As I review my postings on this blog site, I see many of them are about the
surprising and sudden shifts experienced in a single Brain Gym® session, that reveal abilities that have been waiting to be
tapped.
I want to share that this is not always the case. Sometimes, what’s available
and appropriate for the mind-body system is to make smaller shifts, over time.
To illustrate this concept I’m taking this opportunity to share an excerpt[1] from my book, Educate Your Brain,
drawn from Chapter 12, “Make Lasting Change with Edu-K Balancing.” This selection begins by discussing where challenges to whole-brain integration come from, and goes on to answer the key question about changes over time.
Does balancing make a permanent change?
As we’ve discussed
previously, I find that challenges seem to arise from two main sources:
• lack of initial
patterning (due to issues such as retained infant reflexes or insufficient time
spent crawling, for example)
When a block exists
because the person never got the movement he needed in infancy or childhood,
the changes that result from balancing are, in my experience, lasting. It’s
been six years since Henry’s balance, and he hasn’t slipped back into not being able to read. (Click here for Henry's story.)
When a block exists
because of emotional trauma or stress, for which we learned a survival-based
compensation, my experience is that a balance helps us return to a more
integrated, whole-brain state and creates the strong awareness of the change
we’ve made. In many cases, especially when we are really ready to change, this
is enough to completely resolve the old situation. However, we still have the
choice of whether to use the new pattern or the old one.
Do you need to keep
balancing for the same goal?
The answer often is,
“That depends.” I like to say that some clients arrive with an “issue” and
others arrive with a “project.” Phobias, fears, and the emotional charge around
certain specific situations or people in a person’s life typically fall into
the “issue” category. They are usually resolved very well in a session or two,
and the change is often quite remarkable. Over time, the person may recognize
that addressing the issue again (perhaps from a different angle) would be
helpful, but in the meantime, the change achieved is enough to be a tremendous
relief. Alexa’s resistance to studying English grammar was an “issue.” (Click here for Alexa's story.)
“Projects,” on the
other hand, are situations that are grounded in a deeper overall challenge.
Progress of some kind may still be seen by the end of the first session, but
additional sessions are often necessary for the kind of change the client (or
her parent) is seeking. Depending on the nature of the individual, it may take
several balances, or a series over a number of months or even years, to do the
re-learning necessary to resolve her key challenges.
Of course, it’s
impossible to know ahead of time if a client is dealing with an issue or a
project. I would never have believed that Henry would go from not reading at
all to reading fluently in a single session (although by now I have seen that
kind of shift again and again). As a Brain Gym consultant, I can make my best
guess, but I’ve learned never to think I know something for sure; I continue to
be surprised.
Changes over time
Here’s the story of
a “project” that continued over about two years, with a learner who had many
challenges to overcome.
I started working
with Brandon when he was about to enter second grade. Born prematurely, he’d
been late in achieving key developmental milestones and still had significant
coordination and learning issues.
Our first sessions
were a slow introduction to a variety of Brain Gym movements, one or two at a
time, interspersed with playing with the various balls, streamers, and hoops in
my office. His mother and I always participated along with him.
Initially, our
sessions were simply an immersion in these activities. I’d share a new
movement, like Lazy 8s, which he would draw over and over on my whiteboard.
Then he’d make a beeline for his mother’s lap and curl up for several minutes,
evidently taking time out to integrate and incorporate this new learning. Then
he’d get up and want to do it again. Often he’d continue to do his new
movements at home.
Informal goals would
arise out of our play experiences. For example, one day Brandon asked for a
ball-tossing activity, but he was consistently missing his catches, so I asked,
“Which Brain Gym movement do you think will help you today?” He pointed to his
choice on my learning menu chart, and his mother and I joined him in rubbing
Brain Buttons and then doing a bit of Cross Crawl and Double Doodle. Sure
enough, his next attempt showed more coordination, his hands closing more
successfully around the ball. Before long, he was catching much more reliably.
Soon he was arriving
at my door with his own goals: “I want to be able to run fast!” He’d dash
across my office, all elbows and knees and feet stepping unevenly. But after a
playful Dennison Laterality Repatterning, his arms were more in sync with his
legs, and his stride was more even as he ran.
A bit at a time, I
could see that Brandon was building a stronger foundation for coordinated
movement. His success was evident in the look on his face as he ran and hopped,
skipped and rolled during our sessions. His teacher began reporting that
Brandon was participating more fully in physical activities at school, as well,
and that his focus was more easily sustained in class.
At this point,
Brandon’s mother took the Brain Gym® 101 course, where she learned how to support him at
home with these simple movements and use a modified balance process to address
his goals between our sessions together. She also provided Brandon’s teacher
with a copy of Brain Gym® Teacher’s Edition, and soon his whole class was benefiting from the movements as well.
After about six
months of sessions, Brandon gained interest in reading. He’d had special help
in school and coaching at home since first grade, and he knew the basics of
sounding out words, but he’d resisted reading on his own. Now, rather than
insist that his mother read to him, he began taking up books himself, spending
time immersed in stories.
As we continued our
work together, our sessions became focused on his desire to improve in reading,
writing, and math. Our bi-weekly sessions had drifted farther apart, to every
four weeks or so.
By the end of third
grade, Brandon declared, “I think I’m done.” Indeed, he’d come a long way. He
was now reading at just about grade level and was taking joy and pride in his
ability to write and do math. He was also more coordinated as a runner and
enjoyed sports activities, at which he was rapidly becoming skilled.
Brandon’s mother
still brings him back for occasional sessions, but the bulk of our “project”
feels complete. She said, “It seems like he’s caught up with where he is
supposed to be. I’m so happy to see the way he’s learning and how pleased he is
with his own accomplishments.”
If you are interested in learning more about the Edu-K "balance" process, you have several choices.
• Book an individual session with a Brain Gym instructor near you. Instructors around the world can be found at this link.
• Learn to facilitate Brain Gym balance sessions yourself! Take the Brain Gym® 101 course, which is also offered around the world.
• If you're in the Phoenix, Arizona, area, or would like to visit, I have a Brain Gym® 101 course coming up on November 11-12-13, 2016, and will soon have others posted for 2017.
• You can learn a bit more about the balance process by reading Chapter 12 of my book, Educate Your Brain.
With all best wishes,
Kathy
Kathy Brown, M.Ed.
Educational Kinesiologist
Licensed Brain Gym® Instructor/Consultant
Author of Educate Your Brain
WEB: www.CenterEdge.com
BLOG: www:WholeBrainLiving.com
BOOK: www.EducateYourBrain.com
[1] Brown, Kathy. Educate Your Brain. Phoenix: Balance Point Publishing, 2012. 130-133.
Original article from Educate Your Brain Copyright© 2012 Kathy Brown. All rights reserved
• Book an individual session with a Brain Gym instructor near you. Instructors around the world can be found at this link.
• Learn to facilitate Brain Gym balance sessions yourself! Take the Brain Gym® 101 course, which is also offered around the world.
• If you're in the Phoenix, Arizona, area, or would like to visit, I have a Brain Gym® 101 course coming up on November 11-12-13, 2016, and will soon have others posted for 2017.
• You can learn a bit more about the balance process by reading Chapter 12 of my book, Educate Your Brain.
With all best wishes,
Kathy
Kathy Brown, M.Ed.
Educational Kinesiologist
Licensed Brain Gym® Instructor/Consultant
Author of Educate Your Brain
WEB: www.CenterEdge.com
BLOG: www:WholeBrainLiving.com
BOOK: www.EducateYourBrain.com
[1] Brown, Kathy. Educate Your Brain. Phoenix: Balance Point Publishing, 2012. 130-133.
Original article from Educate Your Brain Copyright© 2012 Kathy Brown. All rights reserved
©Copyright 2016 Kathy Brown. All rights reserved.
Brain Gym® is a registered trademark of the Educational Kinesiology Foundation
Ventura, CA • www.braingym.org
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