• “It’s not supposed to be easy…It’s supposed to be different and new.”
     
    brain

    The Thinking X

     
    Whenever you move the left side of your body, you're using the right side of your brain.  When you use the right side of your body, the left side of your brain is active.  If you think of an X in your mind and see it, move your eyes from left to right and right to left.

    Thinking of an X tells your brain you want to use both sides of your brain at the same time.  This is a good thing.  It will help you with speed-reading and becoming more coordinated in sports and play activities.

     

    Skipping

     

    Skipping uses both sides of the brain together.  It will help with creative thinking, study skills, speed-reading, and oral reading.  See if your child can lift one knee up and the arm of the opposite hand.  Put them down and then bring the other knee up and the opposite arm.  Do this slowly and then speed it up until your child can skip.

    Balance Button

     

    This exercise helps with thinking, relaxing for test taking, and organizational skills.  While sitting down, touch two fingers to the indentation at the base of the skull, behind the ear.  Rest the other hand on your navel.  Imagine breathing the energy up through the body, slowly and deeply.  After a minute, switch hands and hold your two fingers behind the other ear.

    The Elephant

     
    This exercise helps with math and spelling skills.  The Elephant will also help you to listen better.  Stand up, bending your knees and 'glue' your head to your shoulder and point across the room to the left.  Use your ribs to move your whole upper body as you trace a Lazy 8 on its side.  Look past your fingers.  Then, repeat with the other side.

    If you have your child practice spelling his or her spelling words in the air, it helps him or her to remember them.

     

    Neck Rolls

     
    Neck Rolls help to relax your neck and shoulders.  You can stand or sit while you breathe in deeply and slowly, relaxing your shoulders and dropping your head forward.  Move your head slowly from side to side, in a slow, rolling action.  Imagine breathing out any tension.  As you do this, your chin draws a smooth curve across your chest as your neck relaxes.

     

    Thinking Caps

     
    Thinking Caps is used to improve your ability to listen better, do public speaking, short-term memory, thinking abilities and spelling.  It also can help improve your concentration while working on the computer.
     
    Take your hands and place them at the top of each ear.  Using both hands, start at the top of each ear and "unroll" the curved part of the edge of the ears at the same time.  Continue moving your hands down the ear all the way to the bottom of the ear lobes.  Repeat this until you have done it three times.
     
    Space Buttons
     
    This exercise helps you with centering, grounding and relaxing the nervous system.  Standing, you hold one hand touching the upper lip and the other hand touching behind you, just above the tailbone.  Hold while you take three slow, deep breaths.  Reverse hands and breathe the same way for three breaths.

     

    Belly Breathing

    Belly breathing improves the supply of oxygen to the blood and brain.  It helps relax you, which increases your energy level.  It will also make it easier for you to read and speak.

    Standing up, place your hands on your abdomen.  Exhale through your mouth in short little puffs.  Next, inhale slowly and deeply, filling your abdomen like a balloon underneath your hands.  Slowly and fully exhale the air.  Repeat this a few times, making sure you have a natural rhythm going.

    Double Doodle

    Double Doodle helps to develop writing skills, spelling and math.  It also makes it easier to be able to follow directions and improve eye-hand coordination.

    Imagine a line drawn the middle of the body, from the nose to the belly button.  Put both hands up in the air and begin drawing identical doodles on each side of the line.  Have some fun with it.  It gives your brain a great workout!

    Gravity Glider

    This exercise not only helps with reading comprehension, but it's good to do after sitting at the office all day and before playing in a sports event like baseball or soccer.

    Sit on a chair or sofa.  Cross your ankles.  Keeping your knees relaxed, bend forward and reach out in front of you with straight arms.  Let your arms glide down toward your feet as you exhale.  Glide arms up as you inhale.  Repeat, moving arms to the left and up, right and up, and then center.  Change your legs and repeat.  For most people, their body feels lighter and more relaxed.

    Brain Buttons

     

    This exercise helps improve blood flow to the brain to "switch on" the entire brain before a lesson begins. The increased blood flow helps improve concentration skills required for reading, writing, etc.

    • Put one hand so that there is as wide a space as possible between the thumb and index finger.
    • Place your index and thumb into the slight indentations below the collarbone on each side of the sternum. Press lightly in a pulsing manner.
    • At the same time put the other hand over the navel area of the stomach. Gently press on these points for about 2 minutes.
     
    Cross Crawl
     

    This exercise helps coordinate right and left brain by exercising the information flow between the two hemispheres. It is useful for spelling, writing, listening, reading and comprehension.

    • Stand or sit. Put the right hand across the body to the left knee as you raise it, and then do the same thing for the left hand on the right knee just as if you were marching.
    • Just do this either sitting or standing for about 2 minutes.

    Hook Ups

     

    This works well for nerves before a test or special event such as making a speech. Any situation which will cause nervousness calls for a few "hook ups" to calm the mind and improve concentration.

    • Stand or sit. Cross the right leg over the left at the ankles.
    • Take your right wrist and cross it over the left wrist and link up the fingers so that the right wrist is on top.
    • Bend the elbows out and gently turn the fingers in towards the body until they rest on the sternum (breast bone) in the center of the chest. Stay in this position.

    Keep the ankles crossed and the wrists crossed and then breathe evenly in this position for a few minutes. You will be noticeably calmer after that time.

    Mr. Spock Hands

     

    • Mr. Spock with hands – switch fingers – back and forth
    • Try the opposite hand
    • Relax your other hand
    • Both hands together
    • Opposite from one another
    • Switch back to the same

     

     

    The Swoop

     

    • Put one hand in front of your face
    • Move it behind your head and up
    • Swoop it down in front of your face again
    • Opposite hand starts above your head, swoop down in front of face; behind head and up
    • Both hands together
Last Modified on June 25, 2018