A Journey Through Stages – The Costello Method
Much like a strategic strength training plan reshapes your physical body, The Costello Method rewires your nervous system—resetting it at the foundational level and guiding it through a progressive series of targeted movements that rebuild brain-body integration from the ground up.
Each phase of The Costello Method is designed to activate specific neural pathways through structured movement, triggering developmental neuroplasticity, regulating the autonomic nervous system, and restoring the body’s natural rhythm of calm, focus, and resilience.
🧠 Foundation: Stabilize the System
The journey begins with stabilization. This phase mirrors early neurodevelopmental stages—incorporating reflex integration, primal movements, and breathwork to reduce reactivity and begin resetting the nervous system.
These foundational movements target pre-programmed pathways within the lower brain and spinal cord—the same circuits that govern survival states like anxiety, hypervigilance, and emotional dysregulation. By activating them intentionally, we calm the overactive stress response and begin the work of re-regulation.
🔗 Fortify: Strengthen Connections and Resilience
Once stability is established, the Fortify Phase builds strength and coordination across the sensory-motor system. These movements are more dynamic and integrated, challenging the brain to process timing, rhythm, and bilateral coordination.
Key systems activated here include the vestibular (balance) and proprioceptive (body-awareness) systems, which together enhance emotional regulation, spatial orientation, and resilience under stress. Our movements also begin to synchronize communication between the left and right brain hemispheres—strengthening executive function and internal regulation.
🎯 Fine-Tune: Optimize Cognitive and Emotional Efficiency
This phase of The Costello Method is all about precision. With strong neural foundations and resilient circuits, now the goal is performance refinement.
Through high-level integration tasks—like sequenced movement, spatial tracking, and cognitive-motor coordination—the brain becomes more agile and responsive. This is where we see enhanced memory, attention, task flexibility, and sustained focus.
The Costello Method: Rooted in Biology, Refined by Experience
Developed by Dr. Jim Costello, this method draws on decades of neuroscience, developmental biology, and applied clinical insight to offer a system that works with your body and brain—not against them.
Each stage builds on the last, delivering real, sustainable changes in how your nervous system reacts, adapts, and thrives.