Brain Gym
Lauren Norte
Lisa Fuehrer
Tony Byrd
Polling Questions
Nueroplasticity
• The ability of the brain to create and
re-route neurological paths.
Brain Gym
• Brain Gym: a program based on the
concept that learning challenges can be
overcome by carrying out certain
movements, the use of which will create
new neurological pathways in the brain.
• The repetition of 26 brain gym activities is
said to active the brain for optimal
storage and retrieval of information.
Brain Gym Introduction
• Brain Gym is an educational
kinesiology system developed
by Dr. Paul Dennison and Gail
E. Dennison.
• It claims to speed the learning
process through physical
movement.
• According the Dennison’s,
physical movement balances
the brain and creates new
neural pathways, which
facilitates faster learning.
• Physical coordination, they
say, leads to mental
coordination.
THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS
• The three main theoretical categories on which
Brain Gym is based include: neurological
repatterning, cerebral dominance, and
perceptual–motor training.
• Although there is overlap among these different
theories, they are categorized by their most
salient features to provide some degree of
structure
to the review.
http://www.rhythmex.com/Hyatt%202007_BrainGym.pdf
Brain Gym Video
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5rH7k
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EXAMPLES OF Exercises
Brain Buttons
• Located in the soft tissue
under the clavicle, to the
left or right of the
sternum.
• Pressing them activates
the brain, sending
messages from the right
brain to the left and an
increased flow of
electromagnetic activity.
• Used to help with
reading.
Energy Yawn
• Increase circulation to
the brain and activate
for increase sensory
perception.
• This helps with
reading aloud and
creative writing.
Hook Up’s
• Connect the electrical
circuits of the body
and activates the
brain for emotional
centering.
• This helps students
take tests and work at
a keyboard.
Thinking cap
• This activity helps the
student to focus attention
on hearing. It also
lessens tension in skull
bones. The student gently
pulls ears backwards and
unrolls them with fingers.
They start from the top of
the ear, massage them
delicately and end on the
lobe. It activates brain for:
– hearing one's voice
– short-term memory
– inner dialogue and thinking
Books on Using Movement
•
Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in
Your Head by Carla Hannaford. Salt Lake
City: Great River Books, 2005.
•
The Dominance Factor: How Knowing Your
Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain, Hand and Foot
Can Improve Your Learning, by Carla
Hannaford. Alexander, N.C.: Great Ocean
Publishers, 1997.
•
“Three Papers on New Discoveries in Brain
Function,” by Susan Diamond. [Dr. Diamond
synopsized three of her recent papers:
“Educational Kinesiology, Movement, and
Sensory Integration: A Review of Recent,
Relevant Neuroscientific Literature”; “NLP
and the Brain: Some Issue Areas, Findings,
and Hypotheses”; and “A Review of Brain
Gym Literature and Study Design
Proposal.”] Brain Gym® Journal, July 2001,
Volume XV, Nos. 1 & 2.
http://www.braingym.org/studies
Health Standards
• Mental, Emotional, and Social Health
• 1.9.M Classify personal stressors at home, in
school, and with peers.
• Decision Making
• 5.1.M Monitor personal stressors and assess
techniques and managing them.
Peer Reviewed Article
• http://www.rhythmex.com/Hyatt%202007_
BrainGym.pdf
Polling Questions
Resources
• http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-braingym.htm
• http://www.braingym.org/
• http://www.icadia.org/braingym2.htm