Learning Empowered by Movement; Brain Gym Exercises Wake Up Brain and Body
Posted on: Monday, 23 March 2009, 10:40 CDT
MANDEVILLE, La., March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Brain Gym(R) provides a simple solution to the learning challenges faced by many children and adults every day; difficulties with reading, writing, math, comprehension, verbalization, music and sports. The solution is movement. Brain Gym(R) is based on the use of 26 specific and integrative movements and 5-step core process for Brain Balance, which can break through cognitive and sensory motor barriers that make learning difficult and stressful for adults and children. Educators and therapists have long been utilizing these movements and activities as powerfully simple tools to organize and improve brain function. When used prior to, or during instruction or a project, Brain Gym(R) has been shown to improve blood flow, increase oxygenation, heighten focus, and affect positive shifts in balance, memory, vision, self-expression, attitude, attention and organization. Wendy Piret, a local and licensed Brain Gym Instructor, is offering Brain Gym(R) 101 April 17-19 at Franco's Fitness Center in Mandeville, LA. Ms. Piret, a newcomer to the area, explains: "When I moved here and began talking with teachers, parents and students about learning challenges, I realized we could offer a proven intervention that I have seen used successfully across the country." Ms. Piret's classes are open to therapists, teachers and lay people.
Around the world and in thousands of public and private schools in the US teachers and therapists have incorporated Brain Gym(R) into their classrooms and clinical interventions. Over the past few years, local area Physical Therapists (PTs), Occupational Therapists (OTs), Principals and teachers in Louisiana and Mississippi, who were introduced to Brain Gym(R) concepts in continuing education classes and seminars in other parts of the country, are now integrating the work into their professional practices.
Denise Figueiredo, an internationally-recognized Brain Gym(R) instructor, will be the lead teacher for the April seminar. Ms. Figueiredo is the recipient of the "Teaching Through Movement Award: Innovative Teachers for 2006-2007" from the Brain Gym(R) Foundation and an experienced OT; she resides in Maryland and has extensive experience implementing the Brain Gym(R) program in public school and clinical settings. In 2008 she was one of the OT recipients of the "2008 Exemplary Program Award" offered by the Maryland OT Association to the Maryland State Steering Committee for School Based OT/PT Programs, for their accomplishments in rewriting the guidelines for OT/PT school based services, endorsed by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE).
Biologist and Educator Dr. Carla Hannaford in her book, Smart Moves: Why Learning is Not All in Your Head, states, "People simply find it hard to believe that physical activities can help you think. The coordinated exercises seem too simple to work and many people in our society hold the misconception that movement has nothing to do with the intellect. If the program is not hard, time-consuming and costly it appears to have less value, when in reality it is often the simple common-sense solutions that produce the most profound results."
Contact: Wendy Piret, licensed Brain Gym Instructor/Consultant
Telephone: 985-792-7249
Cell: 206-550-1644
Email: wppiret@hotmail.com
Web: www.braingym.org
SOURCE Brain Gym
Source: PR Newswire
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