Stress Reduction Brain Exercises
Brain exercises wake up the body/mind system, and help to improve your learning and concentration
processes. All types of physical and mental exercise improve the structural system and improve the circulation of your blood
to your brain. Yet these specific brain exercises also help to enhance your mental performance.
These brain exercises are used to facilitate learning in schools. These
simple movement exercises keep oxygen flowing to the brain, lymph, and nervous system. When people sit still too long they
will tend to either fall asleep or begin to lose focus. These specific movements will get more oxygen to your brain and enhance
your sensory input. These movement exercises improve brain circulation making it easier to understand what you read and hear.
These movement exercises will also balance both sides of your brain by increasing brain communication between the left and
right hemispheres. Paul Dennison, Ph.D. in the 1970’s, researched many movements and exercises that affect learning.
He developed a program called Educational Kinesiology to work with people who were learning disabled. His exercises are called
Brain Gym movements. I will be showing you my favorite movements that I use to enhance brain communication.
Emotional Stress Release
The main movement I recommend to reduce stress and improve thinking ability is called Emotional Stress
Release. There are two neurovascular points on your forehead that are used to help you focus. Neurovascular points are specific
points in your head that connect your nervous system to your muscles and circulatory system. Each of these neurovascular points
are related to an organ, and are used in Applied Kinesiology to evaluate stress in organs. These emotional stress release
points are about one to two inches away from the vertical centerline of your forehead, and in the middle of the forehead between
the hairline and the eyebrows. These emotional stress release points are real neurovascular points that connect your nervous
and circulatory system. You do not need to know exactly where these points are since you just need to lightly cover your forehead
with the palm of your hand to activate these points. Have you ever seen someone under stress, or when taking a test, cover
their forehead with their hand? This is an instinctive movement that people use when they are under stress and they want their
brain to focus better. This movement is something you can do to yourself easily. Or you can hold your hand lightly over another person’s
forehead and tell them to breathe calmly. If they were in a stressed situation they will begin to feel relaxed more quickly.
I have often used this movement with others when they do not know what they want, or they have experienced a trauma and have
lots of anxiety. I encourage students to do this action when they are taking a test, to improve their focus and make better
decisions.
Eye Points
On the back of our head we have two neurovascular points that relate to eye strain. In this
day of constant computer use, you can overburden your eyes causing visual chronic stress. To locate these points in order
to see if they are sore, you will press about one and one-half inches away from the back centerline of your skull, and about
four finger widths up from your neckline. These points will feel like slight indentations in the skull. Sometimes these points
are sore, usually depending on how much eye strain is occurring. If they are sore then gently massage these points until they
are no longer painful. These eye points will reduce any visual stress and help you better remember what you read or see.
Ear Pulls
To increase short-term memory, listening ability, energy, and circulation to your whole body, use ear
pulls. Your ears have over 400 acupuncture points that can be used to improve many health related issues. One way you can
stimulate your whole body is to pull on your ears in all directions. Pull them up, out, down, and try to unroll the edges.
As you move the cartilage in the ear you will stimulate these acupuncture points. I have used ear pulls to stay awake in class,
while driving (only one hand pulling on one ear at time), and to reduce neck tension and stiffness. This exercise improves
circulation throughout your whole body, and can help improve your memory.
Left/Right
Brain Communication
How do you know if your left and
right brain are communicating well? Stand up and put your arms out to both sides of your body with your hands facing forward.
Bring your palms together in front of your body, and clasp your fingers together. Did your hands go together easily? Or did
they not quite meet together in the middle? People who are having trouble thinking clearly, for example, people who are drunk,
will have trouble doing this exercise successfully. When someone is excessively stressed they will also have trouble doing
this exercise. The fingers may not easily come together, or you may have to think about the motion to make it work. The fingers
should smoothly move into place. This is an introductory exercise to help you determine how well your left and right brain
are communicating. If you are having difficulty doing this exercise, do the following brain exercise and then try this movement
again and see if it is easier. People having difficulty thinking clearly can do certain movements that help to bring the brain and senses into better
focus. The main exercise I teach to enhance brain communication and improve coordination is called cross patterning.
Cross
Patterning
In aerobic exercise class there
is a common movement that involves lifting one knee and touching it with the opposite hand or elbow. Then this movement continues
by putting the bent leg back on the ground and lifting the other knee and touching it with the other hand or elbow. By doing
this movement of one hand touching the opposite raised knee continually for 30 to 60 seconds you are actually improving the
nervous system communication between both of your brain hemispheres. Cross patterning is a cross lateral pattern of walking in place that activates large areas
of both your right and left brain hemispheres to improve communication that in turn creates a higher level of reasoning. This
exercise can be done slowly to improve motor skills, balance, and decision-making ability. This exercise activates
the frontal lobe of the brain in the forehead area. Children who have trouble reading often have the most difficulty with this movement. I recommend
this exercise to anyone who is having trouble putting together thoughts in their mind or on paper. If anyone cannot do this
movement I have them practice very slowly until they are able to do it easily. It is a very important tool in improving brain
communication. Any similar exercise using opposite hands and feet in movements will help, such as free-style swimming, skiing,
and many exercise machines that use both arms and legs in opposing movements. To make this exercise more
challenging to your brain, you can do this movement while counting by threes, or by humming a tune. Adding these mental activities
that activate the left brain while counting, or the right brain while humming will stimulate your brain more deeply.
