Brain Gym at School

Practitioner: Robyn Hadley

It always amazes me how often the simplest is the best! The following is a snippet from my kinesiology casebook.

A mother from one of my introduction to Brain Gym classes had taught her 9-year-old son who was having extreme difficulties at school some Brain Gym exercises. The child was desperate and he found B/G helped him tremendously. His teacher was amazed at his improvement in all aspects of his school life. The young man was delighted to teach his teacher the B/G he was using and there after lead the B/G in this classroom.

Depression and Better Movement

Brain Gym and Touch For Health Successes
Practitoner: Hélène Young

Case one:
I had a phone call from a client, he said, “My partner is depressed – what is available?” I rattled off Mental Health Services, support groups etc or that she could see me. “Okay,” he said. So I went to visit. She was feeling very depressed, with low energy, and was not particularly pleased to see me.

While having a chat, I commented that with all the ’stuff’ happening in her life, she had every reason to feel depressed. I asked if she would like to learn three quick ‘first aid’ techniques. She was willing, so we did P.A.C.E. – making sure her tongue was on the roof of her mouth while we did Brain Buttons. We talked about the goal “to be calm, clear and motivated” and did a Whole Brain Balance:-
Step one: notice while thinking/saying your goal.
Step two: remember and step into a space where you have achieved a similar positive response and notice how you feel.
Step three: think of another space containing the best thing that has ever happened in your life.

Next we did Calf Pump, Grounder, Energy Yawn, Thinking Caps and Hook-ups with colour and ESR. Back to step 3, 2, 1 and voila the sun shone again.

I had a text message later saying “thanks, to hear my wife’s laughter is like all my favourite songs rolled into one”.

Three weeks later, she is still doing her movements and feeling great.

Case two:
I was working with a client who wanted to cope better with movement. We did some Brain Gym and then some TFH muscles in her lower back and neck, a few reactors, strengthened her Spleen energy and backed off Triple Warmer. Basically we were working on a moving/confidence/ pain problem.

She left feeling more confident and happier about moving.

A few days later, she rang and asked, “Did you do something for my pain the other day?” I replied, “mmm – well yes I popped in some releasing and relaxing, why?” She said, “Well I have been walking well and have been relatively pain free and TFH is the only thing I have done differently.”

Ain’t that great!

Headaches for 15 Years

Practitioner: Shaguntala Sangarapillay

A mother and daughter arrived on my doorstep. Someone overseas had told them that “Three In One” concepts focused on the emotional causes of illnesses and maybe there might be a solution for these headaches.

The daughter’s headaches started at age 7 or 8. The pain was varied. They have seen a doctor to ensure that there was nothing physically wrong. Sometime she took a Panadol. They were vegetarians and organic farmers. The daughter was studying at university.

Her mum offered to leave the room – but my client said it was okay for mum to stay in the room. I first explained that I may not start with “Three In One” – and they were agreeable. I started with N.O.T. At school some of the girls were bullies. It was a country school. It took a while to get to the cause – and the mother suddenly said “try testing in relation to being different at school”. This was the key. They were organic farmers – the rest of the kids at school came from “conventional farming” families.

At the end of the Basic 1-8, my client wanted to diffuse the stresses involved with completing her masters degree at university. She was studying in Europe. My client was the only student from that school who made it to university.

And then she said “I want to clear issues with respect to my relationship with my family”. At this point mum left the room. The stress as she was growing up was “dad did not approve of the NZ education system” – although now he has changed his mind and thinks it is good. There were “expectations from father”.

At this point “Set Standards Diffusion” from Three In One Concepts was used. This is about the stresses involved when you set standards for yourself, set standards for others and when others set standards for you.

Her homework was the Australian Bush Flower essence “Little Flannel Flower” – the essence is about connecting with the child in you. She said she grew up very fast.

One week later…

They insisted on an appointment a week later – she was returning to Europe. She did not have headaches – “I could feel it – but it never came out”.

This time she wanted to work on her future goals and dreams. She was a talented artist but she was studying “Business, Computer Science”. She spent the time during the consultation creating a way to achieve her “dream” which was more than just being an artist.

Touch for Health Success

Supplied by Andrea Radford

Although I seem to have been involved with TFH for some time, I feel I’m a junior in the field! Nonetheless, I’ve had some wonderful results which are worthwhile sharing.

A friend of mine had gone through a prolonged tough time, a family member had passed, they had bought a new home and had shifted in, along with her father-in-law, and her daughter had been ill. She was unfamiliar with TFH and we did a 14-muscle fix as you go. It went well and when I left she was feeling fine.

I phoned her a few days later to see how she was. She explained that not long after the balance she lay on the couch and could not get up to prepare dinner for her family. She went to bed and slept solidly and soundly for over 12 hours something she had not done in a very long time – and the following day felt better than she had for months. She attributed this to the balance and was grateful for the relief.

Another lady came for a balance, she said she just wanted some energy. She explained that most nights she lay on the couch after tea, lacking the energy to do anything else. Again we did a 14-muscle fix as you go. When I spoke to her a few days later, she said, “I don’t know what you did, but I did two and a half hours ironing that night, I even ironed the tablecloth from a dinner party 6 weeks ago!”

Another balance that truly astounded me was a case of constipation. The person had been suffering for a few days and was feeling quite uncomfortable. We did a balance, and as soon as he stood up he had to go to the bathroom!

I look forward to having many, many more wonderful results and experiences that enrich all our lives collectively.

Angry Children

Practitioner: Marion Miller

“My son, now 10, has had a very difficult childhood. Since he was born he was a very “different” little man, and for a long time we fought against the label ADHD. We felt that we knew him better than any doctor, and we saw many, believe me. As a general rule, within 5 minutes they had made their “diagnosis” and seemed uncaring that we disagreed – at one point I was dismissed by a specialist when I refused to put him on Ritalin – “Well, there’s no point continuing this appointment then”.

We are very educated people, and like most nowadays, we have access to all sorts of information from all the usual sources. We have never accepted that our son had ADHD as to our minds, he did not fit the pattern, varied though that pattern may be. In our opinion he was, put simply, “wired up wrong”! We had tried many “alternative” therapies with mixed results, but had not found anything that helped him beyond making him “feel nice” for an hour or two.

Luckily, after a change of school, we met an RT/LB teacher who was interested enough to look beyond the norm, and she introduced us to Marion Miller, a Neuro-Linguistic Kinesiologist.

Our first appointment was LIFE ALTERING. I took an angry, violent child into her treatment room and left with an openly affectionate son. At last, someone who could help – and not only that, but who could explain why our boy was doing what he was doing. The most basic result is that my son no longer hits other children – for the simple reason that he no longer has the over-developed fight/flight instinct. This was an IMMEDIATE benefit, noted the very next day at school.

The other benefits have been legion! Life at home is much calmer, he has a great relationship and friendship with his younger sister, and, for the first time in his life, he has friends! We still have our problems, and we still make regular trips for treatment (about once every 4-6 months) but he now knows when he is losing control, and he is the one who instigates the appointments.

I will never be able to thank Marion, and the NLK, enough. She has restored my son to me – and anyone who has a “special” child will fully understand that statement. I would urge anyone who feels that their child has behavioural issues to investigate NLK as an alternative to the awful drug regime handed out willy-nilly by the so-called specialists. In our case, specifically, Ritalin would have been disastrous as my son is not ADHD, as proved by the NLK and later backed up by further “Western” diagnosis.

However, if we had not been so adamant in finding alternative solutions, we would now have a drugged, semi-functioning child (and I am still waiting, three years down the line, for the specialists to send me information on 20 year research on the effects of this drug!).”

Tibetan Energy Balance

Practitioner: Nola Wardlow

Isn’t the brain/body/spiritual connection of our Being just so awesome? What is revealed, as I work with people never fails to amaze me. Let me share this event which occurred recently…

In the clinic we always take a person’s history first, before beginning a balance, to gain some understanding of our client’s life and circumstances. But because this was a workshop situation, and I was meeting Helen for the very first time, when she volunteered to do the teaching demonstration with me, I had virtually no knowledge of her situation or even where she lived.

During introductions this information had not been proffered. To demonstrate the power of the Tibetan Energy balance, and also to show before and after changes, I pre-tested 14 TFHK muscles (as Catherine had demonstrated at Conference a year or two back). I also pre-tested an emotion, the chakras, the auric field etheric bodies, and the gaits (my absolute old favourites). These imbalances or “outs” were charted in bright colours on a whiteboard for the class to see. At this stage no corrections had been made.

The “Tibetan Energy” correction that was needed involved only the front of the trunk of the body. It came the time to post-check all of the previous pre-tests, ALL were now balanced. Helen and the class followed proceedings as all these results were marked off on our whiteboard.

Before Helen gave her comments re. the balance experience, I asked her if she would like me to explain or “read” those charted results. Yes! She and the class would be interested. As always, we can be very smart after the event, meaning that all the signs seem to come together, after the balance; threads are connected and it all begins to form a picture and make sense. This was the resolution of all of the TFHK muscles which had previously unlocked, only PMS or the Liver meridian had showed an imbalance on both left and right sides of the body. I suggested that Helen consider whether there was some anger involved in her life just now. Even so, the emotion tested, had been in 5-element, fire – joy/love. The chakras, 4 to 7 had been out of balance, suggesting that an imbalance lay in the spiritual aspect of Helen’s life, especially as initially it was the spiritual etheric body in the aura showing an imbalance.

I explained to Helen the effects of having the walking gaits unbalanced, even though she appeared to be a very confidant, balanced and athletically active person. We could surmise that the correction had involved the core muscles of the trunk. After my “reading” Helen corroborated the facts. It was a wonderful insight for us all.

The emotion of love and joy? Absolutely. Helen and her husband had just returned to live in the “Bay”, by the sea. This was their dream come true. The PMS Liver emotion? Rather than anger, Helen identified it as frustration. Her husband had recently retired, and seemingly at a loss to fill his days, was in the house full time. Though she loved him, she was feeling stifled and recognised her need for her solitude time to re-energise which was very important to her. Hence the imbalance which had shown in the spiritual aura and in the chakras. The gaits? Yes. Just that very morning during Helen’s early morning walk, she had realised that she felt “out of sync” though she hadn’t understood how that could be. Helen shared that with the understanding of the reading of her body’s responses, as explained and shown on our chart, this had given her the knowledge and the conviction of the importance of pursuing her own needs, without any feelings of guilt.

She resolved to discuss, plan and follow a pattern for both she and her husband – in the area of their new relationship. This is called listening to the body isn’t it!

* Names have been changed.

NLK Mental Fitness Exercises

Practitioner: Marion Miller

One of my clients is a four-year old boy. Initially his mother brought him to me as he always had a “no” attitude and was very oppositional. I saw him four times. During one of these sessions he received an NLK VAK repatterning. He was also given a series of NLK Mental Fitness exercises to do each day.

His mother was very pleased with the results and had favourable reports back from his kindergarten. She wrote the following observations:

“In only this short amount of time, my son has changed his attitude and more –

• Listening more
• Follows instructions more
• Eye and hand co-ordination has improved (including writing and holding a pen)
• Better attitude (more yes than no, not oppositional)
• Changed person at kindy – reports from the teacher “he’s fine and more settled”
• Concentration better
• Easier to reason with
• Co-operates more
• Gets on with children at kindy more – better relationships, friendlier, considering others
• Observes more
• Calmer!!!!
• Relaxed in himself…less tense with himself
• Plays better
• Movement with hands – more coordinated

Overall he is a much happier person, easier to live with for us – and for others around him.”

Brain Gym on the Building Site

Kinesiology Student: Rose Stanton

When my husband Mike started doing Brain Gym to help himself get through the working day as an electrical technician on various building sites around the city, he had to choose a spot where he couldn’t be seen unfurling his ears or rolling his head from left to right.

Brain Gym has been enormously helpful to Mike (now 50), since a stroke and subsequent craniotomy in 2003 left him with limited sensation on his left side, neurogenic fatigue and reduced brain function due to scarring and medication to control his epilepsy, and very depressed.

About nine months after the stroke he had gradually worked up to two full days back at work and had been released from the support of his wonderful caring occupational therapist attached to the ISIS rehabilitation unit at Dunedin Hospital. We were then still learning to cope with our vastly changed lives and approached the local Stroke Foundation Field Officer who lent us some interesting self-help material including the Brain Gym Teacher’s Edition.

The book appeared daunting at first especially since Mike was suffering from lack of concentration and poor decision-making as a result of the stroke. However, he managed to make one decision which was to start with the section on how to understand and read things better. He noticed an immediate benefit and with new confidence felt the improvement enabled him to continue working with the book.

He started to practise Brain Gym at home daily with a basic routine called PACE, which involves drinking water to begin with because water is very important in order to lubricate the brain and body. This is followed by massaging (rubbing) points on the chest just below the clavicle whilst tracking the eyes from right to left and back again. Next is a cross-crawl movement alternating arms and legs from one side to the other, and then a relaxation to finish with.

He still does this routine before going to work and varies it with other exercises he has found useful.

Doing Brain Gym at work was a different matter. The first time he tried was at morning tea time on the sixth floor of an office building redevelopment. He had already been reprimanded by a stern and serious young foreman for not wearing his steel-capped shoes – his feet were quite sore from diminished limb control, but he knew his brain felt “fried” and had to do something. So while everybody else was sitting on their tool-boxes he sneaked into a vacant room and, carefully watching the door, unfurled one ear at a time slowly from top to bottom, not daring to do both at the same time.

The activity he did that first day was ‘The Thinking Cap’ one of the Energy Exercises which help to re-establish neural connections between body and brain. It focuses attention on hearing and also relaxes tension in the cranial bones. It is an exercise used in Touch for Health, Applied Kinesiology, and acupressure systems, and stimulates over 400 acupuncture points in the ears which helps to tune out distracting, irrelevant sounds. For some people excessive exposure to electronic sounds (e.g., radio, TV, computer) will switch off the ears. Interestingly Mike works with alarms, and building sites are always noisy!

Noticing when he needs to refocus has been important for Mike. “When I find myself getting a bit lost or a bit overwhelmed and flooded if I can sneak away and do a bit of Brain Gym, I find it helps get me back in the zone again,” he says. Noticing is one of the five learning principles in Educational Kinesiology (Edu-K), and as mentioned in a recent article by Gail Dennison, means “paying attention to the state of one’s mind, body and emotions, and to the changes, both subtle and profound, that enable one to become more comfortable, confident, and effective in skills and abilities”.

In November 2004, Mike and I were able to attend a Brain Gym workshop facilitated by Joanne Inder, a Dunedin-based physiotherapist and registered Educational Kinesiologist. The course covered an overview of the basic concepts and an introduction to the 26 Brain Gym movements.

The course was interactive, stimulating and experiential and helped to contextualise what we had already discovered about Brain Gym. We also became aware of its wider applications. In many ways it would have been better to do the course first, but strokes of course are unplanned and through trial and error Mike had found an excellent self-help tool which initially helped him to climb out of a debilitating depression. He was then able to focus on becoming more functional at work and at home.

Kids with Learning Blocks

Practitioner: Robyn Hadley

It always amazes me how often the simplest is the best! The following is a snippet from my kinesiology casebook.

A mother brought her very bright seven-year-old “J.” to see me. She had three boys all with IQ’s way above average, but all having or had learning blocks. Her nine-year-old had had quite a few sessions with Nola Wardlaw with considerable success. Nola had taught them Barbara Wards’ “Double Taps” and Mum had been using these with J. I found J. was doing rather well with these, with only a few glitches.

J. was very willing to take responsibility for his own learning. (He was very competent in maths but not succeeding with his reading and writing.) Not surprisingly, his eye tracking was poor and he was marching homolaterally. I taught him P.A.C.E. and Lazy 8’s.

I did not see him for 3 months and I thought I was not going to see him again. Imagine my delight when he came back and I was told he had been doing his Brain Gym regularly every day, without reminders from Mum! And his reading had improved from six and a half to eight and a half. This session he had a Dennison Laterality Repatterning done and he was challenged to do his Brain Buttons and track the Lazy 8 at the same time. He loved the balance board and has taken this home to play on. Mum shared that she can only catch J. out when doing Double Taps after she has been doing it with him for at least 5 minutes. It will be interesting to see how he progresses.

Long-standing Back Problem

Practitioner: Robyn Hadley

It always amazes me how often the simplest is the best! The following is from my kinesiology casebook.

After spending considerable time and effort with a quite complicated balance, on a client with a long-standing back problem, the client gets off the massage table and states that there was “no improvement”. This is always disappointing and upsetting too, as the client is still in pain! However one doesn’t like to let the client go in that state!

A few months before I had given a short talk on kinesiology to the local garden club, composed mainly of retired people and afterwards, an elderly lady had tapped me on the shoulder. She couldn’t believe it – for the past week she had not been able to turn her head and was in agony – she was booked to see a chiropractor the next day. After doing the Auricular exercises (TFH) or Thinking Caps (B/G), she found she could suddenly turn her head and the pain and discomfort had totally disappeared. She was a very happy lady.

Remembering this, I showed my client how to massage her ears and as she was doing so, she was amazed that when rubbing a specific spot on her ear, the pain vanished – again a very contented woman. Most probably, it was the balance that had done most of the work and the Thinking Caps was just the finishing touch. Whatever, it was a satisfactory conclusion.

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