Executive Functioning

Executive Function - or EF - has become a buzz phrase within the last decade.  It describes a large array of activities that happen in the brain - specifically the prefrontal cortex.  The prefrontal cortex is responsible for so many facets of a person's functioning that I'm worried I'll exceed the cloud space for this blog if I try to list them here.  An article shared by the NCBI/NIH has a thorough, and also very jargon-filled, description here if you want to get really in-depth: Neuropsychology of Prefrontal Cortex. I'm a self-admitted neuroscience nerd, so that article is right up my alley, but  be forewarned: it won't be everyone's cup of tea.

To simplify, EF includes (but is not limited to) the abilities to set goals, plan ahead, organize, recall information, multi-task, make decisions, regulate impulses, and focus attention.  Those are super-important skills, and we've all experienced a moment (or several) when we felt our EF was lacking.  When EF is impaired, life can feel like a confusing, overwhelming, and downright hard thing to manage.  We can come up with compensation strategies (hello, note app in my phone), but those won't necessarily help our kids, and could actually reduce opportunities to use EF (remember the days when you could rattle off the phone number of your closest friends and family without looking it up?).  While we cannot control all facets of brain development, the good news is that EF is not fully developed until we are approximately 25 years old.  Why is that good news, when EF is REALLY important for success in school and beyond? Because it means that we can affect its development before adulthood.  

Research shows that yoga improves EF in children and adolescents as evidenced in a number of studies, including this one and this one. Research also shows that EF is correlated with school success, including improved reading performance and behavioral control.  The Mindful Moving Kids curricula were designed to help children build a variety of skills, with a healthy dose of EF practice built into every class.  Check out the MMK options available, or contact me directly at MindfulMovingKids@gmail.com.