Introduction to Brain Gym

Fun and Empowering!

Learn to do things easier and better!

Doing your best vs Trying!

Introduction to Brain Gym

Saturday, June 25, 2016
8:30-3 pm

To register /more info:
underthelearningtree.blogspot.com
or pm this page

Event: Introduction to Brain Gym Workshop

Introduction to Brain Gym

Fun and Empowering

 Learn to Do Things Easier and Better

Doing Our Best vs Trying

NEW!  INTRODUCTION TO BRAIN GYM® 

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

8:30 am-3 pm

Introduction to Brain Gym® is a 6 hour course (1 day) for those who have had little or no experience with Brain Gym® but would like to learn more.   Come experience Brain Gym® and obtain skills that will enhance your performance and bring personal power into your life!

Cost $99.

• Early Bird or Buddy Discounts available when registering 30 days early accompanied by a non-refundable deposit of $15:  Cost $89
• Both Early Bird or Buddy Discounts when registering 30 days early accompanied by non-refundable deposit of $15:   Cost $83

Registrations for discounts due on or before: Monday, May 30, 2016

Full amount due on or before:  Saturday, June 18, 2016

To register email: underthelearningtree@gmail.com

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).

Cross-Crawls Help Learners Memorize and Apply Reading Strategies

Recently, children in the school reading lab were memorizing the "Fab 4" reading strategies. To do this they learned a key word for each step and the strategy which explained what it meant. The goal was for each of student to memorize, understand, and be able to use the strategy. To do this the children began by doing Cross-Crawls. Then they worked on memorizing the strategy and what it meant. Some of the strategies were longer, so when the teacher felt the children were having more difficulty, she would have them stand up and do more Cross-Crawls to help to refocus before continuing. As they did Cross-Crawls and learned, they also were able to apply the strategies they had learned . She said it was "a fabulous time of learning".

Another Aid in Helping Us Learn Easier and More Effectively

Are you right-handed? Left-handed? Are you right-brained? Left-brained? We all know if we are right-handed or left-handed. Many of us have also heard about left-brained or right-brained. What we may not know is that we also have a dominate foot, ear, and eye and that this information can help us to learn easier and/or better. Last week I took a Brain Gym class to learn more about this and how it impacts our learning.

One of the first things we did in class was to determine our personal unique learning style, based on the side of the brain, eye, ear, hand, and foot that is dominant for us. I found that I am "mixed". My dominate brain side is the right side (No surprise there!) with my dominate hand and ear being right also. However, my dominate eye and foot are on the left side. That gave me the appropriately named learning stye as "mixed". You may be thinking, : "Is that good?", "Is it bad?", "What does that mean?" It is like so many things about us. It is neither. However, having this information can give us insight about the way we learn and react to things.
Because each of us is unique, we do and see similar things differently. How often have we watched people load a dishwasher differently than we do, start to draw a picture in a different way than we would, or even put a picture puzzle together differently! As we learn more about our unique learning style, we are better equipped to learn. Some of the exciting things I learned in this class were: how we can learn to help children who struggle to learn more easily; that if we struggle, it doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with us, but it is just that we learn differently; and how movement, in this case using Brain Gym Activities, can help to access the whole brain resulting in more effective and easier learning;

"New" Introduction to Brain Gym Workshops

Often I receive emails, phone calls, and talk with people who are interested to know about Brain Gym or to know more about it. From what they do know they have the desire to know more and feel that it will benefit their lives personally and/or professionally. Often they can not invest the 3 days to take Brain Gym 101. To meet this need I have just announced 3 workshops to be presented this fall. They are:

• "Introduction to Brain Gym: How to Use It Effectively in the Educational Setting". This workshop will be presented in 3 sessions on Saturdays October 29, November 5, and 12. It will be 8:30am- 2pm. USOE credits are available for relicensing in UT.
  

For more information contact me at underthelearningtree@gmail or 801-377-2882.

Cross Crawls: Prepare for Tests; Let go of Frustration

To engage the whole brain before beginning testing, do some Cross Crawls. They help recall information, resolve problems, and remain calm.

Have you ever gotten frustrated and the harder you try, the more you seem to make mistakes? When that happens, you are in what is called "survival mode”. You are not accessing your whole brain. If you will do some Cross Crawls, it can help you get the whole brain working again. Your frustration will diminish and you will be able to perform easier and more accurately.

I saw this recently as I worked with one of my tutoring students. As he worked on some exercises, he became tense and began making more mistakes increasing his frustration. I asked him to do some Cross Crawls. After he finished, he sat down and was able to proceed easily.

Cross Crawls

Bring one leg and opposite arm together. Then bring the other leg and its opposite arm together. Repeat rhythmically for about one minute. 

Hook-Ups: Great tool to Calm Test-taking Concerns

Taking tests can result in feelings of concern, fear, and stress. When this happens, we are more likely to have trouble focusing, remembering, problem-solving, and doing our best. Brain Gym's Hook-ups is a tool we can use to calm down, focus, and organize our attention for the task at hand.

Hook-ups can be done standing, sitting, or lying down.

Part 1: Sit quietly. Breathe deeply.

Cross your right ankle over the left.

Cross your right wrist over the left. With palms together, thumbs down,and fingers intertwined, bring your hands up under your chin.

Hold like this for a minute or more breathing slowly.

As you inhale, touch the tip of your tongue on roof of your mouth just behind the teeth. Relax the tongue as you exhale.

If it feels safe, close your eyes and continue to breathe slowly and deeply.

Part 2: Uncross ankles and arms. Put fingertips together. Continue to breath slowly.

Hook-ups are a great tool when we want to be on task and using our whole brain for optimal performance. I have seem some dramatic results for students using them.

Coming up next: Brain Gym Activity for reading and writing.

An Experience: 8 year old had difficulty staying on-task and awake in classroom

Yesterday I wrote about whole brain learning. As I have worked with children in the school setting, it has been interesting to me to note that some have a difficult time crossing their midline. I have noticed this as I have taught classes Brain Gym Activities and worked with them individually. I have observed this more readily as they do "cross crawls". They have trouble touching their elbow to the opposite knee. When they have trouble doing this, it is an indication that they are having the same difficulty with using both sides of their brain or the whole brain. It is not surprising to note that they are children who struggle in learning.
Last week I had a young boy come to see me who was having a very difficult time staying awake and on task in his classroom. As we did cross crawls, he could not get the opposite elbow and leg working together to meet. When I simplified it by having him touch his hand to the opposite knee, he was able to do that. After he had done that a few times, he was able to practice getting his elbow to the opposite knee more easily. When he returned to class, he was more alert and better able to function in his classroom. Later in the day, I suggested to the teacher that he do cross crawls in the classroom and/or the class do some Brain Gym Activities together as a part of their routine.
*He loved doing the Brain Gym Activities even though he was a little frustrated when he couldn't get his body to do it "right" at first.

Whole Brain Learning

In "About Under the Learning Tree" it says that we promote " whole brain learning to enhance learning and to set and reach goals in all of life's arenas." Some of you may ask, "What does that mean?
Whole brain learning is when we are engaging all areas of our brain in the task at hand. There are times when the right and left lobes of our brain aren't speaking to each other. There are times when most of the energy in our brain is in the brain stem and/or base of the brain. When this happens we are not able to engage in whole brain learning.
To understand the difference think about when you are upset, angry, or even excited. Do you make your best decisions when you are experiencing those emotions? If you are like I am, you will say, "No". The reason is that when we are feeling angry, upset, etc., most of the energy in our brain is in the central brain and/or brain stem. We are in survival mode and not using the lobes. The network of nerves between the left and right lobe are more of a wall instead of a working communication network. Thus we aren't benefiting from the whole brain. You know how that feels. Now think of a time when you are learning something new and it makes sense and is easy to understand, working through a problem, or doing well with your favorite sport. You know how that feels too. When we think about it we know what whole brain learning feels like. So how can we engage our whole brain when it isn't working together?
An easy way to turn the "wall" into the a communicating network again is movement. Any movement helps, but movements which are crossing the midline that divides our body right and left will benefit the most. A couple of Brain Gym movements you can use are cross crawls and lazy 8s. If you don't know them, use movements that take your arms, legs, and/or even eyes from one side of your body to the other. It is exciting and powerful to know that we can be in control in these types of situations to know that we are the ones in charge!