FIONA MCLAGAN

Fiona’s earlier background is in international development, banking and finance. She holds a B.A. (Hons.) from Queen's University, an MBA from Henley in the U.K, and a Diploma from the Sorbonne in Paris. After her undergraduate degree, she spent five years living and working South East Asia, in teaching, consulting and Canadian consular work before returning to Canada.

Over the past number of years, Fiona has been on a deeply personal Journey of wellness, growth and transformation, supported by some extraordinary individuals in her life both at home and beyond. In 2016, she founded the Prodigy Movement Centre Collective in Cowichan Bay.

Prodigy Movement is an integrated-modality, heart-centered and neuroplasticity-based practice for both children and adults. All practitioners working out of Prodigy are Certified NeuroMovement® Practitioners (All Mastery levels completed, including Children’s, Healthy Aging and High Performers Masteries) and also have additional training in complementary modalities that they use, as deemed appropriate.

Most recently, TaoTouch® and Behavioural Intervention (Autism Spectrum Disorders) have been added as adjunct service offerings out of the Centre. More information on these can be found on this website.

Fiona’s personal Journey of transformation and healing began in 2014 when she discovered NeuroMovement®, an evolution of the Feldenkrais Method®, to be an effective means of putting neuroplasticity research to the practical, and, ultimately, guiding her to both transform and heal herself as well as her young child’s cognitive and physical challenges.

In his second year of life, her young son regressed developmentally, losing milestones, social connection with others and language. He had suffered (what was later hypothesized by neurology and medical genetics specialists) an autoimmune-induced brain injury which had impacted his whole being. In May of 2009, her child was finally diagnosed with PDD-NOS (on the autism spectrum) and was also challenged by a myriad of immune, cognitive and physical health differences, including food allergies, hyperimmunity, hypotonia, sensory integration disorder, and absence seizures.

Refusing to set limitations on what her child was capable of, Fiona developed a programme with the help of both conventional and complementary medical teams. She addressed her son’s needs biomedically and also implemented and led a full, (and then eventually) part-time home-based Son-Rise® program for her child for several years.

In 2010, Fiona returned to school on a part time basis to complete the science prerequisites necessary to apply to medical school (prerequisites completed in 2014). In 2012, she discovered the work of Anat Baniel and NeuroMovement® and the corresponding neuroplasticity research as it pertained to children (and adults) with brain injuries, trauma and neurodevelopmental challenges.

Fiona began to take her child for lessons with visiting NeuroMovement® practitioners, as there were none in Vancouver at that time.  Although the lesson intensives were infrequent, she noted encouraging shifts in different areas of functioning in her child after each series of lessons. Most importantly, he seemed happier, and healthier as he progressed with his sessions.

Over the course of several years, friends, family and medical professionals alike were amazed as her son began to regain health, language and social function, a genuine love for people and the world and an extraordinary capacity to learn.

As Fiona was still homeschooling her child, and being a mother to her other younger son, she decided to put medical school on hold and enter into the U.S.-based NeuroMovement® practitioner training programme in 2014, conducted on a part time (yet intensive) basis.

In June 2018, Fiona fully graduated as a NeuroMovement® Practitioner with additional Mastery graduations in Children with Special Needs, Vitality and Healthy Aging and High Performers for working with athletes, musicians and others who use their brain/body systems at very high levels. Following the initial cycle of training, she was called once again to complete the full three-part series of in-person, Mastery Segments which she deemed critical to continuing her own growth and transformation. This, in turn, continued to nourish the outcomes of the children and families in her practice. Fiona has also had the extraordinary opportunity to participate on occasion in Anat Baniel’s private practice, in San Rafael, California, where she was able to observe and film sessions with Anat herself.

In March 2017, the current Prodigy Movement Centre in Cowichan Bay opened its doors at the foot of Mt Tzouhalem, right on the ocean. Since then, Fiona has been practicing a full schedule within a pediatric-focused practice and is fulfilling her mission to be able to support positive and healing shifts within the lives of children and adults with varying degrees of neurological challenges, chronic pain, learning challenges, pain relief, athletic performance and neurodegenerative challenges.

Indeed, her younger son is a competitive Junior Tennis athlete who has also benefited tremendously from the work.

Additionally exciting is her involvement in the recruitment and mentorship of a whole new group of local practitioner trainees, 5 to be exact, currently going through the ABMN® training in the United States. 

Originally from Vancouver, Fiona now makes her home in both the San Francisco Bay Area of California and on Vancouver Island, Fiona is the proud mother of two thriving children.

Fiona speaks French and Vietnamese fluently, is brushing up on her working level of Spanish, loves dancing in the Cuban style of Salsa, world music, living near the ocean, and bringing her unique set of offerings to places far and wide…her own Journey, inner work and Peace is paramount.