Welcome to the Brain FUNdamentals Blog!
I began this blog in May 2020 while working as the Lead Coach and Educator at Brain Fit Academy Inc. Today, I’m excited to continue sharing my insights and experiences—only now, I’m writing from the perspective of my own company, Brain FUNdamentals LLC! While the name has changed, my passion for this work remains the same!
Rhythm
Humans are designed to have rhythm. Nature (in all its glory) is full of rhythm and patterns and beautiful chaos. So are our human bodies and brains.
Root Cause
Whack-a-mole. Remember that game? You know the one- people play it at carnivals and amusement parks. You hold that big soft hammer looking thing and try and "whack" as many moles as you can in a certain amount of time.
Labels
We have clients come to Brain Fit Academy with a variety of "labels". As I wrote about in my post titled "There's Someplace Else", we often have families come to us after they have tried other methods, therapies, and modalities. We are the "someplace else" that often seems to come further along on a family's journey to help their child.
Babies
We talk a lot about babies at Brain Fit Academy. We talk about the Baby Brain. We talk about babies in our reflex class. We talk about babies when explaining our methods to parents.
Problem Solving
I was sitting on the sidelines of my Brain Gym® 104 class. We were on Zoom and the participants were working together to practice a few of the movements I had taught them.
Happiness
"Amy's here!, Amy's here!" I could hear my 6-year old client saying to her mother as I approached the door to the house.
Fear Plays Tricks
Fear does interesting things to us.
Bags
I guess I already knew how heavy the bags are that I carry to every client's house. I just don't really think about it unless someone asks me. It wasn't until I injured my knee and needed to think about carrying large tote bags into a client's house that I really needed to stop and think about what I have in those bags and whether I could lighten my load a bit.
Muscle Checking- What? No way!
We were at the initial screening appointment for my son at Brain Fit Academy. My son was downstairs with one of the coaches and my husband and I were learning more about Brain Fit with Pam Formosa (the owner/director). She was teaching us about the some of the important aspects of Brain Fit.
Patterns
Patterns are all around us. They are in nature, they are in our bodies (like the motor patterns of the primitive reflexes) and they are in our behavior.
Puzzle Pieces
Primitive Reflexes. If you follow this blog of mine you know that we address unintegrated (not finished) primitive reflexes at Brain Fit Academy.
Time
Time is an obscure concept, isn't it? We expect kids to understand the passage of time and when they don't, it's hard for us to understand. Well, at least I found it hard to understand.
I Hear and I Forget
You've probably heard the famous saying above. If you're a teacher, it might have even been part of your teacher training. It's one that always stuck with me as a teacher, and it sticks with me even more in my job at Brain Fit Academy.
Tune Up
Need a tune up?- and no, I'm not talking about the car type of tune up. I'm talking about a Brain Fit tune up.
Did He Crawl?
I don't remember the exact conversation that took place between Pam Formosa (owner/director of Brain Fit Academy) and my husband and I. However, I'm sure that it happened during our initial screening appointment with her and I know it went something like this:
Roots
What would happen to a tree if it didn't have strong roots?
Would it grow healthy, strong and tall?
Would it be able to stand erect in the ground and maintain its stability in the wind?
Would it be able to withstand the ebbs and flows of weather patterns?
Would it support the tree in the best way possible?
The Baby Brain
🎵🎵🎵 The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside...Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I've tried. 🎵🎵🎵
Sometimes it Just Doesn’t Seem to Stick
Imagine being in a boat. It could be a row boat, or a kayak or canoe. You choose- it doesn't matter. You're rowing and rowing as hard as you can and just aren't getting anywhere- or at least, not as far as you would like.
It’s All About You (them-not you)
“This is about you”, I said to my 10 year old client. You tell me when you’re ready to stop. We were doing an assisted movement (which is just like it sounds- a movement in which the child needs assistance in order to complete it) and I wanted him to know that it was up to him to tell me when he felt like he was “done”. He- his brain and body- really seemed to be enjoying the movement and I let him continue until he gave me the word that he was all set.
They Start to Ask
I love it when a parent tells me that their child has started to ask for some of the movements. During my sessions with kids through Brain Fit Academy (since we are a movement based program) we do a lot of different movements. Some of these movements are ones that my clients really enjoy and feel good to their bodies.