Something to try…for a general tune-up

In the spirit of being the director of your own study-of-one, here’s an experiment for you. This activity takes about 3 minutes and engages parts of your body that improve energy flow and oxygen to the brain. According to Dr. David Jockers, it has dramatically improved the health of many people with ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, depression, brain fog and dementia.

It’s a fast, simple, and drug-free method of improving brain function, according to the doctor interviewed in the following news report.

The next video is Dr. David Jockers demonstrating how to do SuperBrain Yoga. He mentions that a person with limited mobility can make adaptations. They aren’t demonstrated, so here’s his description from near the end of his article. This uses visualization in the same way that high-performance athletes do.

Science shows that visualizing a technique can actually result in positive benefits as if your body physically performed an exercise or experience. …adults with limited abilities to squat should sit in a chair with feet grounded and hands [holding earlobes the same as if standing]. While performing the same breathing patterns, visualize the exercise…

I did this every day for about 3 weeks and didn’t notice cognitive difference, but my knees sure improved, even though they emphasize this is not about exercising muscles. However, in my world, that’s a substantial benefit because I haven’t been able to squat down very far for years. At the 3-week mark, I got a cold, didn’t feel up to doing it,and hadn’t picked it up again. Prompted by writing this post, I did it again and was shocked how much of my knee mobility I’d lost. That’s good enough incentive to keep me going.

So…I’m curious. If you try it, what happened for you?

The Woman Who Changed Her Brain

I found Barbara’s story particularly poignant because so many people experience variations of what she described. And it happens all the way along the age continuum…from children with learning disabilities of varying degrees to adults with dementia of various types and severity.

Barbara Arrowsmith Young’s vision is a lofty one—that cognitive exercises become a normal part of curriculum, and that school becomes a place that we go to strengthen our brains. The good news is, she has done something about it. The Arrowsmith Program is offered at schools throughout North America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

And what can we do?

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Engaging Your Whole Brain

Last week I wrote about using your whole brain when making decisions. That post included a TED talk by a practitioner of Psych-K (psychological kinesiology). As the name suggests, Psych-K uses body movement (kinesiology) to assist the brain in working as it’s meant to.

Psych-K was my introduction to energy psychology many years ago. Psychologist Rob Williams had blended principles of psychology with body movement from Edu-K (educational kinesiology), also known as Brain Gym.

Braqin Gym book

Brain Gym is a set of 26 movements aimed at integrating the two halves of your brain. It was developed by Paul Dennison to help himself with learning challenges when he was a post-secondary student. Seeing the potential to help others, he and his wife, Gail Dennison, developed the Brain Gym program. They found that people doing these movements experienced improvement in a number of areas, including concentration and focus, memory, physical coordination, and organization skills. The photo is my copy of the original book. It is still available on the Brain Gym Bookstore. Continue reading

Unprocessed.

Last week I introduced Michael Pollan’s concept of establishing personal policies about what we eat. Today I want to explore the idea of a personal policy that eliminates processed foods.

Why pick on processed foods?

As one nutritionist aptly put it, start with the “big rocks.” Removing them first leads to visible progress in short order. Processed food, junk food, and fast food are big rocks. It has become clear that the Standard American Diet (SAD) creates poor health in people eating it. If you have any doubt, remember Morgan Spurlock’s experiment in his documentary Super Size Me.

Big and small rocks

Removing processed food cannot help but make a difference. Without doubt, you will be eating better if you eliminate packaged and processed items from your food choices. And there are many other benefits to you and your community when you choose fresh, real food instead.

But really, is it possible?

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Preparing for the 2018 Holidays

None of us wants to feel like this woman, but many would admit that we do, at least to some degree. That’s what makes an effective parody—we recognize elements of truth in an exaggerated scenario.

I don’t think I’m the only one who’s ended up in a situation thinking:  Right. Now I remember why I decided never to do this again!  Of course, by then I’m in the midst of it… and the cycle perpetuates.

The holidays intensify things that aren’t working in our lives, and it’s distressing at the time. But it also provides teachable moments if we are paying attention.

Breaking the cycle…

It’s so easy to be propelled along by expectations and circumstances—especially at holiday time. By now, one week into December, the momentum has likely reached a point where things will play out as usual. Enjoy every moment of this month, if you can. If not… Continue reading

Energy in Action

Once again, the world feels as if things are turning upside down. Worse yet, it seems impossible to know what to do when the distressing event involves other countries, on another continent.

The way I see it, we’ve reached a point in human evolution where we cannot find our way without help,

Help? What kind of help?

We can increase our resourcefulness in two ways—by expanding our own consciousness, and by engaging with the unseen beings inhabiting subtle energy fields that are the matrix we live in.

How?

How can we both expand ourselves and connect with beings that exist in the subtle realms? And why would we? Continue reading

Finding the best of ourselves.…

Perhaps it’s my age… I don’t know… But I find myself longing for the kinder, gentler times—when people understood the meaning of statesmanship, discretion, civility, honour, respect.

Can we recover them? I don’t know. I can only hope that we humans, collectively as well as individually, will find the best of ourselves soon enough.

Relief…

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