Brain Gym: Grey Matter Gymnastics

FEMINA Magazine

There aren’t too many of us today who aren’t fully wired into our routine of spinning classes, aerobic sessions and the free weights zone of the local health club. But gym for the brain?

A concept that was first formally introduced to South Africa in 1992 by US neuroscientist and educator, Dr Carla Hannaford, Brain Gym (a registered trademark) has been studied, developed and finetuned over the last 80 years in Ventura, California. It is revolutionising schools, stimulating the brain circuitry of adults and re-energising burnt-out working professionals. Brain Gym is a teaching programme based on a system of simple physical exercises that stimulate the functioning of the brain, leading to more efficient learning abilities, more focused concentration and increased memory retention.

So What’s with Gym for the Brain?

Devised by Californian Dr Paul Dennison (PhD), a child development specialist with a background in experimental psychology and applied brain research, and his wife Gail Dennison, a dancer and movement specialist, the couple has garnered research from fields as diverse as educational therapy, optometry, occupational therapy, and child development work.

Paul Dennison recognised that our physical development, grasp of language/speech processes and capacity to learn are interdependent – bringing about proper co-ordination of the eyes, ears, hands, legs and body. So, the programme sets out, via the brain, to integrate mind and body through movement.

It is based on kinesiology – the study of dynamic movement in the human body – deriving from the Greek root, kinesis, meaning ‘motion’. Movement relative to whole-brain learning leads to improved communication, language and left-right spatial orientation. Brain Gym is the sensory motor programme for Educational Kinesiology.

The series of activities, energising and quick – important for the pacy ‘sound-bite’ quality of our lives – mimic the simple movements that a child does instinctively during its first three years of physical and mental development; a baby’s nervous system develops through the integration of sensory information and motor co-ordination – that is, their muscular development.

So What Goes on in the Brain?

If functioning properly, the human body works in a two-sided way for vision, hearing, hand-eye co-ordination and whole-body movement. But there’s a double-edged sword here. . . This physical wizardry allows us to compensate for any weakness on one side of the body, which over time can stress our system – and has us heading straight into the ‘switch-off’ zone.

In simple terms, information is received in the back brain, where it forms an impression; the front brain needs to access this information, then formulate it into a means of expression. Sometimes there is a ‘blockage’ in communication between back and front brain – and this is when we ‘switch off’. If this blocking pattern constantly repeats itself – manifesting as an inability to express what is being learned – a person will experience a sense of failure and becomes stuck in a groove that prevents him or her from making any forward progress.

Where children are concerned, many parents are only too happy to leave kids glued to the TV, playstation or engrossed in computer games for a bit of personal downtime. Such activities are referred to as two-dimensional (unfortunately even reading is a culprit!); they can become ingrained in a young brain, trapping kids in a cycle of one-sided responses, which is difficult to ‘de-programme’. Children tend also to lose the sense of depth perception that playing games outdoors or climbing trees teaches them. Which is where the simple Brain Gym exercises come in.

We all have a natural, inherent ability to learn; some of us simply need to be taught how to get the nerve cells and functional centres of the brain and body to ‘talk’ to each other through the synchronisation of eyes-, hands- and body-movement. To quote Gail Dennison: ‘We are all “learning-blocked” to the extent that we have learned not to move.’

In the Schoolroom

Grade 1 schoolteacher Pat Duffy has been teaching young children since 1964, but only five years ago, she introduced Brain Gym into the classroom, and she declares she can’t believe how powerful its effects have been on her pupils. Her class begins with 10 minutes of Brain Gym every morning, when they practise the four movements of PACE. These get the brain into a state of readiness for learning as a calming exercise. The children, she says, arrive noticeably hyped and stressed after being dropped off by time-pressured parents battling backed-up traffic and focused on getting to the office. ‘I can definitely see immediate results – how it calms them down; it’s amazing,’ she says. ‘It also switches on their brains for learning.’ Thereafter, throughout the day, when there are the inevitable fights in the playground or minor upsets and tears, she will make the children involved do a Brain Gym exercise relevant to the situation. Also, the children all have a bottle of water on their desks, which Pat encourages them to drink at controlled intervals.

She’s seen improvements in writing, reading, speaking – even in low, underdeveloped muscle tone. She tells of a child who was struggling despite having been enrolled at a special school; the child joined Star of the Sea School (based in Cape Town) specifically for its Brain Gym component, and has since shown a marked improvement – in the words of the child herself: ‘It’s because I believe in myself’. Pat Duffy ascribes this increased self-confidence partly to the fact that Brain Gym ‘stimulates networks in the brain’. In the ‘unblocking’ of the flow of communication between body and mind, a child’s ability to focus, learn and express herself becomes easier, tasks and goals are accomplished, and it’s this that eventually leads to greater self-confidence and self-esteem. Pat adds, ‘Essentially, it introduces an element of fun into learning, and helps the children reach their full potential.’ This is echoed in the words of Paul Dennison, founder of Brain Gym: ‘There are no lazy, withdrawn, aggressive, or angry children, only children denied the ability to learn in a way that is natural to them.’

In the Workplace

In the neocortex (the upper part of the brain), sensory impulses are interpreted, muscular movements controlled, and emotional and intellectual information processed. When stress levels are high (not highly unusual in the boardroom), adrenaline levels rise, jamming the electrical signals zinging through our nerve fibres. A Brain Gym exercise such as Hook-ups will clear the jam, redirecting the electrical energy away from the brain stem and limbic system (where your fight-or-flight response resides) to the neocortex for rationality, logic and clearer, calmer thinking.

These qualities will serve you equally before a major presentation, or minutes before you square up to your boss for that levitational rise up the promotion ladder.

Hook-ups can even counterbalance the negative effects of electrical pollution: electromagnetic fields and humming from electronic devices (computers, cellphones, printers, photostat machines) can disturb the energy flow in the body – which Brain Gym will reconnect.

Incorporating it into our Lives

Brain Gym can actually bring about specific behavioural change, if the exercises are done regularly for several weeks, or even months. The brain learns a new pattern. Rita Edwards, one of two International Faculty in Southern Africa for BG International, says: ‘When we learn something new, distinct physiological, emotional, and electrochemical changes take place in the body. . . . Every cell in our brain and body remembers with cellular memory.’ In brief, chemicals released in the brain bring about physiological responses which, when fear-based, hold us back; when full of self-confidence, allow us to move forward.

The Brain Connexion

For us to understand how Brain Gym works, we need to delve into the buzzing, clicking, whirring machinery that is our brain. Its circuitry is three-dimensional, its parts cross-pollinating – sharing and transferring information to form an integrated whole (that is, when ‘talks’ are flowing flawlessly!).

These three dimensions are:

• the brain stem (back brain) – survival, your fight-or-flight response (where you ‘sense’ information)
• the limbic system (midbrain) – basic emotional responses (where you process the information)
• the cortex (main, upper section of brain) – about reasoning/rationality; also, initiating dynamic movement (where you apply or act on information)

The exercises are grouped according to how they act on specific segments of the brain, each of which governs specific physical and mental functions. A major role is to integrate the left and right brain hemispheres for the smooth flow of information.

Who is Brain Gym For?

Schoolkids

• Reading (also out loud)
• Comprehension
• Vertical and horizontal mathematical column work
• Spelling
• Mathematics
• Eye-hand co-ordination
• Test-taking
• Physical co-ordination in sports/play

Adults

• Improving concentration/learning efficiency
• Speed reading
• Creative writing (expression) & thinking
• Personal development (learn to hear clearly, process, interpret, express)
• Self-esteem (sense of personal space, able to take risks without brain-freeze/fight-or-flight response)
• Relationships

The Elderly

• Memory retention
• Visual skills

SOUND BITES: The brain is one-fiftieth of our body weight - It uses one-fifth of the body’s oxygen intake - 76% of the human body is made up of water - 90% of the brain comprises water.

Brain Gym® Movements

These consist of 26 exercises or movements (which have behaviour- and posture-related benefits). They are grouped according to what they can achieve in terms of physical and mental reintegration, that is:

• Midline Movements (improve left-right movement across midline of body)
• Lengthening Activities (access information at back of brain, then process and express it in front of brain)
• Energy Exercises / Deepening Attitudes (re-establish nerve connections between body and brain, improving flow of electromagnetic energy through body).

Trained teachers can recognise a specific learning or behavioural problem in a child and apply the relevant exercise to bring about visible improvement.

A good place to start is with what’s referred to as: PACE
Start with E/Water, and work backwards.

• Positive = Hook-ups
• Active = Cross Crawl
• Clear = Brain Buttons
• Energy = Water

See also: