This is a letter written by Gail Dennison for us to give to parents who have questions about Brain Gym and its origins. I think it is an outstanding letter and want to share it with all of you:
Brain Gym(R) is a learning-readiness program used in schools, homes, and businesses in more than 80 countries around the world. This movement-based program was founded on the research of educators Paul E. Dennison, PH.D., and his wife, Gail Dennison, and has been honored by the National Learning Foundation and also by Reading Excellence Through the Arts, a division of the International Reading Association.
We respect parents who take the time to investigate what, and how, their children are being taught at school. This kind of inquiry is essential to the well-being of our young people, and also our schools.
The program does not teach yoga, meditation, Buddhism, or any religious doctrine. The 26 Brain Gym activities were studied and developed over a 35- year period by the Dennisons. These movements are developmentally based, and relate to specific and well-established reflexes that children normally complete on their own if given enough early freedom of physical movement, and if they incur no injury or stress to inhibit these natural movement experiences.
Our generation, as well as those of our parents and grandparents, did not sit as much as children (or people in general) do in today's sedentary times. Probably at no time in history have children spent so much time sitting and so little time walking, running, climbing, and so on.
The Brain Gym activities are effective because they address specific movements on which auditory, visual, and tactile skills depend. Academic success depends on having these auditory and other skills in place. These skills could be called the physical skills (rather than the mental skills) of learning.
Eight of the key Brain Gym movements (the Lazy 8, the Double Doodle, Alphabet 8s, Think of an X, the Elephant, the Energy Yawn, the Cross Crawl, and the Owl) were developed from Dr. Dennison's work with developmental optometrists with whom he shared offices at his reading centers during the 1960s.
Five of the movements (Cross Crawl Sit-ups, Arm Activation, the Footflex, the Calf Pump, and Neck Rolls) are directly from, or modifications of common warm-up movements used by runners and other athletes.
Nine of the movements (Water, the Rocker, Balance Buttons, Brain Buttons, the Thinking Cap, Positive Points, Hook-ups, and Earth and Space Buttons) are derived from principles of acupuncture as they relate to the central nervous system, and as adapted in processes such as applied kinesiology and Touch for Health. The four "Buttons" also introduce visual skills described in developmental optometry.
The remaining four (Belly Breathing, the Energizer, the Grounder, and the Gravity Glider) are from movement disciplines such as modern dance and postural balancing.
Thank you for your inquiry, and we hope that the above information answers your questions about the nature and origins of Educational Kinesiology and the Brain Gym activities.
International Educational Kinesiology Foundation
1575 Spinnaker Drive Suite 204 B
Ventura, California 93001 USA
(800) 356-2109 (805)658-7942
Fax (805) 650-0524
[email protected]
www.braingym.org
