The purpose of brain gym:
Brain gym uses movements to improve brain function, enhance learning and life skills.
The four brain gym movement categories:
- The Midline Movements
a. Help with skills likes hand-eye coordination, uses movements to integrate left and right hemispheres of the brain.
2.The Energy Exercises:
a. Aid in skills of equilibrium, helps with grounding, directionality, and alignment to gravity working on balance, energy, coordination, organizing and planning
3. The deepening attitudes
a. Activities that provide a sense of calm and self-control along with work to provide coordination of upper and lower body to then help stabilize emotions.
4. The Lengthening activities:
a. This works on focus and relaxed attention along with decision making and self-expression. These also promote flexibility, posture and balance in addition to back-front integration and analyzing details within big picture context.
Other notes for the four categories:
- All the body’s major muscle systems are used by the midline movements and lengthening activities
- Deepening attitudes and energy exercises work to improve posture alignment, directionality, stress relief and regulate vestibular system
What is PACE?
- PACE is made up of 4 movements that collectively fall under 3 out of the 4 movement categories. The categories included in PACE are Midline movements, energy exercises and deepening attitudes. PACE is used as a general warm up for the brain gym.to enhance brain function and prepare individuals for learning.
- P.A.C.E. stands for Positive, Energetic, Active and Clear
- Positive movement includes Hook ups part 1 and 2
- Active movement includes cross crawl
- Clear movement includes brain buttons
- Energetic movement includes sipping water
How do you facilitate PACE?
- PACE is facilitated backwards, starting with the energetic movement and ending with the positive movement.
What is each movement in PACE in order and what do they do?
- Energetic: Sipping water; hold the water in your mouth for a moment before swallowing
a. This activity restores hydration, improves energy levels and vitality. It also improves academic skills, such as concentration, heightened ability to move and participate, improve mental and physical coordination, stress release, and communication skills.
2. Clear: Brain buttons: Make a U with thumb and index finger and put them in the soft depression just below your collarbone around your sternum move your index finger and thumb slightly towards each other and back out over the course of 30 seconds while placing your other hand over your belly button. While doing this action, you move your eyes slowly from left to right along a horizontal line like reading a book, keeping your lower hands still then switch your hands and repeat for another 30 seconds.
a. Helps with body coordination by crossing midline. It also helps with ease of eye movement for crossing the visual midline, directionality, along with digital and hand coordination for writing and computer work. This activity also helps to keep left right body balance, improves eye teaming skills to reduce squinting, staring, visual stress, greater relaxation of neck and shoulder muscles, and also enhances energy level.
3. Active: the cross crawl: stand comfortably and use your right elbow and bring it to your left knee, then repeat on the other side with your left elbow to your right knee crossing midline with this contralateral movement. When comfortable with this movement, you can move on to more complex movements.
a. This movement can provide reciprocal torque of upper and lower body in gravity, enhancing overall balance, coordination, and structural integrity. It’s a great warm-up activity to prepare for smaller motor skills, such as reading and writing that require crossing midline.
4. Positive: Hook-ups (Part 1): cross your ankles, and then extend your arms in front of you crossing one wrist over the other and interlace your fingers with your hands clasped, flip your hands towards your chest and hold for about a minute breathing slowly with your eyes opened or closed and touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth at the hard palate during inhalation and relax your tongue at exhalation.
5. Part two: after a minute with either side uncross your arms and legs with feet flat on the floor and touch your fingertips together in front of your chest, creating a tent with your hands, continuing to breathe deeply for another minute, while holding the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth when you inhale and relaxing it when you exhale.
a. Helps with grounding, organization, breathing, emotional centering, inhibition of a hyperarousal response, test taking and similar challenges, work at a keyboard, improved listening, and speaking, enhanced balance and coordination, less hypersensitivity, deeper, breathing, improved circulation, and improves self-control.
In conclusion, there are many movements that make up the brain gym and each movement have a purpose that helps boost some type of physical and mental functioning. PACE is an easy warmup to have your child do to get their mind and body ready for learning.
References:
Dennison, P. E., & Dennison, G. E. (2010). Chapter 3: The 26 Activities. In Brain Gym (pp. 27–68).
