

Lesson Plans

Exercises (Right Brain)

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Larry Cox (L_J_Cox)
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 20:14:14 -0700

These exercises were given to me by a therapist who specialized in helping
dyslexic children about 1-13 years ago.

Exercises to Increase Your Learning Abilities

We have two brains connected by a band of nerve tissue called the corpus
callosum. Our LEFT BRAIN governs the entire right side of our body and it
is our primary interpreter of mathematics, language and logic, processing
linear data like a computer. Our RIGHT BRAIN is not only responsible for
the entire left side of or body, it processes incoming data simultaneously,
and carries visual memory, orientation is space, emotions and artistic

In his book, "Switching On," Dr. Paul Dennison, Ph.D. claims "the most
efficient dominance pattern finds completely consistent sidedness": ideally
a Right-Brained individual will use the left hand, left eye and left ear in
preference to the right and Left-Brained individual will prefer the right
eye, hand and ear. "When the pattern is inconsistent, the two brains get
confused about when to work and what to do. Energy id drained and switching
off takes place." Whereas normal learners are working on all cylinders,
dyslexics are struggling with three or four. The exercises below are those
we have determined to be best for you to switch your system back on. (These
were given to Linda's older son, about 13 years ago.)

1. Rub deeply and firmly (for 20 to 30 seconds) the acupressure points
known as Kidney 27's, located beneath the inner ends of the collar bone and
just to the right and left of the sternum, while resting the other hand on
the navel. (K16) Energy crosses over from one side of the body to the
other when activated by these points. Do it three times a day.

2. Fold the ears back, starting from the tip and working down, to bring
energy to the ears, and improve listening skills.

3. Do a homolateral crawl by raising the left arm and leg simultaneously
followed by the right arm and leg. While you are doing this exercise, look
down to the (right) to specifically activate your logic (left) brain. Think
about what you are doing. 25times.

4. Do a heterolateral crawl, lifting left arm and the right leg
simultaneously followed by the right arm and left leg. Arch the head back
to activate proprioceptors in the neck. Look up and to the (left) with the
eyes to switch on the gestalt (right) brain. Visualize and feel the cross
crawl as you do it. 25 times.

This above was all she had us do.

5. Practice the following eye exercise. Use a finger, pencil or penlight
held about 18 inches from the eyes.
a.) Pursuits or back-and-forth tracking through the entire visual field.
b.) Rotations- clockwise and counterclockwise circles around the entire
visual field.
c.) Convergence exercises. Starting at 18 inches from the eyes, slowly
pull the penlight closer and closer toward the nose. Stop it when you
begin to see double. Don't cause yourself any strain.

6. Relax the head and upper torso into a modified backbend, depending upon
agility and flexibility. With head back, allow gravity to melt away the
tension and breathe deeply to bring energy into the neck. If chest is
concave, attempt to open it without strain. Now move the eyes back and
forth across the ceiling several times and keep breathing. There are
proprioceptors in the neck muscles which switch on the eye muscles when the
neck is in this position. This is the position of the neck during creeping
and crawling when you first learned to use your eyes together as a team.
Returning to this posture can switch on the synchronized eye movements