From Pain to Practitioner
I'm Bryan Thunstrom — a certified Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® practitioner, strengths-based coach, and someone who understands chronic pain from the inside out.
For nearly twenty years, persistent Lyme disease and bilateral Thoracic Outlet Syndrome have been my daily companions. The nerve pain, fatigue, and physical limitations didn't just change what I could do — they fundamentally changed how I think about movement, learning, and possibility.
The Journey That Shaped Everything
When your body won't cooperate — when the things everyone takes for granted become daily negotiations — you learn something important: forcing doesn't work. Pushing harder through nerve pain doesn't make it go away. Gritting your teeth through fatigue doesn't build resilience. There had to be another way.
That search led me to the Anat Baniel Method — a gentle, brain-based approach rooted in the science of neuroplasticity. Instead of forcing muscles to comply, ABM works with the brain's natural ability to learn and reorganize. Gentle movement, careful attention, and variation — that's how the nervous system discovers new options.
The difference was profound. Not a cure — I want to be honest about that — but a fundamentally different relationship with my body. More options where I thought I had none. More ease where I expected only struggle. More possibility in the places I'd written off.
I became a certified practitioner because I wanted others to experience what I discovered: your brain already knows how to learn. Sometimes it just needs the right conditions to remember.
What I Bring to This Work
ABM® Certified
Certified Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® Practitioner. Trained in Functional Synthesis (hands-on) and Transformational Movement Lessons (group).
Lived Experience
Nearly two decades navigating persistent Lyme disease and bilateral Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. I know chronic pain from the inside.
Strengths-Based Coaching
Using CliftonStrengths and Ellen Langer-inspired mindful reframing to help people align their natural strengths with their goals and movement.
Business Advisory
Background in business consulting and advisory, bringing practical strategy and real-world experience to coaching conversations.
The NeuroRefinement Approach
NeuroRefinement isn't about doing exercises. It's about teaching your brain to learn — through awareness, attention, and gentle variation. When you combine that with an understanding of your natural strengths and a willingness to reframe old assumptions, real change becomes possible.
Here's how the pieces fit together:
Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® provides the foundation — gentle, precise movement learning that taps into your brain's neuroplasticity. Instead of stretching tighter or strengthening weaker, we help your nervous system discover new options it didn't know it had.
Feldenkrais-inspired Awareness Through Movement principles guide our group lessons — helping you reduce unnecessary effort, expand your movement vocabulary, and find more ease in everything you do.
Strengths-based coaching ensures that what you learn in movement extends into your life. When you know what's naturally strong in you — and how to build on it — change isn't just possible, it's sustainable.
Mindful reframing (inspired by Dr. Ellen Langer's research) ties it all together: the ability to shift from fixed assumptions to flexible noticing, so both your body and your thinking regain options.
Trained by the Creator of the Method
I had the privilege of training directly under Anat Baniel — the creator of the Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® and a former student of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais himself. This direct lineage means the work I bring to every session carries the depth and precision of the method's original source.
Anat's genius lies in translating cutting-edge neuroscience into practical, gentle movement that the brain can actually use. Her work with children with special needs and adults facing limitations has been featured in peer-reviewed research and transformed thousands of lives worldwide.
Training with Anat wasn't just education — it was transformation. It changed how I understand the brain, movement, and what's possible when we stop forcing and start listening.
Certification & Continuing Education
After completing the rigorous ABM NeuroMovement® practitioner training program, I received my certification alongside fellow practitioners who share a commitment to this brain-based approach. The training included hundreds of hours of hands-on practice, anatomy study, and supervised clinical work with both children and adults.
I continue to deepen my practice through ongoing education, mentorship, and collaboration with the global ABM community.
Ready to Start?
Take the 3-minute questionnaire for a personalized starting point, or book a session directly.