Welcome to Astrolabe Therapy
Taqua Imam
BSc, PGDipEd, MA, NDT, INPP, JIAS, RMT
Our founder, Taqua Imam is a Teacher and Neuro-Developmental Physiological Psychologist. She obtained her postgraduate degree in teaching and worked as a teacher of Spanish before completing her master’s degree in education. Subsequently, she completed her post-graduate degree at the Institute of Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP) in Chester, England. Additionally, she is a certified Johansen IAS Practitioner and RMT Consultant, and has trained in modalities such as Brain Gym, Touch for Health, and Movement for Learning. Taqua has a wealth of experience supporting children, young people, and adults with a variety of conditions. Grounded in research, clinical practice, and lived experience, Taqua remains dedicated to ongoing professional development and study in the field of neurodevelopmental education and therapy.
Why an Astrolabe?
Every name has a story. This is the story of Astrolabe Therapy and it’s Astrulabi - the Astrolabe maker. An astrolabe is a device similar to a medieval GPS smartphone. An ancient celestial navigational tool, it was originally invented by the Greeks and later developed and refined by a female Arab Muslim astronomer, Mariam Al Astrulabi. Mariam developed a complex version of the astrolabe that not only measured altitude on land and sea, but it could also predict tidal waves. It was used to determine time and location, identify the exact position of the sun, planets, and stars.
This is our homage to Mariam and her revolutionary work in space navigation, much like an astrolabe is used to measure celestial events like the wobble of the earth’s axis, our programmes accurately measure balance. If you are not grounded, you can’t get an accurate sense of where you are in time and space and you might not feel centred. At Astrolabe Therapy, we use ancient wisdom to charter a path of safety, independence, and growth.
The Story
Astrolabe Therapy is my personal quest to overcome lifelong challenges. Despite possessing a high IQ, I faced academic and social struggles that perplexed my teachers and parents. This not only hindered my academic pursuits but also limited my chosen career options and participation in sports, extracurricular activities as well as impacting my ability to be organised, attentive, social, coordinated and connected.
I was constantly advised that no remedies were available, and I should accept my 'limitations'. Despite my diagnosis offering me relief that my challenges were not a result of laziness, disengagement or lack of hard work, there was a sense of grief.
This compelled me to look outside of mainstream establishments, and after years of tirelessly searching for meaningful answers and help to transform my struggles, I finally discovered scientific explanations to the prevalence of these symptoms that is backed by over forty years of research and clinical studies. A proven drug-free approach can and has dramatically improved and transformed my life.
As a teacher and therapist, I am driven to detect early signs to mitigate children’s struggles and barriers to their potential. I see their difficulties through the lens of both their experience and mine.
As educators, we tend to overlook behaviour and outbursts as a child acting inappropriately or lacking in discipline, when in fact behaviour is communication, a non-verbal language that is demonstrating the sense of insecurity they feel. They are trying to tell us that something is amiss and that their system is not functioning as it should.
Most parents, like mine, and myself as an adult with countless questions get dismissed by conventional expertise; signposted to a quick fix-medication without looking into the root cause of what is causing their child’s symptoms.
It is my hope to guide, inspire, and empower parents to see beyond the challenges their children face and the boundless potential that lies within their child.