Learning The Method
MNRI® Reflex Recovery Exercises for Individuals in Need: Introductory Guide for Health Care Providers
Course Description
Primary reflexes first appear in infancy and remain active throughout life, supporting various functions essential to human survival and development. Proper and healthy primary reflex function provides a foundation for stress management, trauma recovery, proper neurodevelopment, and a healthy lifestyle.
This is a preparatory program on MNRI®, specifically targeted at health providers of individuals in need at any age, from infancy through later life. The goals of key MNRI exercises are to strengthen and improve the function of the nervous system and its effects on immunity, stress resilience, neuroplasticity, emotional-behavioural regulation, motor learning, and cognitive processes. The information and exercises aim to help with recovery from stress, trauma, developmental disorders, illness, or a particular life-challenging diagnosis. This program intends to show care providers how MNRI® can be an effective independent or complementary approach to therapeutic and medical interventions and other caregiving supports.
This program includes a summarized compilation of key MNRI® programs, including D&P, NeuroTactile, Archetype Movements, and Oral-Facial Reflex Integration, with selected basic exercises from those programs. This program proposes new combinations of exercises and shortcut techniques to address root causes and facilitate faster recovery. The generalized exercises will be shared in simple, sequenced protocols to support the individual's sensory-motor reflex integration and promote optimal physical and emotional health and neurodevelopment.
This course can be used as an alternative prerequisite for MNRI® Oral-Facial Reflex Integration Level 1.
Learner Objectives
Upon completion of this two-day, 16-hour MNRI® Reflex Recovery Exercises for Individuals in Need: Introductory Guide for Health Care Providers class, participants will be able to:
1. Describe the theory of the MNRI® Method and major concepts in supporting neural wellness in individuals across the lifespan.
2. List major primary reflexes and their potential roles in stress resiliency, sensorimotor development, and healthy lifestyle.
3. Demonstrate MNRI® reflex neuro-integrative techniques to facilitate motor control, emotional regulation, stress, and pain reflex management.
4. Describe basic tactility concepts in the MNRI® Method and corresponding goals for individuals with challenges.
5. Demonstrate NeuroTactile techniques for optimizing tactility, muscular, tendonous, and neurostructural functions, and the ability to support stress and pain management in a person of any age and with any diagnosis.
6. Describe basic MNRI® Dynamic & Postural Reflex Integration concepts and demonstrate selected primary reflex repatterning exercises to support optimal reflex function.
7. Describe basic Oral-Facial-Motor Reflex Integration concepts and demonstrate selected exercises for emotional regulation, eating, voice modulation and sound production.
Hourly Agenda
Hour 1-2:
• Introduction to the MNRI® program
• What is a reflex, and why is it important for an individual’s health, well-being and development?
• Reflex definition and introduction to MNRI® concepts of reflex integration
Hour 3-4:
• Different levels of stress (everyday, negative yet tolerable, toxic, post-traumatic)
• Stress and reflex integration. How reflexes are involved in the stress process, stress resilience, and stress / trauma recovery
Hour 5-6:
• Overview of foundational MNRI® programs
Hour 7-8:
• Practicum: Archetype movement concepts and basic exercises, with specific explanations of how the exercises aid in support of neurodevelopment and stress / trauma recovery.
Hour 9-10:
• Practicum: NeuroTactile Integration concepts and exercises for support of the health of tactility, the nervous and immune systems.
Hour 11-12:
• Practicum: D&P concepts and selected reflex repatterning exercises for support of maturation and integration of reflex patterns.
Hour 13-14:
• Practicum: D&P concepts and selected reflex repatterning exercises for support of maturation and integration of reflex patterns.
Hour 15-16:
• Practicum: Oral-Facial-Motor reflex integration concepts and selected exercises for emotional regulation and feeding.
