Brain Gym Exercises in a Hungarian Primary School By Ivett Juhász, primary school teacher

Article from  Educational Kinesiology Newsletter

Brain Gym Exercises in a Hungarian Primary School By Ivett Juhász, primary school teacher

The Brain Gym® program develops learning through natural movements that can be easily learned. The movements have a positive influence on thinking and learning skills. One of the main goals of Brain Gym is to achieve stress-free whole brain learning. Below, I describe my experiences of Brain Gym exercises in my classroom and then a small study I conducted comparing my class to a non-Brain Gym classroom. Duration: 9 Sep 2013 – 7 March 2014 Ages: 7-8 years (Grade One) Headcount: 20 in the Brain Gym class and 20 in the non-Brain Gym class Location: Hungarian primary school I. PRACTICES Brain Gym exercises The learning and adaptation of the Brain Gym activities began in early September and lasted approximately six months. I demonstrated the exercises first and then worked with each child 1:1. Finally, we all practiced and performed the movements together in the class. The students learned 20 of the 26 total Brain Gym activities in the following chronological order: Sipping Water, Think of an ‘X’, The Cross Crawl, Lazy 8s, Belly Breathing, The Thinking Cap, The Positive Points, The Double Doodle, Arm Activation, The Gravity Glider, The Elephant, Neck Rolls, Balance Buttons, The Energy Yawn, The Owl, Brain Buttons, Hook-ups, Earth Buttons, Space Buttons and The Grounder. Two exercises caused difficulties for the 7-8 year olds and required on average 5-10 minutes daily practice for 6-8 days until everyone managed to perform them correctly: The Cross Crawl – Many had initial difficulties crossing their opposite arms and legs continuously. The Gravity Glider – Sixteen out of twenty students fell as they could not bend forward while being stable. Classroom adaptation The Brain Gym movements were led at the beginning of and during classes every day. I did the exercises along with my students. The activities were selected to suit the particular class while considering the development of learning abilities and skills. The students could drink water in the class and refill their half-litre bottle as needed. During classwork, the students adapted the exercises independently in accordance with their learning abilities. This process evolved by the beginning of December and it continuously went on in the class and even at home. Among the students, the most popular Brain Gym exercises were the Cross Crawl (for ten students), followed by the Owl (for five students), and the Elephant (for three students). Also, one student mentioned the Energy Yawn and another the Thinking Cap as the favourite form of exercises. II. INITIAL CONCLUSION A.  Regarding behaviour, I noticed that the students became more patient, tolerant, balanced, and adaptable. B.  Regarding learning capabilities, I believe that the students improved their problem-solving skills, increased their abilities to better concentration, learned more effectively, and provided quality work. To read about Ivett's experiment, conclusions and results, click here for article and here for the supporting appendices (Appendix I, Appendix II, Appendix III, and Appendix IV).

Tips for Doing Things Easier and Better-Especially When Under Stress

Tip #5: Lazy 8’s is a fun, easy Brain Gym Movement to activate both sides of the brain.

The Lazy 8 (8 lying on its side or the infinity symbol ∞) is done at eye level in front of you.

Lazy 8s:

 Either in the air or on a surface, draw an infinity sign by tracing a circle up and around to the left, then up and around to the right. Allow the eyes to follow the hand. Do each hand by itself and then both hands together. 

Experience: Up Close and Personal!

Lately I've had a number of things working in my mind. Yesterday they seemed to be adding up more. This morning after a short but good sleep, I still was feeling the affects. Being the persistent person that I am, I have pushed forward, rather than take my own advice to take a few minutes to do some Brain Gym.

Finally, at school this morning when I went to put my lunch in the frige in the faculty lunchroom. yet found myself in the workroom ready to put my lunch in my mail box, I immediately said. "It's time for Brain Gym!"

So I came back to my room, did some Cross Crawls, Hook-Ups, Lazy 8s, and Positive Points. Now it's easier to focus and to be in the present.

Brain Gym Helps Keep Us on Our Learning Track

Throughout our lives, we are learning new information, skills, behaviors, jobs, etc.. We often think of children or young people when we think of learning. In reality each of us is learning our entire lifetime.

As I have been asked to come into classrooms to teach children about Brain Gym, I often begin by drawing a 8 on it's side (infinity sign or in Brain Gym a "lazy 8") on the board. I ask them what they think it is. I hope that they will think of a track (race track). I call it a learning track. Then I ask them to think of a time when they learned something hard and how they felt as they tried to master it. They usually identify their feelings as sad, mad, frustrated, want to quit, etc. When I ask if they like having those feelings, they tell me the don't, because they aren't happy and don't do well. Then I tell them that doing Brain Gym Activities can help them to get back on the "learning track" and away from those feelings. As I ask them if they still find the task they thought was hard to be hard for them now. They say it isn't.

When we are on our "learning track", the tasks that were hard can become easier. In fact, in time, we don't think about them being hard. Life is like that. We are always encountering new things that may seem hard at first. When we learn to do them, they are easy and we move on to learning something else. As we make sure we have water and do Brain Gym Activities like Brain Buttons, Cross Crawls, Hook-ups, Lazy 8s, Thinking Caps, Positive Points, etc., they help us stay on our "Learning Track" and we can learn easier and with less stress.

An Experience: Handwriting

Recently a young boy came to me. He was assigned to write some words, but he had continued to refuse to do so. He wouldn't consider picking up the pencil to do it. After awhile he agreed to write a portion of the assignment. As he wrote, I noticed that he was holding his pencil in a tight grip and the task seemed labored and slow. After he had written a little, I asked him to put the pencil down and do some other things with me. I had him do "Double Doodles" in the air. First we did them together and then he did them by himself. Then he did "Lazy 8" with different colors of crayons. Following that I asked him to write some more. His first words were "This is easy". He was able to stay on task to complete his assignment.