Yana Nakhimova, Ph.D. in Social Sciences with a focus on behavioral change and public health, is pioneering a new field: reprogramming the brain through movement.

For decades, mainstream neuroscience and psychology have primarily focused on cognitive and emotional change through thought and talk therapy, while physical training has emphasized strength, endurance, and flexibility. The deeper link between movement and mental adaptability has often remained underexplored in both fields.

Yana bridges this gap with the Body Mind Method, a science-based system.

Her journey into science began at age 20, when she developed an intervention for the Russian Federal Service to reduce youth drug use. Her Ph.D. research on cognitive distortions and social attitudes reshaped public health strategies and earned her over 10 national awards. As a visiting researcher in Europe and the U.S., she deepened her understanding of health behavior and public health interventions across cultures. In the United States, she led a longitudinal study exploring the factors that influence physical activity across the lifespan — seeking to understand why people start, sustain, or abandon exercise habits over time.

These cross-cultural studies gave her a deep understanding of how people make health-related decisions — and why behavior change is so difficult to sustain. Whether it was drug use or physical activity, the same questions kept emerging: What helps people stay resilient? What enables long-term change? What gives people a sense of agency in their health?

Driven by a desire to make behavior change not only understood, but embodied and accessible, she began exploring how physical movement could become a powerful tool for transforming patterns of thought, emotion, and action. Her most profound discovery came outside of academia.

Observing athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and dancers, she noticed that physical training rarely accounted for the brain’s ability to adapt, rewire, and optimize performance. This insight became personal in 2016 when her father suffered a second stroke. Searching for ways to support his recovery, she uncovered the untapped power of neuroplasticity in movement — not only for rehabilitation, but for long-term cognitive transformation.

This discovery led to the creation of the Body Mind Method — a system that activates the brain’s adaptive potential through structured, intentional movement practices.

Awarded a U.S. Green Card as a scientist of extraordinary ability, Dr. Nakhimova is now based in San Francisco, where she trains individuals, teams, and organizations — and expands the Body Mind Method globally.