Like Bathing in Spring Breeze

Donna Kam, (Hongkong, China)
24 March 2011

Recently, I had gone to the Kowloon East centre of the Mental Health Association of Hong Kong to conduct a series of Brain Gym® group sessions for people recovering from mental illness, twice every week for three months in a row.

In the beginning, most of the participants were low-spirited, sitting there like half-inflated human-shaped balloons. Several of them had stiff joints, tensed musles, poor left-right coordination and low flexibility. Some of the Brain Gym® activities like Cross Crawls, the Elephant, the Rocker and Cross Crawl Sit-ups might be very challenging for them. I being the instructor had to understand and respect their limitations, simplifying the original movements to suit their levels, so that they could have the encouragement to complete the movements according to their own capacities. This was a very important message: let the participants feel the acceptance. They could then slow their movements down, just to enjoy those bits of increased flexibility and relaxation so gained, thereby, building up self-confidence and willingness to participate.

There was quite some variability in individual abilities. Ah Ping (false name) was a more serious case. The social worker said she was used to be half-awake when she came to the centre. During the first group session, she slept through the former half and could complete the activities in the latter half in a half-asleep state only with the help of a social worker. In the second session, the theme was to learn the P.A.C.E. movements. She dropped into sleep right at the moment when she sat down for doing Hook-ups. In the latter half, again with the help of a social worker, she managed to do all the exercises, with her eyes gathering focus and brain picking up wakefulness gradually.

Ah Ping’s transformation surfaced into the obvious in the third session. She was out of the stuck state, had not slept during class, could respond to every question asked, and showed a noticeable increase in her vitality. Her social worked feedbacked to me that her mental state was much improved. The whole person seemed to have come out of a shell. In the fourth and fifth session, her changes were even more encouraging. She was able to focus to listen and follow instructions closely. She was actively practicing the movements, too!

In the sixth session, she had become eye-catching. Her characteristic sleepy expression was all gone. Instead, her eyes were glowing and her face was healthily red. Her spirit was totally relaxed and I could see her smiles. Assuredness diffused from her eyes while she concentrated on doing the movements. Her limbs moved with more strength and she was more flexible by an estimate of 25% (her neck, shoulders and joints were stiff at the beginning). Though her stamina did not last long, her attitude of carrying on was plausible. She did not mind how she had done the movements. She just practiced them quietly.

Another participant, Ah See (false name) refused to do the pre-check games in the balance for focus. She just withdrew to her own corner, overly focused on her work (the details), not participating in the group games happening in her periphery (the big picture). After several sessions of practicing Brain Gym® activities, she had marked progress in terms of handling the details and the big picture at the same time. Her self-confidence was boosted, being able to do her work at hand and light-heartedly joined in the group interactive games.

After the sessions, Ah See told me that she would soon be in a job interview. She felt a strong urge to withdraw. She asked if the Lengthening Activities of Brain Gym® could help. The answer……. she had already found on her own. This precious first-hand experience, plus her favourite Hook-ups, had dissolved the helplessness and withdrawal embedded deep within her.

My experience with this group of special people had warmed my heart with unforgettable pleasure. They may be greatly limited by their mental illness and drugs. Their muscular strength may be low compared to their wish. Their joints may lack flexibility. Movements like the Rocker, Cross Crawl Sit-ups may be challenging. However, what is moving me is their ceaseless will to participate with their whole persons, enthusiastically coming into each activity, practicing the movements in all of the details and insisting to invest their bests in it. This group of recovering individuals had demonstrated the positive features of human nature, shining out their passion for movements, play and explorations.

In my overall observation, this Brain Gym® experience, indeed, had made their jumping in rejoice. In the self-evaluation questionnaire, they confirmed subjectively of the positive results achieved in varying degrees, in their spirits, emotions, vitality, hearing and seeing skills, memory, thinking abilities and so on. The helping social workers also gave observations in agreement.

This Brain Gym® experience had given contentment to all those involved. The participants, the social workers and the instructor all felt like bathing in the breeze of spring