WAG Brain Gym & Coordination

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josie55

Proud Parent
Hello.
I'm new to this forum. Clearly there is a lot of knowledge and expertise here!

I am wondering if any of you have ever used or heard of Brain Gym to improve your gymnast's coordination.

My gymmie is pretty coordinated, but another DD does ballet and struggles with coordination and remembering choreography. I came across this program that supposedly helps "connect" the brain and body by doing some little exercises.

There are some youtube videos on it that seem kind of goofy, but my ballerina daughter has tried them with some success. In a nutshell, we tested it out by me telling her a fairly complex (but not impossible) ballet sequence, which she struggled to remember. She then did ten minutes of braingym exercises, after which I told her a similar sequence and she had a much easier time remembering and doing it. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but it was intriguing.

The full program is much more robust -- there's a book and you can go to someone who has been trained to get therapy, etc. I haven't done any of this and am wondering if any of you have heard of or tried it. It's not designed specifically for gymnastics (or ballet) but more just general coordination and brain improvement, I think.

Here's a brief description from a website called "skeptic's dictionary" that attempts to describe what Brain Gym is:

"Brain Gym is a set of movement activities such as "crawling, drawing, tracing symbols in the air, yawning, and drinking water" (Hyatt 2007) that, according to the Brain Gym website, are said to help children, adults, and seniors to:
  • Learn ANYTHING faster and more easily
  • Perform better at sports
  • Be more focused and organized
  • Start and finish projects with ease
  • Overcome learning challenges
  • Reach new levels of excellence
The basic idea behind Brain Gym is that the brain will develop, and learning will be enhanced, by certain bodily movements."

I'd love to know if any of you have tried it and what the results were. Thanks!
 
Never seen it used in the gym, but my daughters' preschool used it a lot and swears it has a positive impact on learning...at the very least it gives the kids structured movement breaks that are easy to refocus from. :) Obviously it's nothing that will hurt if you're seeing positive results.
 
Brain gym exercises used to be quite popular in UK Primary schools. They are supposed to help coordination and attention. They mostly have to do with 'crossing the centre line' of the body in some way.
 
I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but it doesn't seem that double blind studies suggest any benefit.
 

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