Do you ever get the feeling that you can’t accomplish anything because your brain is foggy? You need to finish a project, for example, but you are stuck.

There is a quick and simple way to clear your head and push through the mental quicksand. It is called Brain Gym, a series of exercises you can do at your desk to de-stress and turn your brain circuits back on. Or, if you would like to learn how to incorporate this program more permanently into your life, you can take a formal Brain Gym course. (To learn more about Brain Gym, go to www.braingym.org. )

Brain Gym, developed in Cali-fornia in the 1980s by educator Paul Dennison, has become an international phenomenon. It has been adopted in more than 90 countries and translated into 50 languages.

Brain Gym is the introductory program for a process of learning called “educational kinesiology” (Edu-K), designed to re-educate the mind and body to work together and function with greater ease and efficiency.

“This stuff works if you use it,” says Jill Hewlett, a certified teacher of Brain Gym in Toronto (www.jillhewlett.com). “The joy in it for me is to see people switch on, come alive. People get back into their bodies and can be in the driver’s seat.”

Hewlett is a busy person. She’s a business consultant and a TV producer and host, as well as a professional speaker. She uses Brain Gym every day to clear her thoughts and prepare for high-energy output. She found the exercises particularly helpful when she was pregnant with her daughter, who is now 13 months old. “In the third trimester, I used it for fitness, to keep my body flowing and for brain clarity and emotional balance.”

As a certified Brain Gym instructor, Hewlett has taught many business people how to use the program: “It helps to get out of the rat race and into your own rhythm and timing. Moving faster can mean more mistakes and less clarity. When we beat to our own drum at our own genuine pace, we accomplish more.”

Brain Gym is not just a quick pick-me-up. It is often used in serious cases of adult mental illness such as addiction, and to help children with attention deficit disorders to focus on their learning.

Paul Hyman, who is on the board of Brain Gym International, incorporated the program into wellness therapy he provided for cocaine addicts at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, where he worked for 10 years.

Hyman is now in private practice as a specialist in life skills strategies. He helps adults and teenagers challenged with addiction issues; he uses Brain Gym even in crisis interventions. Hyman — who used to be a professional trombonist — has also taught musicians how to use Brain Gym to optimize both their rehearsals and their performances.

When we are under stress, Hy-man explains, our brains are not working in an integrated state. The right brain reacts with emotion, which may not be rational. The left brain reacts by finitely analysing things, so a person “can’t see the forest for the trees.” The idea of Brain Gym is to co-ordinate one side of the brain with the other; it is based on movements that involve both hemispheres of the brain.

“It brings you back to an integrated state. When people incorporate Brain Gym sequencing in the morning and the afternoon in the workplace, it makes their workday more efficient, less exhausting,” Hyman says.

Brain Gym’s goal is a state it calls PACE: positive, active, clear and energetic. Here is a simple way to achieve it:

> Pour yourself a large glass of water and drink deeply.

> Look slowly left to right and up and down. Feel the tension in your eyes. Think about a task. Think about your breathing. Notice the tension in your shoulders and neck.

Now, touch your right hand to your left knee and then your left hand to your right knee. Repeat each 10 times, then eight, then six, then four, then two.

> Cross your ankles. Hold both arms straight out in front of you, with thumbs downward and palms facing out. Cross your right hand over your left hand and interlock your fingers. Turns hands inward, bend your elbows, bring your hands to your chest. Dip your head down toward your lap. This is a comforting position. Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Notice your breathing slowing down.

@page_break@Uncross your ankles, uncross your wrists and fingers. Sit back up. Still breathing slowly, put your fingertips together gently. Do you feel a slight rhythm? Notice your pulse through the fingertips. Now, look slowly from left to right and up and down. You should feel less tension in your eyes.

> Keep drinking lots of water. IE