Lazy 8s Therapy

Lazy 8s Therapy

 

Benefits: Improves visual attention and eye mobility needed for reading.

Instructions: Align the body with a point at eye level. This will be the midpoint of the 8. Start and the midpoint and move counter-clockwise up, over, around and back to the midpoint. As the eyes follow the Lazy 8, the head moves slightly and the neck remains relaxed. Do three repetitions with each hand separately and then both hands together.

Lazy Eights

Place your extended arm straight out in front of you with the thumb pointing towards the ceiling. Focus your eyes on that thumb and without taking your eyes off of it, while keeping your head straight ahead, you are going to trace the number “8” laying on its side, in the air, slowly and smoothly.

Begin your Lazy Eight at the center of the 8 and go up and to the left with your hand. Do three full Lay Eights with one hand, then three with the other. Finally, three of them with both hands together, moving in unison in the same direction at the same time.

 

 

Doing the Lazy 8 or movement creates an energy pattern.  This pattern can break up incoherent patterns that keep us stuck. If there is someone who is having a hard time, even without putting your hand on them, you can send that pattern toward them (in their energy field). There is something about that pattern that’s very integrating and very calming.

By Ellen Hughes

 

There were 40 teachers for a  3-day workshop that I was teaching and we did the Lazy Eight the first day of class. The next day when we met again, they all shared their experiences.  It was amazing how many of them had gone home and rubbed the Lazy 8 on the back of their spouse or their child or done it for themselves and they were saying things like, “Wow, I or my spouse, usually wake up every morning at 3am and can’t go back to sleep, after using the Lazy Eights’ yesterday, we didn’t wake up at 3:00 in the morning.  Or “My husband’s backache went away” or “I used it on my dog, and they calmed down.

 Lazy Eight is the pattern of the infinity sign. You can just imagine tracing this pattern around the mother and child.  The infinity sign is a pattern that we find in nature.  The pattern of the movement of the sun traveling, actually creates this pattern.  Many ancient healing traditions have used this pattern for thousands of years.  Usually in Brain Gym, we use it to improve eye-hand coordination and to connect right and left hemispheres.  In “Energy Medicine”, we use it as a healing technique and we trace the pattern on areas of the body.

 

A simple series of exercises could help your brain function better, making you sharper, smarter – and far more confident.  Brain Gym comprises very easy body movements which have been designed to coax the two hemispheres of the brain to work in synchronisation.

Apparently when our brains become balanced,  our whole bodies respond, revitalising our natural healing mechanisms, restoring health and harmony.   Brain Gym can do everything from speeding up your reading to boosting self-esteem.  It can improve your eyesight and even increase your creativity.   It gives you a cutting edge both in the office and in your personal life, improving communication skills, helping you make better decisions and even giving you a boost when you’re facing rejection or disappointment.

Brain Gym is the practical self-help side of Educational Kinesiology, a system which developed out of work with dyslexia and learning disabilities in children.  Researcher Dr Paul Dennison found that very simple body movements could help to improve brain function.  Kay McCarroll, whose dyslexia ruined her school days, now teaches and promotes the system in the UK.  She says, “It changed my life, quite literally; I can’t put it strongly enough.  At school I was always being told to “try harder” but I literally couldn’t work any harder.  I was trying my level best.  Educational Kinesiology changed everything.  Now I have even written a book.”

However Kay stresses that Brain Gym is not just for children with learning difficulties; it can help everyone,  Even those who think they have perfectly normal brain function will find the exercises will help them perform even better.  Brain Gym can help everyone get more out of their brains – and more out of life.

USING BRAIN GYM:  THE EXERCISES.

The following are examples of key Brain Gym exercises.  They are all very simple and each only takes
a few minutes at most.  The more you use them, the more your brain will respond.  However there is one other important tip for improving your performance which doesn’t even require performing an exercise.  “Drink masses of water,” says Kay McCarroll.  Apparently water is essential for the development of the nerve network during learning.  “So keep a bottle of water on your desk and sip it throughout the day.”

 

LAZY EIGHTS:
Extend one arm straight out in front of you, with the thumb pointing toward the ceiling.  In the air, smoothly and slowly trace the shape of a large figure 8 on its side.

As you draw the 8, focus your eyes on your thumb, keeping your head upright, facing forward and moving only slightly.  Start tracing your 8 by beginning at eye level.  Move your arm up and over to the left, around and back to centre, then to the right.

Do three full 8s with one hand, then three with the other and finally three with both hands clasped together.

** This integrates both visual fields, improving balance and co-ordination.  Many people report better vision after this exercise.

YOU TUBE VIDEO OF LAZY 8 THERAPY