this process and embodying Experiential Movement for ourselves, we are setting the stage to powerfully translate and transmit our own learning into each client relationship. This is how we empower ourselves to empower the kids.
- As a result of our own embodied relational presence, rather than “impose” we are now able to envision meaningful new learning opportunities for each unique child; we can then successfully “invite” the child to “dance” with us into new neural networks. We are each following the other’s lead ― fluidly, curiously, moment-by-moment.
- In this way Experiential Movement Lessons can mitigate or even remedy many of the developmental gaps and deficits caused by various conditions and traumas of childhood. The child can then natively do, and be, in ways not possible before. Remarkable changes in the child's developmental trajectory ensue. As practitioners, this is how we embody, envision, elicit, and empower.
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8 WAYS OUR TRAINING IS LIKE NO OTHER
Prioritizing your embodied, skillful, creative confidence - Europe’s first and only stand-alone training devoted to supporting you to support the Child with Special Needs:
Our comprehensive program integrates the cognitive, experiential, hands-on, and practicum instruction you need to address the diverse circumstances faced by Children With Special Needs. No additional lengthy and costly trainings (whether "basic" or “specialty”) are required in order to serve the children.Our sharp focus and tailored, expert curriculum (delivered over 14-16 months depending on your certification preference) mean you quickly begin learning how to optimize the developmental trajectory of these great kids. Even after their very first program segment, our trainees report remarkable outcomes using what they have learned ― empowering themselves to empower the child.- A rich, experiential, and empowering curriculum not offered anywhere else:
We deliver key concepts and tools distilled from our combined 50+ years as movement practitioners, teachers, and trainers serving countless families and professionals across Europe and the Americas. We share with you the attitudes and approaches that consistently lead to optimal outcomes for our young clients.These are also the keys to your personal and professional success as a practitioner. Our unique, experiential synthesis maximizes and expedites your learning. You start working skillfully and confidently with the children sooner than you might imagine.- Same genesis story, but with a very different learning trajectory for you:
As does every other “brand” of movement education of our genre, we draw inspiration from the genius of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. Decades ago he was the first to describe the subtle process of re-wiring our nervous system through unhurried self-awareness, variation, and differentiation via intentional movement. And, he was the first to show practitioners how to work in this manner with Special Needs Children, through gentle movement lessons.Yet today, no other program delivers our immediate focus on the children. Nor our emphasis on your embodied, relational presence as the key to envisioning, translating, and transmitting learning opportunities to the kids. Rather than “shoehorn” you into rote "techniques" or "recipes", we guide you through the process of growing your skillful and creative confidence working with young clients.Our “big picture” handbook, The NeuroHorizons Primer: Empower Yourself to Empower the Child With Special Needs, overviews our principles and priorities, which we bring to life in our Training.- In-person and personalized expert instruction:
We offer the only small-group (26 maximum) and entirely in-person training of its kind. You are taught exclusively by Master Trainers Sylvia and Kerstin (not by “assistants” or “apprentices”). This assures you of individualized and empowering support throughout the program.Why do we prioritize this "personal touch" in our teaching? You may find the experiential learning process at the heart of this work to be unfamiliar and challenging at first. As you navigate the new territory, the value of sustained personal guidance from masterful, supportive, and passionate trainers cannot be overstated.The embodied, relational skill of our graduates and their client outcomes are a testament to our commitment to our trainees.- No remote, disembodied video "learning":
The flip side of our personalized instruction is that we do not rely on “distance” or “video learning”. Ours is a deeply sensory and relational craft that cannot, in our experience, be learned remotely by trainees new to this work.Simply put, novices need sustained in-person guidance to activate their own neural plasticity and embodied, relational presence with self and clients. Such individualized support is also how we discover and move through our “blind spots”, which mask engrained habits and patterns that no longer serve. "Distance learning" is ill-suited to this critical and subtle exploration.- Responsive to your needs and creative learning process:
While we have created a focused and powerful curriculum, our highly responsive format fluidly meets the unique experiences and shifting needs of our participants in “real time”.Thanks to our small group size and teaching philosophy, we are not bound by a rigid pedagogy transplanted from other programs, times, and places. Rather than impose rote protocols, we support you through the learning process. This is your key to personal and professional confidence and success.- Manageable and enlivening:
We have designed our Training to fit gracefully into your life, rather than compete with it. Our 10 rich, energizing 5-day Segments (always including a weekend) are spread over about 14 months, plus optional 3-day Professional Supervision Intensives.This scheduling maximizes your ability to manage, absorb, and integrate the learning during and between Segments. And you do so without overwhelm, burnout, or extended absences from family and work.- Unmatched Value:
We are confident that our training offers the highest value (including our sharply focused learning trajectory; in-person, individualized, and empowering small-group learning; sustained support from two master trainers), for the least investment of your time and money.We invite you to compare how other programs prioritize and package (or "piecemeal") their own offerings, and at what total cost and time commitment. We welcome your questions and look forward to speaking with you!-
REVIEWS FROM PARENTS & GRADUATES
Transformative, Practical, Empowering From Our Graduates
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"Kerstin and Sylvia are life-changing teachers, freely sharing with us new practitioners their vast experience, knowledge, and skill. And they do it with such clarity, passion, and good humor.”
Barbara Huse, Switzerland
NeuroScanBalance graduate & Mother of Special Needs Child
❂“Sylvia and Kerstin are absolutely recommended as masters of their method. Their contagious enthusiasm and explorer spirit continually inspire. They are a gift to their students and to the world.”
Katharina Schlechta, Austria
NeuroScanBalance graduate & Mother of Special Needs Child
❂“Sylvia and Kerstin's joy and generosity in sharing their expertise and passion seems infinite. I am still intoxicated from our last professional supervision group. The intense learning really brought me back to myself, to my humanity, and to my pleasure as a practitioner working with the kids. Outstanding."
Bastian Oberfeld, Germany
NeuroScanBalance graduate
❂“Kerstin and Sylvia are masterful teachers, real treasuries of knowledge and experience. I attend their seminars and professional supervision intensives whenever I can. I always gain so much, and my clients benefit tremendously."
Daniel Lerch, Austria
NeuroScanBalance graduateFrom Our Trainees
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“After each Segment I come away feeling empowered, gaining confidence in myself and my ability to help my Special Needs son. You deliver a wonderful, experiential learning process in which I discover new movements, tools, and understanding, and which allow me to re-create the process at home for my own children. I am seeing how the elements we learn in every Segment can be brought together and creatively adapted for each child, in order to connect and give effective movement lessons.”
Aideen Roddy, Northern Ireland
NeuroHorizonsEurope Trainee & Mother of Special Needs Child
❂"Your training has been a huge awakening for me. As I experience my own skeleton and nervous system in new ways, how I work with my Special Needs son also shifts; small, subtle, movements are really effective. It has been challenging at times to let go of my old beliefs and mantras about “hard work”. But the result is far more integration, ease and freedom. I came to this training for my son, but now I realize how much I need this for myself too, so I can grow old and still move :)”
Jean Smyth, Ireland
NeuroHorizonsEurope Trainee & Mother of Special Needs Child
❂"With your training I have been able to slow myself down, observe more, and become less stressed (which my husband appreciates :) I'm connecting very differently with my Special Needs daughter, allowing her to do more, try more, make more mistakes, and thus have more experiences. She is becoming more alert, aware, and communicative. I also have been able to apply this learning with my patients in my Occupational Therapy praxis (beyond mere rote or repetitive practices), with remarkable outcomes.”
Christine Hengst, OT, Germany
NeuroHorizonsEurope Trainee & Mother of Special Needs Child❂
"Kerstin and Sylvia, your training is truly amazing, and the last Segment was unbelievable. I've been applying what we learned to my kids (including my son with CP), and their nervous systems pick it up and shift so quickly. And it has also transformed my work with the old and sick animals I treat: They relax, breathe, become more mobile and agile, and then beg me for more! I am fascinated and so excited. Thank you both for this learning.”
Janine Keller, Heilpraktiker, Germany
NeuroHorizonsEurope Trainee & Mother of Special Needs ChildFrom Our Clients
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"Sylvia and Kerstin mesh together and complement each other so incredibly well. It is wonderfully immersive to watch them work with my son — I sometimes feel like I’m the one getting the lessons! Even though I'm already an Anat Baniel Method practitioner, I would absolutely take their European training if I could — I can’t think of any better way to learn this work and effectively support Children With Special Needs."
Mika Keaulii, Hawaii
Anat Baniel Method graduate & Mother of Child With Special Needs
❂"It has been inspiring to watch how Kerstin connects and stays connected with my son. With only her touch and a few words she fills him with confidence. It is wonderful to see his joy and surprise at what he can achieve. And through Sylvia’s patient and insightful teaching it became much clearer how my child learns, enabling me to focus on connecting with my kids rather than trying to find ways to ‘fix’ them. I felt pretty great after working with both women; my son has positive outcomes, and I feel more ‘clarity’ and a bit more like myself.”
Brietta Enright, Ireland
Mother of Special Needs Child
❂"These two women look for all possibilities and strengths, with sincere, authentic, joyful intention and great energy. They connect, find missing pieces, and skillfully present my daughter with unique learning opportunities. I would encourage anyone interested in working with their own or other Special Needs kids to take full advantage of Sylvia's and Kerstin's expertise and programs."
Ivana Gadient, Hawaii
Anat Baniel Method graduate & Mother of Special Needs Child
❂“Kerstin and Sylvia are a wealth of knowledge, expertise, and above all else, compassion. Sylvia’s Parent Seminar gave me practical ways to help my son in the home environment, and the space to reflect on how best to support him going forward. Along the way I was able to re-connect and find a little piece of myself again. And then, over four lessons with Kerstin, I saw my little boy wake up and come to life."
Sinead Bourke, Ireland
Mother of Special Needs Child
❂“Our child had the opportunity to receive movement lessons with Kerstin, and we have not looked back since. The gains are profound and completely life-changing. Sylvia’s Parent Seminar was fantastic, giving me insight into my child’s challenges, and very practical tools that empower us parents. These women have proven themselves beyond beneficial for us and our little one.”
Sally Batley, Ireland
Mother of Special Needs Child
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Who, What, When, Where . . .
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☞ About Sylvia & Kerstin
SYLVIA
⦿ Originator of the personalized NeuroHorizons® Experiential Learning Programs for Professionals and Parents (since 2012).
⦿ Formerly a Trainer for the Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® Professional and Children's Mastery training programs in California, and a long-time Practitioner at the Anat Baniel Method Center, California (2009-2016).
⦿ Trainer for the NeuroScanBalance® Feinmotorik Institut (since 2013).
⦿ Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner® (since 1994).
⦿ Certified Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® Practitioner (since 2002). ABMNM Mastery Certifications for Children with Special Needs, Aging and Vitality, and High Performers (2003).
⦿ Private Practice since 1994. There is a passionate place in my heart for Children with Special Needs. I work daily with these children and their families, supporting their advances through diverse challenges.
I was originally trained by Anat Baniel and worked with her for many years at the Anat Baniel Method Center in California as a Trainer and Practitioner.
In 2012 I saw an unmet need, and originated my highly focused and personalized NeuroHorizons® Professional Supervision Intensives, Professional Enrichment Seminars, and Parent Seminars, since attended by hundreds of practitioners, parents, and caregivers around the world.
I am so excited to have created with Kerstin our unique, complete, and transformative training program for parents and professionals. We are on a mission to expand the number of skilled movement practitioners throughout Europe and beyond who are successfully supporting Special Needs Children!
Meet Sylvia and Kerstin
KERSTIN
⦿ Founder of the NeuroScanBalance® Feinmotorik Institut and movement training programs (since 2006).
⦿ Licensed Physical Therapist (Germany) (since 1987).
⦿ Certified Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® Practitioner (since 2012). ABMNM Mastery Certifications for Children with Special Needs (2013), Aging and Vitality (2014), and High Performers (2014).
⦿ Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Neurons, Synapses and Brains (2013).
⦿ Certifiicate in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Avicienna Institute, Hamburg (1990-92).
⦿ Private Practice since 1988. Today I work internationally with Special Needs Children and their families ― my passion for many years.
I've always been a very curious Physical Therapist, and I spent many years absorbing and integrating the movement lesson repertoire of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. I also immersed myself in the evolving and exciting neuroscience research that describes the potential and power of neural plasticity, and how we can use that information to optimize child development.
This learning transformed my work with both adults and Children With Special Needs, and led to my creation in 2006 of the NeuroScanBalance® Feinmotorik method. I have since trained and certified dozens of movement practitioners in Europe, many of whom now work professionally with children.
By 2014 I had completed all of the available Anat Baniel Method trainings in California, and added those certifications to my own evolving professional repertoire supporting children.
I love learning and teaching with Sylvia, and am thrilled to be offering in Europe our dynamic synthesis of Experiential Movement ― all focused on the kids.
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☞ The NeuroHorizons Primer
- Sylvia and Kerstin authored The NeuroHorizons Primer — the essential, "big-picture" handbook for movement practitioners, parents, and caregivers seeking to elevate their service to Children With Special Needs.
In this lucid overview of the science, tools, attitudes, and artistry underlying their embodied approach to movement education, Sylvia and Kerstin set the stage for you to empower yourself to empower these great kids.“In our training programs we bring to life these key principles, priorities, and passions, all made possible by our small group size, expertly focused curriculum, and uplifting camaraderie”.
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☞ Certification & Growing a Clientele
We offer both a “Personal Service” and a “Professional” certification, under the NeuroScanBalance / NeuroHorizonsEurope brandings.
⦿ Our “Personal Service” certification is for those who are content with their personal learning, or who will work primarily with family members. Our “Professional” certification is earned after additional practicum experience (more about this below), for those wanting to offer movement education services to the public.
⦿ With regard to the “Professional” certification: Please note that neither ours nor any other training program of our genre is able to offer you governmental recognition or licensure. Those of us offering our services to the public as movement educators do so largely “on our own”. You will be solely responsible for your private practice, and for compliance with local laws and regulations covering such services to the public.
⦿ Nor is the "brand" of your certification the key to your success: It is tempting to believe that the better the “brand recognition” of a modality, the more clients will come. The reality is that most parents “shop around” among multiple modalities until they find a practitioner who earns their (and their child's) trust, regardless of that practitioner’s “certification” or branding.
And, the more embodied and relational the practitioner, the better will be a child's outcomes, with more return visits and word-of-mouth referrals by those grateful clients. The most successful practitioners don’t do much advertising at all; the impressed parents and caregivers do it for them.
⦿ In short, it is our embodied personal presence, subtlety, vision, and creative and vital relationships with ourselves and with our clients that make all the difference, not the “certification” paper we hang on the wall. And, these are the attitudes, tools, and skills that are best learned through the in-person, highly personalized, expertly integrated training curriculum that we offer at NeuroHorizonsEurope (and is outlined in our book, The NeuroHorizons Primer).-
☞ Program Segments
- ⦿ Our Training comprises 10 convenient 5-day segments at beautiful Ravensburg, Germany, for a total of 50 in-class days over about 14 months. Upon successful completion, you earn the NeuroScanBalance® Personal Service Certificate, and the confidence to work with your own children and family.
⦿ At your option, you may join our 3-day Professional Supervision Intensives. These are rich practicums in which you work hands-on with many and diverse Special Needs Children, with our close attention and support. Upon successful completion of 5 of these Supervision Intensives (a total of 15 in-class days), you qualify as a Certified NeuroScanBalance® Professional. You may then take your new skills into your professional practice and provide much-needed movement and neuro-education services in your community, throughout Europe, and around the world.
Learn more about the meaning of "certification" at the tab above.
⦿ There will be modest additional inter-Segment assignments and "homework", mostly involving regular home exploration of the Experiential Movement Lessons you are integrating into your daily life. For the Professional Certification, you will also receive personal movement lessons from movement professionals.
⦿ Please Note: The Training is presented in English. -
☞ Dates
- ⦿ Please Note: Each sequential program Segment builds on the previous Segment(s). So it is important for your learning, as well as for the cohesiveness of our small group, that you commit to attend all of the 10 Segments. Please check the Training dates below for any potential conflicts with your personal calendar. Your Certification may be delayed if you miss all or part of a Segment for any reason.
⦿ Also Note: The Training is presented in English.All dates are subject to change based on public health circumstances.
Training in progress
(enrollment closed)
Training #1 (2020-21)
(all at Ravensburg, Germany)
10:00 to 17:00 daily,
except 10:00 to 15:00 last day.
Segment #1:
July 22-26, 2020 (Wednesday-Sunday)
(COMPLETED)
Segment #2:
September 23-27, 2020 (Wednesday-Sunday)
(COMPLETED)
Segment #3:
February 24-28, 2021 (Wednesday-Sunday)
(COMPLETED)
Segment #4:
March 27-31, 2021 (Saturday-Wednesday)
(COMPLETED)
Segment #5:
May 26-30, 2021 (Wednesday-Sunday)
(COMPLETED)
Segment #6:
July 15–19, 2021 (Thursday-Monday)
(COMPLETED)
Segment #7:
July 21-25, 2021 (Wednesday-Sunday)
(COMPLETED)
Segment #8:
September 22-26, 2021 (Wednesday-Sunday)
Segment #9:
November 3-7, 2021 (Wednesday-Sunday)
Segment #10:
December 11-15, 2021 (Saturday-Wednesday)
Now receiving applications.
Space is limited (26 max).
Training #2 (2022-23)
(all at Ravensburg, Germany)
10:00 to 17:00 daily,
except 10:00 to 15:00 last day.
Segment #1:
March 30 - April 3, 2022 (Wednesday-Sunday)
Segment #2:
May 18-22, 2022 (Wednesday-Sunday)
Segment #3:
June 22-26, 2022 (Wednesday-Sunday)
Segment #4:
July 23-27, 2022 (Saturday-Wednesday)
Segment #5:
September 14-18, 2022 (Wednesday-Sunday)
Segment #6:
October 12-16, 2022 (Wednesday-Sunday)
Segment #7:
November 16-20, 2022 (Wednesday-Sunday)
Segment #8:
February 11-15, 2023 (Saturday-Wednesday)
Segment #9:
March 29 - April 2, 2023 (Wednesday-Sunday)
Segment #10:
May 24-28, 2023 (Wednesday-Sunday)
3-day Professional Supervision Intensives
(Only required for the Professional Certification, but open to all participants)
PSIs need not be taken in sequence.
More dates and locations to be announced.PSI #1 September 18-20, 2021 (Ravensburg)
PSI #2 October 30 - November 1, 2021 (Ravensburg) -
☞ Tuition
- ⦿ Tuition for each of the 10 five-day Segments is €1.200 (travel, food, and lodging are not included), for a total program tuition of €12.000 (spread over about 14 months) to earn your NeuroScanBalance® Personal Service Certificate.
⦿ If you join us for the optional practicum work to qualify as a Certified NeuroScanBalance® Professional (five 3-day Professional Supervision Intensives, for a total of 15 in-class days), the additional tuition is €720 for each of those five Intensives, a total of €3.600. A further requirement for the Professional Certification is that you receive 10 movement lessons during the course of the Training from at least three different certified NeuroScanBalance Method, Feldenkrais Method, or Anat Baniel Method practitioners. Your cost for these lessons will vary according to the practitioners you choose to work with.
⦿ The Training is limited to 26 participants. To register, please be in touch with the instructors (use the contact form below). We look forward to speaking with you! Upon our approval of your application, your deposit will hold your place in the Training. -
☞ Ravensburg, Germany
Travel to Ravensburg:
Friedrichshafen Airport (FDH) = 20 minutes by auto to the venue.
Memmingen Airport (FMM) = 1 hour by auto to the venue.
St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport (ACH) = 1 hour by auto to the venue.
Stuttgart Airport (STR) = 1.75 hour by auto to the venue.
Munich Airport (MUC) = 2 hours by auto to the venue.
Zurich Airport (ZRH) = 2 hours by auto to the venue.
Basel Airport (BSL) = 2.75 hours by auto to the venue.
Frankfurt Airport (FRA) = 3.5 hours by auto to the venue.-
☞ Contact Us / Save Your Place
- We are now enrolling our next training group for the 2022-23 program, which commences March 30, 2022. That Training is also limited to 26 (first-come first-served with our prior approval), so please be in touch soon.Use our contact form below so that we may answer your questions and talk with you about how our program may suit your needs. If it is a "fit", we will add you to our list, and receipt of your deposit will hold your place.Even if we are already fully enrolled before we hear from you, we still hope to speak with you! We can place you on our waiting list in the event of later withdrawals.Please tell us about you and your interest in our Training, and of course your questions! We will be in touch as soon as we can. — Kerstin & Sylvia
A Program Of
NeuroScanBalance® is a registered trademark of Kerstin Baldischwieler.
NeuroHorizons®, Experiential Movement®, and A Child's Neural Map is Not the Territory® are registered trademarks of Sylvia Shordike.
Feldenkrais® and Feldenkrais Method® are registered trademarks of Feldenkrais Guild Corporation California.
Anat Baniel Method® and NeuroMovement® are registered trademarks of Movement Coordination Learning, Inc. DBA Anat Baniel Method Corporation.
Sylvia is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitionercm. Both Sylvia and Kerstin are Certified Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® Childrens Mastery Practitioners.
Our programs are neither affiliated with, nor sponsored or endorsed by, the Feldenkrais Guild or Anat Baniel or the Anat Baniel Method.
All text and photos ©2007-2021 Sylvia Shordike and Kerstin Baldischwieler