Adapted Spiral Praxis
489 King Street East M5A1L9 Toronto, ON, Canada

Hi Everyone, all of the posts for our adult bodymind work will now be shared on our new Spiral Praxis facebook page. This channel will continue to show posts of our somatic work with children with special needs and disabilities. If you're interested, please follow the new page to stay updated on the latest news for adult certification and training!

Audrey is walking! Yuji worked with this spunky girl a year ago when she was just learning how to roll and scoot (https://www.youtube.com/watch). At the time Audrey just needed a little push to figure out how to use her body to her full potential. After many months of hard work she has finally begun to reach this impressive motor milestone. Congratulations to her mother and her team of therapists who have helped her get to this place in her physical life’s journey.

SMC Director Yuji Oka recently went on a month long tour of Australia, UK and France to work with children with AADC. AADC is a rare genetic syndrome that affects just 1 in 58 million children. Nathan, the boy in this video, is one of just two documented children who have this condition in Australia. Using an innovative new curriculum for children with this condition, Oka was able to help him learn how to sit almost totally independently in just a week. This progress is testament to the healing power of interventions like Adapted Spiral Praxis which focuses on a child’s natural feedback system to make physical progress. Viva la bodymind!

This short video shows the wonderful ability of infants to adapt and change when provided with the right bodymind opportunities for learning. Sonali is a 6-month old infant with problems with her vision who is at risk for developing cerebral palsy. She came to us for a four-day intensive and made noticeable progress in her ability to feed, to release muscle contractures, and to move more clearly of her limbs. Bringing movement-based somatic therapy to children with severe disabilities at an early age is of vital importance to maintain their learning progression and to help them overcome potential roadblocks to their future health. Adapted Spiral Praxis is a new paradigm in the somatics field and has helped thousands of children and adults learn how to access their bodymind. For more information visit www.adaptedspiralpraxis.com.

For two weeks in the summer of 2019, 10 year old Kate’s sessions were filled with a creative challengeto move in class continuously with her own initiation. We set up the room and filled it with props that were suggestive of different kinds of movement. Then we let her go to work. We simply let her go to any prop she wanted to go to and to move freely on it in her own way. As teachers, our own role was simply to gently encourage Kate and step in whenever she needed any he...lp or support. Kate’s progression was steady and clear. At first her movements were stereotyped with movement patterns she had already learned. Slowly, however, she started to make her own variations to the movements and take greater risks. We encouraged these choices and helped her develop them within the various prop stations. Creativity is can uncover hidden strengths in a child. In Kate’s case, her whole way of moving began to come from a different place, a place of joy instead of therapy. She learned to become more courageous and gained strength and endurance as she grew more confident of her movement choices. Many important milestones were met beyond the physical dimension of her sessions. Her mother, Kathy, said that after the sessions, she was able to join in dance classes she had previously not been able to participate in; she was able to hike in nature for extended periods of time; and finally, that she was able to start to interactively talk with purpose and intention. This last milestone was significant because Kathy was told by her speech therapist that Kate could not be taught to say words. The doors opened by creativity are always very broad and universalanything can happen when a child learns how to make free choices on their own. Adapted Spiral Praxis is a natural somatic therapy that has helped over a thousand children with special needs and disabilities to reach their motor potential. For more information or to become a donor, please visit our website at www.adaptedspiralpraxis.com or our Patreon page at www.Patreon.com/adaptedspiralpraxis.

This is a Hallie, a very brave young girl from the UK. She has AADC, a rare genetic syndrome which prevents a child from synthesizing neurotransmitters necessary for motor activities. She just recently underwent gene therapy to revive these neurotransmitters and wake her body up." Her remarkable story was covered by ITV, a major British television channel. Hallie is one of 9 AADC children we will be working with over the upcoming year in collaboration with the AADC Trust Fo...undation. Our goal is to create a motor curriculum that will help ease these children’s transition from pre-gene therapy, through gene therapy, and to motor rehabilitation. The projectwhich includes a 2 week intensive in the UK will be recorded through a scientific research project as well as through a film documentary. Watch out for future updates as we tackle this amazing bodymind journey with these children and their families! See more

Beautiful dayLuisa has finally learned to walk! Challenged with a ultra rare genetic syndrome, Luisa has had difficulty finding the balance and courage to make it on her own. She's been close for several weeks and all she needed was a little push. Today she was able to find her own path across the entire room

Raphael, Gabriel and Michael are triplets who were affected with various degrees of CP due to a premature birthing. Government funding for Raphael and Gabriel allowed the Buettner family to come to the Spiral Movement Center to receive somatic treatment for their CP. Raphael was wheelchair-bound and was unable to move due to severe contractures of all his limbs; Gabriel had CP mostly on the right side of his body which limited his ability to use his right hand. This video d...ocuments how children with CP can make physical progress when they undergo holistic, individually-tailored motor programs which promote physical awareness, experiential exploration and play. It also shows how the effort and total commitment of determined parents can motivate children to overcome the greatest challenges in life. Adapted Spiral Praxis is a development motor curriculum that can help children with special needs/disabilities blossom to their full potential. For more information visit the soon-to-be-launched website www.adaptedspiralpraxis.com.

Working with kids with autism means getting back to basics of human relationship. Physical contact and support, touch, movement, creativity and humour are the keystones. Sometimes, the effect of these fundamentals can have a profound effect on a child's ability to find his/her own door to learning The goal for many autistic children is to find a harmonious relationship between body and mind. This video shows the transformation of Ben, a 13 year old boy with severe autism. ... When Ben first came to the Spiral Movement Center, he was actively resistant to all movement activities. He would push us away whenever we tried to get him to participate and seemed to be in mortal fear. He would only lie down or cling to his mother. In a little over a month, Ben has since learned to embrace the challenges that movement. He is willing to explore all the activities and he no longer shows any fear. As he gains more control over his own body, we are hoping that he will be able to join groups of other children to share his abilities and beautiful personality. For more information about Adapted Spiral Praxis, a holistic somatic intervention, please visit our upcoming new website at adaptedspiralpraxis.com. * * * * * * * * * MUSIC CREDITS: Open Lettter by Adrian Walther First Innocence by Solitude Norwegian Wood by Beatles (transcription John Hill) Lovers at Dusk by Cast of Characters

I was recently invited by the AADC Research Trust to work with a group of UK kids with AADC, a rare genetic syndrome that affects 1 in 58 million children worldwide. The aim of the year-long pilot project is to develop a motor intervention plan for children with this condition and present the results to the AADC medical community. The project also involves the creation of a film documentary to record each phase of AADC therapy including pre-screening assessment, post gene th...erapy, and rehabilitation. The children in this population present fascinating human stories as they are cognitively normal but are severely physically constrained. They are literally locked in their bodies. Through somatic bodymind therapy the kids can start the healing process in a truly profound way. In this short pilot excerpt, lovely Hallie is experiencing a release from the traumatic pain of repeated catheterizations of her feet. Her legs were in a chronic extended state and the feet severely everted. Her mother was not aware that Hallie’s legs could be released through bodywork her joy seeing Hallie overcoming a large obstacle in her life is truly wonderful.

Kate and Rebecca conquer the physical challenge for their two week intensive #independence #balance #finaltest #autism #movementtherapy #wolfhirschhornsyndrome

We’ve made a new flow class during the intensive for Safwan! Safwan is a low energy child who needs to learn to walk. It’s often been hard to maintain his energy during sessions. We’ve tried ice baths, massage, music and lots of other things to help. This summer we’ve decided a completely different flow approach. Basically he moves from activity to activity, non-stoppure improvisation based on his needs and ability. It’s working. This video shows just 1/3 of his class (don’t skip the end where he does assisted walking with just one hand..a personal best for him!). Safwan was beaming with pride at the end of classenergy issue gone :) #gosafwan

Rebecca is an autistic teen who is making great strides in our two week intensive. She's been practicing her balance and coordination by walking balance beams and doing other physically challenging activities. Every day she is challenging herself and overcoming her fears. Her mother told us that right after class she walked down the stairs independently for the first time in her life. So happy for Rebecca! #magicofmovement