“Make the impossible possible, make the possible easy, and make the easy elegant .” -Moshé Feldenkrais

Val Komar is a certified Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® practitioner who helps children and adults overcome physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges through the power of movement and brain-based learning. With advanced certifications in NeuroMovement® for Children with Special Needs as well as Vitality & Anti-Aging, Val supports clients across the lifespan—from newborns to older adults—in achieving greater function, vitality, and well-being.

Val’s path to this work is both personal and profound. While living in Paris for over a decade, she discovered NeuroMovement® as a way to support her own child’s ASD diagnosis.  The significant transformation she witnessed led her to pursue formal training after returning to the U.S. in 2018. Along the way, she discovered that helping her child meant first healing herself—developing greater self-awareness and integrating the Nine Essentials of NeuroMovement® into her own life. She proudly graduated as part of the “COVID class” of 2020 and has since built a coaching practice centered on compassionate, individualized coaching.

Before her work in NeuroMovement®, Val enjoyed a 20-year international career as a professional opera singer. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Music from The Juilliard School. Her “special skill” was a lengthy background in dance and…movement! A lifelong educator, she has also worked extensively as a music teacher and founded KidJam, an early childhood music school in Paris. Her deep understanding of rhythm, sound, and learning enriches her work with neuroplasticity and movement. Her years in early childhood education served as a gateway to her passion for working with children with autism (ASD), ADHD, PDD, traumatic brain injuries, sensory integration challenges, and global developmental delays.

In NeuroMovement® we believe movement is the language of the brain, and Val uses this principle to create safe, responsive environments where discovery and transformation can happen. Sessions—whether in person or online, private or group—engage the brain through the Nine Essentials of NeuroMovement®, awakening each client’s ability to notice subtle differences, form new connections, and making last changes.

Motivated by a deep commitment to creating spaces of safety and curiosity, Val coaches with a strong vision for each client’s brain potential. She has seen firsthand how NeuroMovement® empowers people to access the fullest version of themselves—at any and every stage of life.

ADAPTIVE PHYSICAL EDUCATION (APE)

Adaptive Physical Education provides an educational approach and personalized programming for kids with unique abilities. This approach tailors physical education programs to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities allowing for more participation in physical activities and therefore more inclusivity in their environment.  We believe in making Adapted Physical Education, dynamic and exciting through facilitating movement. With great awareness to the individuality of each child, personalized plans are tailored by meeting the child where they are in their development to ensure every child of all abilities, can experience dynamic movement. We support a diverse range of students, from those who are highly skilled and athletic to those with developmental delays and complex diagnoses.

Class prices: $100-$120 per session

 Can Neuromovement® Help?

    • Autism (ASD), ADHD, PDD

    • Brain Injury

    • Cerebral Palsy

    • Stroke

    • Genetic Disorders (Down's Syndrome, Fragile X, etc.)

    • Undiagnosed Disorders

  • You will likely see changes within the first intensive set of lessons.

  • It’s how we ideally recommend working. 1 or 2, 30-50 min sessions daily, spaced a few hours apart for anywhere from 2 days to 7 days total approximately. This allows the brain to make an influx of new connections, allowing for greater outcomes. Then you go take a break for a few weeks (depending on the child’s diagnoses/needs). It might seem overwhelming at first, but for those of us used to 1-2x weekly going to various PTs, OTs, SLPs, etc., it can be a welcome change.

  • Not necessarily. However, while you are trying an intensive, it is wise to take a pause on the other modalities, so you can recognize the changes. This is a process and while lessons tend to be calming and fun, they are also tiring. The brain needs to rest to optimize outcomes. You are slowing down, exploring variations, moving with more attention and less frenzy, giving space for more flexible goals so that The Learning Switch can turn ON. (See The Nine Essentials Download on this page)

    • More verbose, often in the midst of lessons

    • More engaged
      (sometimes being very silly, joyous, being more focused about wants and needs, ie communicating desires and interests…and disinterests) 

    • More calm leading to control over tongue and mouth motricity. Randomly making silly sounds that lead to clearer speech

    • Better coordination overall, changes in gross motor skills
      (throwing balls, opening tight bottle caps, sipping straws, bubble blowing with more engagement, suddenly dancing to the beat

    • Better quality of sleep (deeper and longer sleeps, easier to fall asleep)

    • Hungrier!

  • The best way to learn about Neuromovement® is to try it. It’s not like PT. It’s about gentle, guided movements based in physics, focused on brain to bone connection. It is not energy healing, though connection between practitioner and client is crucial. The practitioner is deeply rooted in seeing all the possibilities for the client. If there is a feeling of pain or massage, then it is NOT Neuromovement®. When identifying “woowoo” we look for mysticism, pseudoscience, or a lack of scientific evidence. Feldenkrais, who Anat Baniel apprenticed with and worked with for decades, and Neuromovement® (her work based in Feldenkrais’) are scaled works with intense multi-year training, with highly-specific movements studied by some of neuroscience’s greatest minds. Reading Anat’s books and checking out videos on her youTube channel are recommended.

  • Maybe like the client in this video below?

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