NEURO-SOMATIC VARIATIONS (NSV)
Neuro-Somatic Variations brings together Integrative Neurobiology, Feldenkrais ATM lessons, and Mindfulness exploration. A NSV session typically consists of a two-hour exploration of movement and conscious experience.
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​Lessons are provided in either small groups, or one-on-one sessions in order to foster a secure environment to foster personal exploration and discussion.​​ The NSV process helps bring pre-reflective elementsof movement into explicit awareness. NSV sessions provide a means of linking cortical and subcorticalbrain regions and integrating brain function.
Since March 2020 Dr Hillel Braude has been developing and teaching Neuro-Somatic-Variations (NSV) online to
a small group of participants from all over the globe.
The online zoom format provides a surprisingly“suitable” forum for developing an intimate social space with the protection of physical distance.
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The participation in the NSV group process is incredibly rich and diverse in terms of personal experiences and responses arising from the exploration of self in relation with movement and consciousness. Being part of the NSV group has also provided a valuable somatic resource for personal resilience and interpersonal connection during the Covid-19 pandemic.
BENEFIT OF NSV
Physical Benefits:
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Improve flexibility
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Reduce pain
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Reduce stress
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Increased vitality
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Feeling of well-being
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Enhance immunity
Neuro-Psychological Benefits:
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Develop neuroplasticity
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Enhance neural integration
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Enhance self-awareness
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Develop empathy for others
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Enhance meta-cognition
Who might be interested
in participating in learning NSV?
Anyone interested in self-exploration through movement and social interaction.
People interested in neural function connected with movement.
Cognitive science students requiring a movement perspective deeply informed by theoreticall.
Those interested in integrating theoretical and experiential understanding of embodiment.
Participant Testimonials
"Participating in Neuro-Somatic-Variations with Dr. Braude has been a wonderful experience.
Aside from finding pain relief and a much deeper relationship with my own body, I’ve learned so
much and developed insightful connections with others. I’ve also found useful shifts in perspective
and ways of being in the world that I hadn’t had before, that feel both enjoyable and important."
Erin, NSV Workshop Participant
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"The NSV sessions by Dr Hillel Braude are very elaborated and done with great
finesse touching the body as well as the mind deeply and thoroughly."
​Josef Frischer, PhD in Psychology.
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"I'm so enjoying this exploration of NSV with Dr. Hillel Braude.
He brings a wealth of knowledge and curiosity to the process, allowing each of us the opportunity
to experience our own sensations, emotions and insights. I've been struck by how these exercises
feel both very new and very old! It feels like recalling ancient, embodied wisdom and waking up
dormant aspects of myself through often very subtle movements. The calming and centring effects
seem to last way beyond the sessions. The group energy is also very special, with lovely sharing amongst us.
Thank you for this journey."
Sue, South Africa
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"I am writing to endorse Dr. Hillel Braude’s Neuro-Somatic Variation project. These embodiment exercises
demand an intellectual openness and safe circle of respectful scholarship, because they are bound to open
unfamiliar discursive territories on nuanced idiosyncratic sensory perceptions. Yet, attuning to these sensations
is vital to accessing the dynamical corporeal foundations of quantitative–logical reasoning, thus opening new educational horizons for mathematics. In all these, Dr. Braude’s NSV framework provides both intellectual and practical infrastructure for our laboratory’s work by way of offering an activity structure that interleaves embodied experiences with scientific motivations and analyses. In particular, Dr. Braude facilitates physical movementexercises that draw on the Feldenkrais Method repertory and then leads group discussions on themes that arise from participants’ impressions and thoughts, giving feedback by way of findings from neuroscientific research, all this in a supportive atmosphere. We have learned a great deal from the NSV workshop and look forward to future collaborations."
Dor Abrahamson, Professor Cognition & Development, University of California, Berkeley