MNRI Background
Dr. Svetlana Masgutova received her Doctorate in Developmental and Educational Psychology in 1988 and Associate Professor degree in 1992, in Russia. She worked as a lecturer at various universities and as a scientific researcher at the Russian Educational Academy. Dr. Masgutova has completed three years of medical studies and manual massage school. She also received a post-graduate degree in Clinical Neuro-Speech Development at the Medical Academy in Poland.
She is currently a lecturer on the Early Intervention Faculty of the Wroclaw Medical Academy (Poland), Director of the International Dr. Svetlana Masgutova Institute for Movement Development and Reflex Integration, and Director of the Svetlana Masgutova Educational Institute for Neuro-Sensory-Motor and Reflex Integration, LLC. Dr. Masgutova has authored over 150 published works on psychology, education, Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration, and sensory-motor based development.
“My experience with Chernobyl, Ufa, and Baku war survivors reinforced and solidified my understanding of the immense role sensory-motor reflex patterns and ‘stress axis’ had in survival… I came to a deeper understanding of the importance of specific reflexes in protection, spatial orientation under stress, and why visual and auditory processing and decoding becomes limited. Watching children get better through specifically organized motion and kinesthetic anchoring, the effect of techniques I had designed, I understood the immense possibilities for helping people to transmute the experience of overwhelming grief and tragedy to that of a sense of ‘safe here and now’ with unfolding possibilities using their neurodevelopmental patterns- reflexes.”
(Masugtova, Svetlana. Masgutov, Denis. Post-Trauma Recovery)
Week 1: Move out of Reaction into Action
Come explore a reflex that helps us to understand vertical extension and grounding. This reflex helps us to be able to feel grounded and find our gravitational line. Once we have found our center, we will explore some spinal rotation to release rigidity in our back.
Week 2: Move out of Reaction into Action Part 2
This week we will be exploring some spinal rotation that will create more flexibility in our back. Come explore how this movement might help reduce our territorial instinct and create more curiosity with our environment.
Week 3: Expand your Lungs for Deep Breathing
Our breath is a natural resource we have that helps our bodies calm down during stress. We will explore some breathing exercises that give us access to this parasympathetic system.
Week 4: Release Past Negative Protection and Survival
Being able to feel our bodies is a sacred gift. Our skin receptors are key for helping us experience “felt safety”. Come explore the gift of touch in a safe way.
Week 5: Stay Present in the ‘Here and Now’
We will explore a reflex that governs our ‘freeze’ response. Working with this reflex allows our body freedom from this chronic survival response. Once we have this base, we can work outward towards our arms and hands which are extremely important in getting our body into the present moment. This exercise will help transition our bodies from overprotection to positive protection.
Week 6: Stay Grounded and Stable
Tension from stress can be held in our hands and spine. The feeling of ‘hanging on for dear life’ is often a sign of a hyperactive reflex. We will learn how to work with our “Hands Grasp” as a way of creating stability and protection. We will also learn a reflex that helps increase the flow of cerebrospinal fluid, causing us to be able to think with more clarity.
Week 7: Activate your Brain Potential/Be Open to Joy and Well-being
This reflex serves as a foundation for understanding spatial awareness. The proper development of this reflex allows for the exploration of personal space which enables us to have safe boundaries. We will also be exploring a reflex that supports the production of endorphins, which can help reduce the perception of pain and can trigger a positive feeling in the body.
Week 8: Putting it all together – Post Trauma Protocol
Come experience these reflex exercises that we have learned together. This post trauma protocol is a tool that you can use for yourself or for the clients you serve.