Brain Stimulating
“Exercise is for the brain, not the body. It affects mood, vitality, alertness and feelings of well-being” – John J. Ratay, MD
I was going to think up a creatively worded post on why frontal plane and cross lateral movement is a great option for a brain stimulating warm-up but Carla Hannaford has a better way with words than I do. I especially love using warm-up exercises like this for young kids and elderly adults.
I’m just gonna leave these quotes right here….
“Crawling, a cross lateral movement, activates development of the corpus callousum…With equal simulation, the senses fully access the environment and both sides of the body move in an integrated way for more efficient action.”
“When crawling movements are done slowly, it requires fine motor involvement and balance, consciously activating the vestibular system and frontal lobes.”
“When done on a regular basis more nerve cells and networks form and myelinate in the corpus callosum, thus making communication between the two hemispheres faster and more integrated for high-level reasoning”
“Movement is essential to learning and to the manifestation of life itself…Movement integrates and anchors new information and experiences into our neural networks.” – Smart Moves by Carla Hannford, PhD