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Ruiko Henmi is one of the founders of Heguru. She is one of the most inspirational women I have met. Get to know a little more about the Right Brain teacher who has brought out the potential in so many students.
About Ruiko Henmi
Mrs Ruiko Henmi is the Principal of Henmi Educational General Laboratory. Mrs Henmi is a very popular teacher who is often featured on TV programs. She has developed various right brain educational programs at Tachikawa campus. Her bold and meticulous training system has benefitted thousands of students in the HEGL school program.
Excerpts from the Japan Times
On the discovery of Hado Reading:
Fifteen years ago, Ruiko Henmi, an operator of schools focusing on right-brain development, saw a 7-year-old boy read a paperback in less than a minute and she did not believe it was possible he retained any of the information it contained.
She then saw other children racing through books using the “hado yomi” (literally, “wave-action reading”) ultrafast speed-reading method, which consists of flipping through several hundred pages a few times in less than a minute and understanding the content. Many of the children were her students.
Two years later, she gathered 100 children who claimed they could do the ultra-fast reading and had them do it in front of her eyes. She then gave them 15 minutes to write a summary of the book.
Most of the children got the summary correct, and some of them even filled eight pages of A4-size paper, Henmi said.
“That’s when I was convinced it was real. I thought developing the right brain must have helped,” said Henmi, CEO of HEGL, which stands for Henmi Educational General Laboratory.
On the potential of the right brain:
Henmi said: “This training lets them use a part of the brain they don’t use in their daily lives. It stimulates their brain to enhance its potential.”
Such potential can help some students read 10,000 books a month. Those who do so can enter the “Ichimankai” (literally, “the 10,000 group”) and are eligible to take more advanced courses for right-brain development at Henmi’s school.
Out of 1,000 students in Tachikawa, 250 are in Ichimankai. Altogether, there are more than 1,000 people in the Ichimankai, including alumni of her school, Henmi said, noting Ichimankai members can control the left and right sides of their brain simultaneously.
Adults can learn too:
Henmi stressed that adults can also develop their brain potential. “I want people to know that everybody has hidden abilities,” she said. “And if you develop such abilities, you will be able to live like yourself and have a happy life.”
My First Impressions of Ruiko Henmi
Although Makoto Shichida is the name most commonly associated with Right Brain Education, there is another person who should also be recognised for the significant contributions she has made. She is Ruiko Henmi – one of the founders of Heguru and Principal of Henmi Educational General Laboratory.
Ruiko Henmi has not only observed the theory of right brain education but she has also had a lot of practical experience helping children in developing their right brain. In many old videos on right brain education, you will see Ruiko Henmi at the heart of the right brain classes. This amazing woman has been in the trenches leading the children and watching them develop over the years. If there is anyone who should understand right brain education, Ruiko Henmi would be that person.
If right brain education has been done right, school becomes easier for your child. This affords him more time to pursue other areas of interest instead of having to attend tuition classes to help him get through school. Enabling your child to pursue his interests allows him to live a more fulfilling life because he has the time to discover what he really wants to do with his life.
When I was going through school, I was told, “You can’t always do what you love, so you should learn to love what you have to do.” Honestly, I could never find it in me to learn to love what I had to do. After graduating from the wrong course, it took me years to discover my passion – wasted years I could have spent developing my abilities in a field I loved and making a meaningful contribution to it.
Too many people I know are in the same boat – they have no passion for what they do and they go through week after week waiting for the weekend so they can enjoy their lives. My cousin once said, “Every Monday, I wish for the weekend to come. When the weekend comes, it’s over in a flash. Then I’m back to wishing for the next weekend. It feels like I’m wishing my life away.” If we were all doing what we loved, there would be more fulfillment and enjoyment of life. Society benefits because happy people are productive people and productive people achieve greater things and so on.
The first question Hirotada Henmi asked at the Heguru Parents seminar was: “Why are you sending your child for right brain education? What do you hope to achieve with it?”
My answer would be this: so my children can do what they love.