What if you could tap into your body’s wisdom for deeper insight? What if doing so could help you move beyond endless effort and make meaningful progress toward your goals? This mind-body approach can help you access more of your potential. It may sound too good to be true, but that has been my experience with Brain Gym® and the experience of many of my clients.
You may have noticed that things simply feel right when you are in a state of flow. When you feel stuck or uncertain, you may experience doubt, overthinking, or physical discomfort.
In simple terms, Brain Gym® can encourage greater flow and forward momentum with less strain. It can help shift the patterns of overthinking, poor focus, emotional reactivity, and unproductive effort that keep you stuck. By engaging your perceptual and subtle energy systems, it can help you recognize what feels deeply true and make changes with greater ease and peace.
Are you spinning your wheels and wondering why hard work and intellect are not enough to reach your goals?
In these situations, you may feel lost or confused. You might even feel disconnected from yourself and unable to access your inner knowing. In a sense, that may be exactly what is happening.
– Richard Moss
Stress can make it harder to access the inner resources you rely on to function at your best. When you are struggling or feeling stuck, your body and mind may no longer be working together in a balanced way.
You might feel completely ready in your head and heart to achieve a goal, while your body is signaling that something still needs to be acknowledged or released. You may not even know that this missing piece exists. Your body may express it through pain, anxiety, self-doubt, indecision, or difficulty getting started. Chronic pain was how my body spoke to me until I learned to listen. I’ll share more about that later.
It is human nature to respond to stress by overthinking. Our brains go into overdrive as we try to gain control over something we perceive as threatening. This reliance on thought as our primary coping strategy is reinforced by a culture that places great value on logic. If you are reading this, you have probably noticed that logic alone is not always enough when you cannot get where you want to go.
Leaving the body out of the decision-making process is like driving while wearing blinders. You may see what is directly ahead, but you can miss the wider landscape and the signs showing you where to turn.
Because our culture relies so heavily on logic, your body may be the last place you think to look for answers. If you are in pain, you may even blame your body for the problem. Our instinct is to move away from discomfort instead of exploring what it may be telling us.
Yet your body contains a great deal of wisdom. It can reveal what feels right for you, even while your mind is creating complicated stories. Your mind and body are equally valuable parts of a healthy whole. When they begin communicating and working together, meaningful change can happen.
Educational Kinesiology was created by Dr. Paul Dennison and forms the foundation of Brain Gym®. I learned that its purpose is to educate the body, draw out its wisdom, and integrate the different parts of our being. The approach gained recognition by the mid-1980s and drew from fields including psychology, the Chinese meridian system and acupressure, and the chiropractic work of Dr. John Thie.
At its most basic level, Brain Gym® is a specific set of movements and activities. It is an educational process designed to help us learn more effectively, perform at our best, and return to a healthier sense of balance. By easing the stress held in our bodies, it may allow our brains to function more effectively.
As a client, I experienced energy moving through my body that I had not felt in years. In fact, I had not realized how shut down I was until those systems seemed to switch back on.
I found my joy again and began making decisions that were better for me. It felt as if a master electrical switch had been moved to the “on” position and my body was helping carry me in the right direction.
I believe it can. Brain Gym® was an important part of my full recovery, and I have also seen what it can do for my clients. As a certified Brain Gym® instructor, I have witnessed changes that are often breathtaking.
Twenty-year-old Sabra stood in front of me with her shoulders slumped. She told me she was having trouble getting organized. She wanted to see her friends, but even talking to them on the phone felt overwhelming. She wanted to study, but she could not get herself to begin. During our conversation, she did not seem “at home” in her body. She told me she felt as though she was not living her life.
After completing the Brain Gym® exercises, her face looked brighter. Her eye contact was calm and direct, and she said she felt grounded. Her shoulders were square, and her feet were firmly planted. She smiled and said she felt like herself again. Speaking on the phone felt easier. When she went home, she began accepting invitations from friends, studying, and feeling more centered.
Maggie loves animals. When a beloved pet died, she was inconsolable. She cried constantly and found it difficult to be in the apartment where her pet had once lived.
Maggie wanted to process the experience so she could function more easily.
She set a goal of releasing the painful memories surrounding her pet’s death.
After our session, Maggie was no longer crying or shaking. She could think about her pet and experience sadness without feeling threatened or overwhelmed. She returned to her apartment able to remember her pet with joy and calmly process her feelings.
Victoria was under considerable stress at work. She felt triggered by coworkers and a boss she did not feel safe around. She noticed herself becoming reactive in their presence and experiencing intense anger. Even more troubling, she would become stuck replaying their interactions in her mind. She visibly shook when she thought about them.
After the Brain Gym® activities, Victoria was no longer shaking. She said she felt centered. Although she still did not like what was happening at work, it no longer threw her off balance. She felt more confident and less affected by what other people thought of her. She could approach workplace situations calmly and think strategically about how to handle them.
Several weeks later, Victoria told me that she had asked for a raise and moved through her performance review with confidence. She successfully advocated for herself.
– Francis J. Braceland