Mission, Goals, & Values
Moving with Intention for Optimal Living and Learning
Brain Gym® Mission
The Brain Gym® program is committed to the principle that moving with intention leads to optimal learning. Through our outstanding instructors and movement-based programs, we empower all ages to reclaim the joy of living.
Mission Goals
We utilize an educational model to:
- Promote learning through play
- Draw out and honor innate intelligence
- Build awareness regarding the value of movement in daily life
- Emphasize the ability to notice and respond to movement-based needs
- Encourage self-responsibility
- Leave each participant appreciated and valued
- Empower each participant to better take charge of her own learning
- Encourage creativity and self-expression
Core Values
- Integrity
- Joy
- Movement
- Growth
- Openness
- Responsibility
Brain Gym® History
Moving with Intention for Optimal Living and Learning
Brain Gym® History
Paul E. Dennison, Ph.D., is a professional educator, an authority on the attainment of cognitive and academic skills, and a pioneer in the field of Educational Kinesiology. In the 1960s, he began the research into reading achievement and its relation to brain development that would eventually form the basis for the Brain Gym® program. Paul received the Phi Delta Kappa award for Outstanding Research at the University of Southern California; and was granted a Doctorate in Education for his research in beginning reading and its relationship to cognitive development and silent speech (thinking) skills. Using his discoveries of the interdependence of physical development, language acquisition, and academic achievement, he began to develop the basis of Educational Kinesiology. Eventually, Paul joined forces with Gail, an artist and movement educator, who later became his wife and collaborator.
The Dennisons gathered some of their favorite activities for learning and moving, gave them playful names, and organized them according to three dimensions of movement, publishing them in a little orange book called Brain Gym: Simple Activities for Whole-Brain Learning. This series of activities is known today as the Brain Gym® movements, and are and integral part of the Brain Gym® program.
Many of the Brain Gym activities were developed from Paul’s understanding of the impact of movement and perception on fine-motor and academic skills. Others were learned during his training as a marathon runner, his work with developmental optometrists doing vision training, and his study of Jin Shin Jitsu (a form of acupressure). Dennison Laterality Repatterning and Three Dimension Repatterning are Paul’s original contributions to the field of education, while Gail contributed movements from her background in dance, natural vision training, acupressure, and Touch for Health.
With a group of dedicated educators, the Dennisons founded the Educational Kinesiology Foundation, now doing business as Breakthroughs International. Their goal was to train professionals around the world in Brain Gym® fundamentals. Breakthroughs International has since expanded its program-base and mission to include other kinesiologies.
The Brain Gym® Courses
Duration: 24 hrs
- Experience whole brain integration through whole body movement.
- Learn twenty-six Brain Gym® exercises, the Edu-K Balance process, and the Dennison Laterality Repatterning.
- Discover a permanent tool for reaching personal goals.
- Applications for children, students, teachers, parents, artists, athletes, health care practitioners, and business professionals.
Duration: 16 hrs
Dive deep into the 26 Brain gym® activities. Experience them in your body. Gain a better understanding of each movement, the philosophy behind the Brain Gym ® program and how this knowledge can support can support your daily life routine.
At the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Notice: The effects after each of the “26 brain Gym movements”
- Identify: Life events as part of a learning loop or as an “out of the loop” stress response.
- Learn: The language of Educational Kinesiology as it relates to the dimensions of learning
- Discover: How these movements can support one’s and others’ development of physical skills.
Duration: 8 hrs
- Double Doodle Play workshop includes movement, drawing and painting activities done solo, with a partner and as a group.
- It serves as a fun introduction to Brain Gym® – with tools for maintaining and improving everyday visual and movement skills.
- People often make gains in their visual responsiveness as they play together in ways that engage seeing, tactility or tool holding abilities, while learning to notice both one sided and whole body habits of moving.
Pre-requisite: Brain Gym 101, Brain Gym 104, Case Studies
- This course prepares one to teach the 16 hour Brain Gym® 104 course and create customized workshops upto 6 hours.
- Participants practice teaching concepts as well as giving and receiving feedback.
- The course covers administrative details for Movement facilitators .
- This course has 16 contact hours as well as an 8 hour independent study.
- The 8 hours involve the case studies, review of Assessment Tool with instructor, creating marketing materials (flier) and drafting a 30 minute segment of teaching to be evaluated.
Duration: 16 hrs
- Discover the concepts of hemispheric specialization, identification, and balancing to facilitate whole-brain learning.
- Learn how to assess for Learning Style Profiles.
- Open to students who have taken Brain Gym® 101.
Duration: 24 hrs
- As we travel the developmental road of vision as a way of thinking, we visit eight intersecting spheres each representing a integral skill of information processing.
- Noticing, moving, listening, seeing and the skills of using our hands and language for self-expression and communication with others are explored using the Brain Gym® 5 – step learning process. Along the way, new Vision Gym® movements are learned with applications for personal and work settings, including the classroom.
Pre-requisite: Brain Gym 101 | Duration: 32 hrs
Explore Integrated brain body learning. Re discover the joy, ease and wholeness of learning.
Course Objectives:
- Deepen your understanding of the Focus, Centering and Laterality Dimension
- Develop skills that draw out potential excellence & realiation of goals
- Expand your learning menu with new techniques in acupressure, movement, emotional balancing, vision training and a lot more.
- Learn new Dimensions
- Motivation & Self image – describes the relationship between motivation & language intention
- Cranial & Rhythm – looks at structural intelligence
- Breathing & Expression – notices the body’s tendencies regarding breath
- Body Regulation & Management – observes the balance between input and output.
- Designed for those who wish to develop and successfully teach Brain Gym in a class or private format. Provides instruction in theory, teaching methods, and procedures, and development of an action plan for achieving professional goals. Open to students who have taken Brain Gym 101 twice, 96 hours of electives (or 16 if using Core Curriculum), Optimal Brain Organization, 14 credits of Anatomy or Kinesiology (TFH counts), Edu-K In Depth, and have completed required case studies and balances.
This workshop is designed for preschool, and primary school teachers, special educators, and even parents wishing to learn a fun way to interact with their children. During the one-day course, you will discover the 26 Brain Gym movements and their application to enable children to return to a calm state and develop basic motor skills. The benefits of Brain Gym are presented in a simple and fun manner, easily integrated into the daily routine. Through play and various games, we explore self-awareness, stress management techniques, and developing the foundations for noticing, concentration, organization and communication.
Duration: 8 hrs
The Dominance Factor Course is a synthesis of research and experiential understanding of how the Basal Dominance Pattern, developed at approximately 9 weeks in-utero, affects how we function in stressful (survival) situations, as well as our preferences and the ways we most readily gain knowledge and respond in relationships. The course assists participants to be aware of the wide diversity of dominance patterns and how they differ from one’s own, which leads to deeper understanding and more effective inter-relationships in the home, school and workspace. The practical application of integrative cross-lateral tools from Brain Gym®, Vision Gym, and other integrated movements assist whole brain and sensory function beyond these limited patterns to enrich every part of one’s life. Open to all students. Brain Gym 101 or Physiology of Learning recommended but not required.
Duration - 16 Hours
Designed for those who wish to develop and successfully teach Brain Gym in a class or private format. Provides instruction in theory, teaching methods, and procedures, and development of an action plan for achieving professional goals. Open to students who have taken Brain Gym 101 twice, 96 hours of electives (or 16 if using Core Curriculum), Optimal Brain Organization, 14 credits of Anatomy or Kinesiology (TFH counts), Edu-K In Depth, and have completed required case studies and balances.
This course teaches Licensed Brain Gym Instructors how to teach BG110 Brain Gym 26 Movements Facilitator Training. Open only to Licensed Brain Gym Instructors who, in the last 7 years, have taught BG104 and BG101 twice, a 3rd course of their choice at least once; and attended BG110.
Duration - 8 Hours
This course demonstrates Brain Gym along with special modifications to aid parents, teachers, and health professionals in their work with children and adults who have special needs. There is an emphasis on how to determine which Brain Gym movements/activities to use by looking at the needs of the child/adult through the lens of the three dimensions of learning. Participants will learn how to assess the needs of the child/adult, develop a program to meet those needs, evaluate the program, and modify as learning and growth occurs. The newly acquired skills will be easily applied in a variety of mental and physical challenges, including: autism, cerebral palsy, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADD or ADHD), Angelman's Syndrome, speech impairment, brain injuries, blindness, deafness, and impairments caused by strokes. Open to all.
Duration 32 Hours