Mount Saint Mary College recently hosted the “Alternative Approaches to Physical and Mental Health” event on campus.
The panel discussion explored the use of Masgutova Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration (MNRI), a method that its creators say can help bring increased mental peace and physical health.
The event was co-sponsored by the Center on Aging and Disability Policy (CADP), the Center for Adolescent Research and Development (CARD), and the Kaplan Family Foundation.
Following greetings by Lawrence Force and Paul Schwartz, professors of Psychology at the college, the audience heard a keynote talk by Alana Bencivengo, PT, DPT, a pediatric physical therapist.
Bencivengo detailed the impact MNRI has had not only on her patients’ lives, but on her own as well, especially through the focus of primary reflexes. Primary reflexes are patterns that are stored in your brainstem before you are born, and they help you learn, grow, and develop.
“They’re still helping you now as adults,” she explained. “These patterns are also really important because they’re here to protect you.”
If these reflexes become disordered, one’s body could move into a protected state such as chronic fear, anxiety, and stress. This emotional protection translates into physical changes as well.
Bencivengo added, “I just want to present you with the idea that you are not required to be the version of yourself that you are right now, that you’ve accepted as yourself. You have the innate ability to heal.”
Additional panelists included Dr. Cathy Rehfus-Wilsek, associate professor of Healthcare Management and Business Graduate Program Coordinator at the Mount; Kathryn Sajdak, LCSW-R, a psychotherapist and adjunct instructor of Social Sciences at the Mount; and Lisa Nathan, who is involved with ProActive Caring.