Slowness: the art of building new connections in the brain

Among the 9 Essentials of the Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement®, the most counter-intuitive one is perhaps slow. When we move quickly, the brain repeats patterns it already knows. When we slow down, new information starts to flow.

Slowness is not laziness. On the contrary, it asks for a very high quality of attention. Noticing the smallest angle of the body, the rhythm of the breath, the rise and fall of the spine — these are signals to the brain that "we are learning something new."

What does it mean in practice?

In a session you'll often hear: "Can you do it even more slowly?" Because the quality of a movement matters far more than its quantity. One gentle, mindful movement can do what hundreds of mechanical repetitions cannot.

Whether you arrive with chronic pain, recovery after an injury, or simply the desire to move more fluently — the starting point is almost always the same: slow down.