Brain Gym and Kung Fu!

Over the long weekend, while the Lion Dance Team squeezed in final rehearsals for Chinese New Year performances, students at The Academy trained together for the upcoming adult test, (the first of the New Year should prove a dramatic one) and youth from all over Portland joined in on our MLK Day Movement Arts Camp…I attended a four-day Brain Gym course offered through Portland State University’s Graduate School of Education, Continuing Education Department.

Our gracious hostess and competent instructor/facilitator, Carla Judge led us (a small group of elementary school educators) through the 26 Basic Activities, and 10 Balance Poses that are designed to ‘integrate body and mind to bring about improvements in: concentration, memory, reading, writing, organizing, listening, physical coordination, and more.’

I took the course hoping to pick up some easy and fun movement-based tools that would function to increase coordination, relaxation, and promote cross-lateral “teaming” among the many elementary students I work with both in and outside of classrooms throughout the school district. I feel like I will come away with a lot of new, quick moves, that can be easily adapted to help students meet school challenges with a fresh perspective and clear mind!

Brain Gym began in the 1970’s with the work of educators Dr. Paul Dennison and Gail E. Dennison, and more information can be found on their official website: http://www.braingym.org/