In the start of 2012, I had the good fortune of attending a Brain Gym ® 101 class in Toronto, Canada under Sher Smith (www.realizingyourpotential.ca) She is a Brain Gym® faculty for Canada. Brain Gym® 101 is the core introductory course of Educational Kinesiology. This program and its unique
movements and processes were developed by Dr. Dennison over more than three decades, through extensive research in areas that include education, psychology, neural and muscular functions.
I was very fascinated by the program and went on to make it a point to
complete the core curriculum as well as all the requirements to become a
Brain Gym ® Instructor and Consultant. It took four years to complete all the
courses I required since I took a couple of them every time I went to Toronto
to visit my parents.
Since 2012, I have been actively involved in my community through my
learning centre, Leap Ahead Assessment and Learning Centre in Mumbai,
India, and have encouraged students, teachers, parents as well as senior
citizens to learn about Brain Gym®. I am delighted to say that I have
witnessed amazing results. These are a few of my experiences which I’m
sharing with you today.
I still remember the day a couple of months ago when I got a call from a
parent. She said, “My son’s teacher called and said that your Ajay is now
giving eye contact, his eyes are tracking me all around the classroom,
whatever you are doing, please continue doing it, It’s helping him. He is also
more attentive in class for a longer period of time now. And I have only been
doing PACE with him three times a day since the last 15 days”
PACE ® is a sequence of 4 Brain Gym® activities- sipping water, Brain
Buttons, the Cross Crawl and Hook-ups.
This parent whose son was on the Autism Spectrum had previously attended
a Brain Gym® 101 workshop I conducted. Her feedback was very gratifying.
Autism or Autism Spectrum disorder, refers to a range of conditions
characterised by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviours, speech
and non verbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and
differences.
Dr. Paul Dennison, the co-creator of Brain Gym ® has said, “Movement is
the door to Learning.” He also said, “I didn’t learn on the schedule of my
peers. I failed 4th grade because I wasn’t reading . I was made to feel “less
than” and “broken”. I have dedicated my career to help students like myself
to never have to endure the “shame” of not learning at the same pace as
other students.”
Moving to Learn is a natural way to help children including those with
special needs to reach their potential.
I have come across quite a few parents of children with special needs in
Mumbai who have kept their children indoors, not even letting them interact
with neighbors, let alone sending them to school. This is because they fear
the stigma attached to special needs . These parents have totally given up on
their children and feel that nothing can be done, so they often think why
waste time and resources on them?
I have spoken to some of these parents as part of community service and
informed them about the concept of Neuroplasticity and also teach them
simple movements from Brain Gym ®.
Brains can change. Like a city can build new roads, the brains of adults and
children have the ability to create new neuronal pathways ; a process called
Neuroplasticity. On October 18, 2012, the Brain & Behaviour Research
Foundation introduced one of the nation’s foremost investigators in
Neurobiology, Dr. Dennis Charney. While Dr. Charney’s work focuses
mainly on depression, anxiety and human resilience to stress, his pioneering
research has a major impact on children with learning disabilities, dyslexia ,
attention deficit disorder and autism.
In a video posted by Big Think on October 17, 2012, Dr Dennis Charney
described his research on Neuroplasticity:
“One of the things that we have found in our research is that in general we
don’t make full use of the capacity of the human brain. So, our research
groups, subsequent to hearing about this, and other groups around the
country, have now taken the task that through specific exercises we might be
able to enhance brain plasticity or using more of the capacity of the human
brain. (Taken from article published on October 23, 2012: Neuroplasticity:
Begin to Change A life with Dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, Autism Today :
www.specialneedsdigest.com)
Brain Gym® is a system that uses simple movements to enhance neural and
sensory functioning. That is, it uses quick , easy to do developmental
movements to “wake up” or “relax” the brain without stress or injury. The
movements are those that a child naturally explores as he grows and matures.
As the brain and the rest of the body become more integrated through such
movements, the child becomes successful with need based movement at first
like reaching, grasping and lifting .
As Cecilia Koester (author of I am the child, Brain Gym for the special needs)
says, ‘for the child with special needs, this making and re-arranging of neural
networks may require care givers to repeatedly move the child’s limbs
through a specific movement pattern when the child is unable to create that
pattern independently. Regardless of the cause for the limitation, we can
create or recreate the movement experience for the child.’
An Occupational Therapist , my student and friend -Jeel, shared with me how
by simply making a child with Cerebral Palsy (a term used to describe a set of
neurological conditions that affect movement) do assisted cross-crawl, a
cross lateral activity which activates both hemispheres of the brain – helped
the child , within a couple of months, to raise his hand fully independently
and with ease.
I have done a group Dennison Laterality Re-patterning (DLR) balance with
senior citizens and they were astonished with their walking gaits and their
improved balance. After the balance process, one senior who had difficulty
walking fast remarked, “Now it feels like I’m sprinting”.
I did a Reading balance on a 14 year boy who had severe reading difficulty,
and read haltingly without any comprehension, he was amazed that he could
now read fast and also comprehend. The next day, he came for a remediation
session at my centre , and said , “Miss, please do the balance we did last
time .“ He continued to improve his reading and comprehension skills.
After this experience whenever he came for class, he would stand in front of
the Brain Gym poster and do the various movements before starting his
remedial session.
In May of 2017, while on a flight going to Bangalore, there was this baby
which cried incessantly. It was disturbing every passenger on the flight.
Fortunately, the mom passed by my seat to go to the washroom and I told her
that its probably due to the high altitude and air pressure which is causing
distress to the baby. I asked her to put her one hand behind the baby’s ear
and another on the baby’s navel (an adapted version of the Brain Gym®
movement called the Balance button). She said Ok, looking at me sceptically.
She went back to her seat after using the washroom, I could hear the baby
cry for a few seconds and than she was absolute quiet till the flight landed.
When I passed by the mother to get off the aircraft, I asked, “Did you try what
I showed you?” She said “YES and it worked like magic”. She thanked me
profusely with a smile of gratitude.
Brain Gym® movements are amazingly simple and work every time.
It is rewarding to know that children as well as adults from all walks of life
are benefiting from Brain Gym® exercises.
I’m constantly astonished by the power and possibilities of Brain Gym ®
which has helped me to make a difference in the lives of many adults, seniors
and children with special needs. I look forward to continue learning.
