Like anything in life we want to become better at, we need regular practice. These practices form part of an emotion regulation toolkit that can help us respond skilfully to the various challenges life throws at us. Brain Gym is designed as a guided self-help course where we will introduce tried and tested practices to bring some perspective and balance to our thinking and dampen overwhelming emotions. We will then explore the role of attention, breathing, imagery, the body, and the relationship we have with ourselves and people around us in fostering good mental health. We will look at how the brain generates thoughts, feelings and physical sensations, pleasant and unpleasant. The aim of Brain Gym is twofold firstly, to help you better understand your thoughts and feelings, and secondly to strengthen your ability to manage these more skilfully We can be our ‘own worst enemy’ resorting to self-blame, self-criticism and ‘kicking ourselves when we are down’. Sometimes these challenges can feel overwhelming, leading us to feel stuck, low and despairing. Life can often throw up challenges and difficult things can happen to us, as children, young people and adults. You will learn strategies to calm and reassure yourself when feeling low, anxious or overwhelmed, and ultimately be more in control of your emotions. In these pages you will find information to help you better understand the brain and how it affects the way we think, feel and act. This all leads to easier and more pleasurable learning.Īccording to the Brain Gym website, Brain Gym exercises recall the movements naturally done during the first years of life when learning to coordinate the eyes, ears, hands and whole body.Brain Gym is a model to help understand and regulate your emotions: By doing these movements, and holding or rubbing specific points of the body (the so-called ‘energy points’), you’ll get your energy flowing again – and blockages and tension in the body as well as in the mind will disappear as stress is reduced. They’re all activities and movements that help coordinate the right and left sides of the brain, so the two sides can work together in a balanced way.ĭennison understood that when the right and left sides of the brain and body aren’t coordinated, people might suffer from learning difficulties, poor concentration, dyslexia and ADHD.īrain Gym is helpful to improve coordination and release learning and energy blockages.
They include crawling, drawing, tracing symbols in the air, yawning and breathing. Some exercises are for centering, some are for focusing, and some are to correct laterality (right/left) problems. On the premise that learning isn’t an isolated brain function, and that our bodies are as much a part of the learning process as the brain, he concludes, “movement the door to learning”.īrain Gym is a set of 26 simple, powerful activities designed to make it easier for people to relax, focus, practice attentiveness to their surroundings, and control impulses while strengthening the neural connections throughout the entire brain. He calls this experience being ‘switched off’, and created Brain Gym exercises to switch the brain back on and get it working in an integrated way again. Dennsion worked as a public school teacher and reading specialist until he discovered a trend - when children or adults are under stress, certain parts of their brains become less active. The word ‘kinesiology’ means movement and educational kinesiology simply means “learning through movement.”īrain Gym was created in the 1980’s by Dr.
“Educational Kinesiology” (or Brain Gym) might be one way to jumpstart your innate curiosity and your natural tendency to learn. So if learning doesn’t feel as effortless for you - maybe it’s time to rediscover the joyride (especially since it’s a process that continues throughout life!). When we get a little older, we can start to forget the joy inherent in learning something new. Observe any infant or toddler and you will be amazed at how quickly and effortlessly they can absorb so much. Is there such a thing as enjoyable learning? We often believe yes, but only sometimes and only for some people.īut shouldn’t learning be always learning fun and easy? After all, it’s a process we take to naturally.