Brain Gym-ing and learning

Brain Gym and similar systems have been around for decades. (If you are unfamiliar with the Brain Gym, the video (one of two) from a British TV feature will be instructive.) What is of interest there for HIPoeces work is that the exercises are designed to "prepare" the brain, in various ways, to learn more efficiently-or to at least loosen it up and de-stress it--before the actual instruction takes place. The key difference here is that the body engagement in HIPoeces, although often employing similar moves or routines to those of Brain Gym that activate the brain in various ways and sectors, is almost always done simultaneously with learning some feature of the sound system of the target language. There are, in fact, three or four of the exercises on the video that include strokes and cross-lateral touching of the body that are very similar in form (but not in function) to those used in teaching aspects of rhythm and intonation in HIPoeces.