Vancouver's Brain Gymnast

from The Aquarian, Fall 2000 by SYD BAUMEL

"I see people's lives change who use these tools," says Garry Gallagher, a Vancouver "brain gymnast" - you might say.

Gallagher has followed some interesting vocational paths in his 50 years: a herbalist who directed the Wild Rose College of Natural Healing in Vancouver; a consultant to First Nations groups seeking solutions to alcoholism and drug addiction; a counsellor skilled in homeopathy, massage therapy, reflexology, orthobionomy, and yoga; and one of the hundreds of enthusiastic teachers, worldwide, of a system of mind-body "repatterning" called educational kinesiology, or, in its applied form, "Brain Gym."

Developed and refined since 1969 by a Ventura, California doctor of education named Paul Dennison, Brain Gym is according to Gallagher "a system of targeted activities that enhance performance in all areas – intellectual, creative, athletic, and interpersonal." Gallagher teaches these easy, playful techniques to everyone from learning-disabled children to stressed-out executives.

"I worked with a physicist yesterday with tinnitus [chronic ringing or buzzing in the ears]," he says. "Through these movement exercises he was able to recognise his excessive use of 'will' to get things done, which was directly aggravating his condition."

In another case, Gallagher spent two hours putting a severely "learning challenged" and uncoordinated nine-year-old through the Brain Gym paces, which involve such things as repeatedly touching opposite-side hands to legs, stroking your ears in a special way, and watching the finger of your outstretched hand trace a figure eight. The skills the boy learned appeared to pay off. "He went on to be an accomplished student, just graduating from high school, and was a star athlete throughout, playing baseball, hockey and basketball on the A teams."

Brain Gym has been given a thumbs-up every year since 1990 by the National Learning Foundation, a private Washington organisation dedicated to promoting innovations in education. There have been a few small, published studies supporting some of the Brain Gym effects (and many positive reports in the discipline's own quarterly journal). Endorsements have come from the likes of "Agnes of God" playwright John Pielmeier ("I did a session before a public reading of a new play, and I have never felt so relaxed and in touch with my mind and emotions") and Chicken Soup for the Soul master chef Jack Canfield ("I have always been a big fan of the Brain Gym techniques").

Some Brain Gym exercises:

Neck Rolls relax the neck and release tensions resulting from an inability to cross the visual midline. When done before reading and writing, they enhance binocular vision and binaural ("stereo") hearing.

Breathe deeply, relax your shoulders, and drop your head forward. Allow your head to roll slowly from side to side as you breathe out any tightness. Your chin draws a smooth curve across your chest as your neck relaxes.

Balance Buttons provide a quick balance for all three spatial dimensions: left/right, top/bottom, and back/front. Restoring balance to the occipital region of the brain and the inner ear area helps to normalise the whole body.

Touch two fingers to the indentation at the base of the skull under one of your ears. Rest the other hand on the naveL Breathe the energy up. After a minute, repeat while holding your fingers under the other ear.

The Thinking Cap focuses attention on hearing and relaxes tension in the cranial bones.

Gently "unroll your ears," three times from top to bottom.

Brain Buttons helps increase oxygen and blood to the brain. By switching hands, we may also balance and increase communication between the left and right sides of the brain.

While sitting, rest the palm of one hand flat on your belly button. With the other hand, find the centre of your chest just under the collar bone, and place your index finger and thumb on each side, about three to four inches apart. Repeat with hands reversed.

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