Educational kinesiology, founded by Paul Dennison, uses a series of 26 exercises to balance the body’s energy centers and enhance learning strategies. Some movements have been criticized for lacking scientific evidence, but anecdotal evidence suggests they can build muscle and alleviate stress. The method is taught in many countries, but some education groups have called for a ban on classroom instruction.
Kinesiology deals with the study of how the body moves, a field widely known as biomechanics. Educational kinesiology is a specialized track founded by educator Paul Dennison, professor and advocate of learning through movement. At Dennison’s Brain Gym International, students of all ages can learn a series of 26 exercises promised to encourage the completion of individual goals by balancing the body’s energy centers.
Dennison has a handful of qualified representatives in most states, many of whom teach educational kinesiology in local colleges and public schools. She teaches them through private sessions with other certified instructors or through online or in-person courses. Ultimately, these educators apply what they learn to enhance the learning strategies employed by students in classrooms around the world. Although the United States has the most certified educational kinesiologists in 2011, with a handful in virtually every state, the Brain Gym method is taught in countries as diverse as Indonesia and Croatia.
Some of the suggested movements are simple, while others are more complex, each employed to counteract or encourage a certain action. One common motion is the “brain button,” which involves touching your belly button with one hand and creating the letter “C” with the other while sticking your fingers to your collarbones. This is said to encourage a surge of electromagnetic energy from one hemisphere of the brain to the other, from the rational to the creative or vice versa.
Another recommended movement is to touch the forehead above each eye with each hand to increase blood flow forward to the frontal lobes of the brain, the supposed seat of rational thought. To counter the claim, neuroscientist David Atwell, professor of physiology at London, England’s Global University, says rational thinking doesn’t just happen in the frontal lobes, and that no evidence has shown that touching the forehead can alter blood flow to the brain.
Dennison and the Brain Gym International board offer no independent scientific evidence of the effectiveness of their method. This method, however, offers anecdotal evidence in the form of success story testimonials. No doubt it’s the fact that some of the more rigorous exercises in educational kinesiology are at least helpful in building muscle and flexibility, and also potentially alleviating some of the stress inherent in growing up.
With teachers around the world being educated on how to employ educational kinesiology in their classrooms, a debate ensued. Education groups in Britain and other countries have called for a ban on classroom instruction in the 26 movements. The non-profit group Sense About Science has also condemned the practice as irresponsible. Cognitive scientist Beth Losiewicz counters Brain Gym’s claim that her movements allow participants access to unused parts of the brain by saying that science shows no evidence that the human brain is not being used.
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