Where did
Bal-A-Vis-X Come From?

Bal-A-Vis-X was developed by, Bill Hubert, after years of working as a first grade teacher, middle school teacher, and martial arts instructor. Bal-A-Vis-X wasn’t born in a eureka moment. It evolved–a long process of connecting dots.

  • Dot One: Each year many of Bill’s grade one students didn’t function well.
  • Dot Two: Bill’s martial arts experience enabled him to watch these 6-7 year-olds through the twin lenses of balance and rhythm.
  • Dot Three: Bill felt it was important that all these students have fundamental balance and rhythm capabilities so he taught them such basic physical skills as throwing, catching, walking balance beams, skipping, and so on.
  • Dot Four: Slowly Bill became aware that, of all his students, the ones most deficient in these basic physical skills often were the same ones who struggled most academically.
  • Dot Five: Bill noticed, as we all worked on balance and rhythm, that now and then when a struggling student’s balance and rhythm improved, his/her academic performance also improved.

Connecting these dots, then, posed this question: might fine tuning a child’s balance and rhythm simultaneously address his/her academic difficulties? What followed were more than 20 years of trial and error to find out. The result, as of 1999, was the still-evolving program now known as Bal-A-Vis-X.

Bill’s personal Assistant Instructors are students. Since 1998 when he and his 7th graders provided their first training (of a public school staff in Wichita), some 40 teens traveled with Bill to train more that 15,000 adults on three continents. Without these student assistants, Bal-A-Vis-X could never have become what it is. One hour into your first training you will clearly see why.

About Physical Movement

“While aerobic exercise elevates neurotransmitters, creates new blood vessels that pipes in growth factors, and spawns new cells, complex activities put all that material to use by strengthening and expanding networks. The more complex the movements, the more complex the synaptic connections. And even though these circuits are created through movement, they can be recruited by other areas and used for thinking. This is why learning how to play the piano makes it easier for kids to learn math. The prefrontal cortex will co-opt the mental power of the physical skills and apply it to other situations.” From SPARK, by Dr John Raty [emphasis added by Bill Hubert]

About Rhythmic Physical Movement

Physical movement is one thing. Rhythmic physical movement is another.

Rhythmic movement is easier to learn, to practice, to remember, and to teach because it is consistently replicable and predictable. This is why even the most accomplished pianist revisits scales and basic techniques each day, to re-engage touch and rhythmicity’s flow. All of Bal-A-Vis-X is deeply rooted in rhythm. [Bill Hubert]

Slow, steady, repetitive, rhythmic physical movement is safe, predictable, and replicable.