NeuroMovement®Conference Speakers
Keynote Speaker
Jill Bolte Taylor
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist who experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain in 1996. On the afternoon of this rare form of stroke (AVM), she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. It took eight years for Dr. Jill to completely recover all of her physical function and thinking ability. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey (published in 2008 by Viking Penguin). In 2008, Dr. Jill gave a presentation at the TED Conference in Monterey, CA, which turned out to be the first TED talk to ever go viral through the internet. TED and Dr. Jill became world famous instantaneously and her TED talk is now the second most viewed TED talk of all time. This now famous 18-minute presentation catapulted her story into the public eye, and within six weeks of presenting that TED talk, Dr. Jill was chosen as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2008, she was the premiere guest on Oprah’s Soul Series web-cast, and her book My Stroke of Insight became a New York Times bestseller.
Keynote Speaker
Michael Merzenich
Dr. Michael Merzenich is Professor Emeritus at the University of California San Francisco and is also Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer of Posit Science Corporation, which develops and distributes brain-plasticity-based training programs and assessments. Dr. Merzenich’s career arc has repeatedly exemplified the story of a revolutionary scientist. He has made breakthrough discoveries that challenge scientific orthodoxy resulting in skepticism and controversy, followed by rigorous and prolific scientific studies by Merzenich and others, that ultimately create a paradigm shift in the field. As a result of his groundbreaking brain-mapping experiments 30 years ago, Dr. Merzenich overturned the conventional wisdom that plasticity ends in adolescence, and showed that the adult brain remains plastic (or malleable) at any age.Lifelong plasticity is now an accepted scientific fact, but it took more than a decade and hundreds of publications to convince the neuroscience community. Dr. Merzenich was awarded the 2016 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience for his work in discovering adult brain plasticity and applying its principles to improve the human condition.
Martha Herbert
Dr. Martha Herbert is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, a Pediatric Neurologist and Neuroscientist at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and an affiliate of the Harvard-MIT-MGH Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, where she is director of the TRANSCEND Research Program (Treatment Research and Neuroscience Evaluation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders). She is the author of the public-oriented book, The Autism Revolution: Whole Body Strategies for Making Life All It Can Be.
Dr. Herbert earned her medical degree at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Prior to her medical training she obtained a doctoral degree at the University of California, Santa Cruz, studying evolution and development of learning processes in biology and culture in the History of Consciousness program, and then did postdoctoral work in the philosophy and history of science. She trained in pediatrics at Cornell University Medical Center and in neurology and child neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where she has remained. She received the first Cure Autism Now Innovator Award and spent five years on the Scientific Advisory Committee of Autism Speaks. Her background in pediatric neurology, evolutionary biology and history of science has oriented her toward systems biology, brain connectivity and dynamism, and brain-body-planet interrelationships.
Dr. Herbert has graduated from both Anat Baniel Method NeuroMovement Basic Training, and Children’s Mastery. She is taking Children’s Mastery for a second time because she finds the training so valuable in her work.
Anat Baniel
Anat Baniel, founder of the Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement®, is the author of two highly acclaimed books, Move Into Life: NeuroMovement for Lifelong Vitality and Kids Beyond Limits. Anat’s innovative methods have helped thousands of people, both adults and children, from five days to 90 years old, transforming their lives physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Her work has helped high performance athletes, musicians, business people, scientists, and other professionals move beyond their present limitations to achieve greater energy, strength, health and success. Her cutting-edge approach has helped thousands of people suffering from aches and pains, those worn down by daily stress, and those seeking greater joy and effectiveness in their lives. Anat’s work with children with special needs is world-renown, applauded by parents, health professionals, and those at the cutting edge of the neurosciences. Increasing numbers of leading brain scientists, medical doctors, and others in the helping professions are enthusiastically endorsing the Anat Baniel Method and NeuroMovement.
Marcy Lindheimer
Marcy Lindheimer has been teaching in the Anat Baniel Method Training Programs since their inception in 2001 and became a trainer in the method in 2005. In her private practice she specializes in working with children. Trained and educated as a musician, Marcy has taught world-famous singers who now sing at the Metropolitan Opera and on Broadway. She brings her knowledge and skill in teaching breathing and voice to the Anat Baniel Method. Marcy has private studios in both Manhattan and Chicago, and works privately with children out of the Anat Baniel Method Center a few times a year. She co-teaches the Anat Baniel Method Trainings and Continuing Education Programs with Anat at the Anat Baniel Method Center in San Rafael, California. Marcy is in charge of the Trainer Training Program.
Chris Krzyzkowski
Chris Krzyzkowski graduated from Ithaca College in 1998 with a Master’s Degree in Physical Therapy and started his career at the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, NY, as a member of the stroke team focusing on neurologic recovery. In 2002, Chris relocated to California to study at the internationally known Kaiser Foundation Rehabilitation Center in Vallejo. This center is home to the Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) Post-Graduate Training Program where he became a staff member and later, an international instructor in PNF. Always looking to discover new ways to provide better outcomes for his patients, Chris discovered the Anat Baniel Method (ABM) in 2008. He was inspired by the combination of the transformative practical application of neuroplasticity and the amazing results with a wide variety of people. Chris completed the ABM Professional Training in 2011 and Children’s Mastery Training in 2012. He now works at the ABM Center, focusing on children with special needs. He maintains a passion for and also continues to work with adult stroke survivors.
Deb Loest Deppe
Deb Loest Deppe was a student in the original ABM Professional Training Program, graduating from this program in 2003 and the Mastery Trainings in 2004. She has assisted in the ABM Training Programs since 2004, becoming an ABM Assistant Trainer in 2011 and an ABM Trainer in 2014. She has a passion for supporting ABM students and practitioners in their overall success and learning. Deb has a full-time private practice in Humboldt County, California, giving ABM lessons to clients from around the country. She applies the Nine Essentials and principles of NeuroMovement® in her work with infants, children, and adults in all areas, including dynamic movement, sports injuries, torticollis, speech, swallowing, latch-suck issues, breathing, and communication. Deb has been a Licensed Speech Language Pathologist since 1987 specializing in feeding, swallowing, speech, breathing, and communication. In addition, she performs Pediatric Modified Barium Swallow Studies at a local hospital.
Katie Morrell
Katie Morrell, one of our younger, more recent graduates will present a case study of one of the first children she worked with and the remarkable outcomes achieved. Katie is a graduate of the Basic Training in 2015 and the Children’s Mastery 2016. Her interest in the work was sparked by her own daughter and the miraculous ways that the Anat Baniel Method has changed her life. She decided to become a practitioner, and now she realizes how much it has changed her life too. Katie is a graduate of the University of Washington and lived in Seattle for most her life. After having her daughter, she moved to Louisville, Colorado where she has a practice and works with children and adults. Katie is going to present a case study of one of the first children she worked with and the remarkable outcomes achieved.
Sharon Oliensis
Sharon Oliensis worked professionally as a dancer, and as a Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner for 13 years. In 2006, she completed the Anat Baniel Children’s Mastery Program, and began to focus more on working with children in her practice. Since then Sharon has worked in close partnership with Marcy Lindheimer, Senior Trainer of the Anat Baniel Method. In all of the work she does with children and adults, whether professional performing artists, individuals suffering from chronic aches and pains, or children with special needs, Sharon aspires to use movement to empower each individual to discover and take their next step in their own development. Sharon is currently employed giving ABM lessons to children at centers in Denmark, Norway, and Istanbul, as well as maintaining her private practice in NYC.
Carla Reed
Carla Reed has been a physical therapist with a special interest in pediatrics since 1969. She graduated in 1983 from the Amherst Feldenkrais Professional Training Program begun by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. She has studied with Anat Baniel off and on throughout her Feldenkrais career. Since becoming an Anat Baniel Method Practitioner in 2003, she has assisted with the Anat Baniel Method Professional Trainings. She currently maintains a private practice in northern Virginia and provides ABM for approximately 30 infants and children per week in part-time employment with an outpatient pediatric physical therapy center.
Neil Sharp
Neil Sharp began studying with Anat Baniel in 2004 and moved to the U.S. in 2007 to work as an ABM Practitioner at the ABM Center in San Rafael, California, where he is also the Research Coordinator. Neil trained and qualified as an M.D. at Cambridge University and Edinburgh University Medical School. He worked in the United Kingdom as a doctor before leaving medicine to pursue a career in music as an opera singer, musical director, and violinist. Neil lives in San Francisco, California.
