In an urban elementary school in Kansas, teachers are using Bal-A-Vis-X to help students regulate their bodies and their emotions. In the words of BAVX creator, Bill Hubert, " BAVX enables the mind-body system to experience the symmetrical flow of a pendulum." When students arrive in the Mindful Classroom for a scheduled break, the teachers engage them in a few minutes of partner BAVX exercises.
During those few minutes, they are completing hundreds of rhythmic, predictable mid-line crossings. The rhythm helps to calm the fight or flight response. The exercises, performed with sand-filled bags and racquetballs, are a vehicle to achieve co-regulation which is the first step toward self regulation. As the students become proficient with the beginning exercises they can begin to learn the hundreds of variations. The exercises get gradually more difficult and students experience stress in small, tolerable doses that gradually increase their tolerance for frustration which leads to resilience. The BAVX exercises lend themselves naturally to building positive relationships with students. The following video, produced by the Oklahoma State Department of Education, illustrates the exercises.
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