7 Steps to Right Brain Health -- Beautiful Mind & Body... "Beauty Is As Beauty Does..."
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| Photo Credit: iStock |
This is just 7 -- condensed -- this list could be 100's. But here's JUST 7 -- and they're simple and you can do them every day or week depending on the step. Life, mission, self-confidence, creativity -- as well as a Beautiful Mind & Body will begin to blossom almost effortless, as well as much better relationships and more interesting communication.
Have Kids? Include them too -- in each of these activities. When Kids are involved with you -- you get twice as many right brain/beautiful mind/beautiful body "brownie points" for each exercise -- as they naturally are creative, love and enjoy playing and creating with their beautiful minds and bodies -- and will often "blow your mind" with just how creative and intuitive they are!
For more Right Brain Blogs like this see: Right Brain Blogs: The Whole List of Exercises
1. Right Brain Start Up & Meditation Daily. A FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH & CREATIVITY!
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| Photo Credit: Wikipedia |
Step 7 of Right Brain Start Up Exercise can be extended into 3 minutes -- or an hr or as long as you want -- of Gratitude Meditation, returning the mind to gratitude when it wanders. But this same "Step 7" which includes 3 Minutes of Silence -- can also be used to come up with creative new ideas for personal life or work -- which also increases positive thinking and great mood. R
"Step 5" -- Affirmation -- includes silent "I am ______________" statements about your own beauty, brilliance, and body wisdom and sensuality -- and it includes an affirmation of someone else, increasing "expansiveness" daily. "Affirmation Reduces Stress & Improves Problem-Solving"
The research on the power of Meditation (now called a Fountain of Youth, helps to heal, helps cognition, helps creativity, helps reduce stress and increase relaxation -- likely the greatest new health program in modern times) -- IF YOU DO IT DAILY -- is overwhelming (Right Brain Start Up exercise makes it easier to get started -- as few people actually do ever ever meditate!!!
So we've created a slide presentation with just RESEARCH links about these amazing powers -- plus Research showing the benefits of EACH of the 7 Steps of Right Brain Start Up done daily. Some research is under Articles at Right Brain Aerobics. Or Email sandra@rightbrainaerobics.com to receive a Research Presentation showing a number of studies about meditation and brain building, slowing aging, building cognition, improving abilities such as problem solving and concentration -- even test scores, as evidenced by this article about a San Francisco school applying the "Quiet Time" process twice a day!."Meditation transforms roughest San Francisco School!"
This includes BRAIN BUILDING: Meditation -- such as the Gratitude Meditation that can be part of Step 7 -- is shown to actually increase new brain cells, new gray matter, with even short periods of meditation daily for a few weeks. The STRESS REDUCTION and DEEP RELAXATION -- even PAIN REDUCING PROPERTIES are also powerful.
Think of this as BLISSFUL BRAINPOWERS -- for a beautiful mind and body. Stress affects appearance -- mental focus/meditation/visualization can focus on a more beautiful, healthy, affirmed body!
Tip: Do a quick Right Brain Start Up exercise of gratitude before each meal -- you'll change digestion and the quality of discussions and getting together during a meal! You'll "smile" more at meals. Do first to start any meeting or gathering -- with the same results. You're positively focused with a brighter mind and sharper attention -- and that will change your relationships during group events...
Note: Something I hadn't seen before -- Impact on Health of two types of meditation also indicated significant lower costs of medical care in long term meditators of Tibetan Buddist and Vedic Traditions.
"In the western world, studies of long-term meditators engaged in busy professional lives have observed significant health expenditure reductions (2,3). Reduced insurance costs of 50% averaged over all disease categories were observed in a retrospective study (2), following which a prospective study found costs incurred through General Practitioners to go down by 7% per year relative to controls for the first several years of practice (3). This suggests that the full 50%reduction may take some 7 or so years to develop. Of particular significance was
that long-term heart disease costs reduced by 87%" Advance Access Publications, PDF, July 31, 2006.Studies of Advanced Stages of Meditation in the Tibetan Buddhist and Vedic Traditions. I: A Comparison of General Changes. Alex Hankey.
Looking at modern health care costs (themselves a stress factor): Imagine significantly lower health costs. YOU DO THE MATH!
Right Brain Aerobics makes it possible for people to habituate easy meditatie mind skills -- even deep ones -- on a regular habitual basis, because it is mainstream and increases creative mind skills for career daily!
2. START EACH DAY WITH A: "TO GIVE" - "TO THANK" - "TO AFFIRM" -- 3 THINGS ADDED TO YOUR "To Do List" AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
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| Photo Credit: iStock |
Daily self-affirmation and gratitude -- and likely affirmation of others and expressions of gratitude -- increases problem-solving skills and cognitive learning as well. "Self-Affirmation Improves Problem-Solving Under Stress" -- and "In Praise of Gratitude" - Harvard Medical School.
3. SLEEP 7 HRS DAILY GETTING TO BE BY 9 OR 10 PM LATEST.
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| Photo Credit: Sleep -- Wkipedia |
- 3 Studies about the Amazing Effects of Sleeping or Not Sleeping:
- SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MIND: "During Slumber our brain engages in data analysis, from strengthening memories to solving problems" -- "Quiet -- Sleeping Brain at Work"
- SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MIND : "Sleep on it! How Snoozing Makes You Smarter"
- WebMD (Sleep loss can make you "dumber," cause accidents, and even loss of sex drive! Want to increase beauty, health, AND sex drive? Sleep more!) : "10 Surprising Effects of Loss of Sleep"
- Not sleeping -- partly due to electric lights and electronic stimulation/entertainment -- but more due to needing more "discipline" and broader understanding of the complete negative health/mind impact of too little sleep -- is the disease of our time -- about as negative in effect as not walking/moving, becoming couch potatoes hunched over all night at computers or on Netflix or just online web surfing.
- DO SLEEP 7 HRS MOST NIGHTS = brain building, lower blood pressure, less water retention, less risk of stroke and cognitive difficulties, more stress reduction (think: aren't you more stressed and apt to 'fly off the handle' when you haven't slept? More overnight brain processing, less "forgetting" (even young people who are running on 2 hrs sleep forget names and common information from extreme fatigue)... Sleep is when healing and health building (Delta Brain State overnight) take place. So get your "Beauty Sleep" -- more than just a metaphor. Can be life changing!
- Risks include high blood pressure, stroke, cognitive difficulties, diabetes, irregular heart beat -- loss of certain cognitive function. But the bigger for me? I'm in a bad mood and feel bad (which spills over onto others) if I get only 5 -- or worse 2-4 hrs sleep! Multiply by several nights -- and I'm grumpy galore!! Increase in MISTAKES, BAD MOOD, OUTBURSTS, ACCIDENTS, LOSS OF FOCUS, EVEN MEMORY LOSS all attributable to not enough sleep. Can also mean deterioration in RELATIONSHIPS.
- In contrast -- happy mood, happy brain/mind, happy body, more healing (most healing of the body occurs overnight during sleep or "Delta" mind state).
- TURN OFF AS MANY ELECTRONICS AS POSSIBLE IN YOUR SLEEPING AREA! It has been found that the "blue light" of computer screens and especially phones -- makes you "blue/sad!" -- as well as emitting EMFs and other distractions that keep you awake. Some people who are insomniacs recover quickly after sleeping in an electronic free room for a while.
- DON'T TAKE PILLS TO SLEEP. This starts a downhill slide with chemical side effects. And think about what happens when you use a cane -- the muscles on the side where you use the cane can atrophy and become less responsive! To be a good sleeper, do it naturally and this builds the ability to sleep. Try a Right Brain Start Up at night -- and cut caffeine and heavy meals late at night.
- SLEEP LATE OR NAP. Sometimes the most important sleep is in the morning -- REM sleep. Don't use an alarm clock -- let your brain wake up naturally.Nap if you can. MORE DREAMS ARE REMEMBERED if you sleep later. Journal them -- for extra brain power and insight! Your brain is ready with new ideas upon waking -- collect the information!
4. EAT ORGANIC OR ALL NATURAL/LOCAL FOOD YOU PREPARE FROM SCRATCH.
If pesticide-laden food is contributing to killing bees and other life -- what do you think it's doing to your health? And the "good bugs" in your system? Eating organic fresh local (when possible) vegetables -- green leafy as well as root veggies -- of all kinds and preparing them from scratch, eating some local natural or organic meat/chicken/dairy -- important for brain health and bone/joint health -- without any processed ingredients. make bone broth and vegetable broth from scratch -- not canned foods with chemicals of all kinds. Increases your physical body movement, you learn cooking skills and save $ preparing your own from scratch -- and growing your own herbs, to start, also means a healthier body and mind.
Tip: I use Weston A. Price Foundation dietary guidelines for local all natural or organic eating reducing processed foods -- which changed health & life! But also eat fewer grains... These guidelines are based on what traditional peoples did (who did not have our modern health issues), how they ate and maintained thriving local life/food systems.
Tip: Did you know that soil contains powerful anti-depressants?! Feeling "down"? Create your own indoor or outdoor herb garden and get your hands in the soil.
5. WALK BRISKLY for at least a few minutes at 1 hr intervals all day. SITTING IS THE NEW SMOKING. A gym workout later can't compensate for sitting all day -- it's got to be reglar -- and for some reason, walking briskly for 3-5 minutes once an hour causes extra energized metabolism all day as well as stopping some of the health/mind/body/posture threatening aspects of sitting all day.
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| Photo Credit: Wikipedia |
WALKING IS A "BREAK" FROM WORKAHOLIC SYNDROME + IT'S MEDITATION!
You'll build brain cells with walking-as-meditation. You might have a focus such as "gratitude" as you walk, and when your mind wanders, bring it back to gratitude. Thus do your get 2-for-1 exercise: Walking + Meditation = Brain building, health building, body strengthening...you get body exercise benefits and brain exercise benefits in one!
- Put a card by your work space that says WALK EVERY HR.
- Stand up to do work when possible -- and relish it as great "beautiful body building"...Prepare Healthy Meals from scratch standing up and moving through the kitchen.
- Do one Laughter Yoga moving exercise every hour too for extra mind/body building -- laughing increases "the happy heart" as well. For example: ALOHA: Gradually raise your arms up above your head while saying "A-Lo" -- and finish with "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" as your arms come down with continuous Laughter on the "ha ha ha"... This moving + laughing is also DEEPER BREATHING exercise. Do it right now!
- Do this for 3 days and you will start to see your body take new shape -- even if each your brisk walk is only 3 minutes! If you work in an office, take a walk to the other side of the building -- outside when you can. Turn "to do lists" into "go see lists" and walk to the person instead of calling them. Exercise plus better relationships! If you work at home, in bad weather create a walking "track" walking in a loop or path around several rooms. If possible DON'T use a walking machine. Just walk naturally moving with the air breezing past year -- all living things need "moving air" to grow healthily (just try growing indoor winter veggies without moving air or wind -- they don't grow healthily!)...
- What happens when you don't move and walk every hour all day -- plus stay focused on computer/phone screens: "Here's What A Constantly Plugged In Life Is Doing to Kids' Bodies!" -- Huffington Post. And adult bodies too! Definitely NOT the path to beautiful body and mind... But getting you AND your kids to walk briskly a few minutes every hour turns this around faster than you would think! If you go to them gym or swim, too -- this hourly walking just "boosts" the effect!
- From "Stanford Entrepreneurship": Try some "walking meetings"! "Stanford GSB Professor Baba Shiv: "Walking Meetings" Can Make You More Creative and Productive"!
- Extensive NY Time series: Your Brain on Computers: "Addicted to Technology & Paying a Price"
- "Sitting at Work: Why It's Dangerous and What You Can Do" Huffington Post
- "Van der Ploeg and colleagues found that sitting for 11 or more hours per day increased risk of death by 40 percent, regardless of other activity levels. Emerging research shows that sitting for long periods of time contributes to risk of metabolic syndrome, heart attack and stroke risk and overall death risk, among others. Those who sit a great deal also have lower life expectancies, larger bottoms and slower metabolisms."
- But the new key is from new studies: GYM WORKOUTS AND RUNNING OR SWIMMING FOR A LONG TIME DO NOT IMPACT NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SITTING ALL DAY. IT MUST BE EVERY HOUR -- even if you still do a long gym workout. "Obesity expert says daily workouts can't undo damage from sitting all day." NBC News. “Sitting all day long is literally killing us,” claims Levine who treats obesity at the Mayo Clinic. This expert recommends 10 Minutes every hour! Doing this would likely transform issues around obesity and even transform relationships as you tend to run into people and have more conversations by moving around every hour.
- Online only, just sitting, communication/work/learning/teaching is also impairing to human communication skills, facial/body/emotion skills, sensitivities. From The DePaulia: "Lost in Translation: Texting Is Killing Human Communication Skills."
- And "Flight from Conversation" - NY Times. By Sherry Turkle, MIT. Being online all the time = being STILL in order to read. This is not only not communicating often face-to-face with other humans - it's not walking, moving, reaching out to or interacting with other humans. Couch or deskchair potato + poor health + deteriorating mental skills: "Digital Dimential." The result is not a beautiful body or mind. Walk, move, interact with other humans = more beautiful, creative mind, body, heart -- and relationships!
6. VOLUNTEER & GIVE TIME!
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| Photo Credit: Volunteering, Wikipedia |
If it involves helping children - the impact is even greater! Whether you share skills or teach -- or just help out at organizations like Habitat for Humanity -- local arts and theater organizations -- local food banks and thrift stores -- local helping organizations of all kinds -- your life will change.
Tip: Watch what happens -- the moment you begin to go to "volunteer" events, new creative ideas will start to "pop into the mind out of the blue." Giving tends to greatly stimulate the right creative-intuitive brain! You're also a) going out and getting creatively dressed, interacting, not sitting on a couch -- meeting new people and b) learning things for free! You're also "moving around" and walking in many cases, which increases exercise. This is great for beautiful mind & heart -- and beautiful body!
7. ATTEND "LIVE" CREATIVITY/MUSIC/ARTS/THEATER EVENTS WITH LIVE PERFORMERS OR TAKE LIVE IN-PERSON CREATIVE-ARTISTIC-MUSIC LESSONS.
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| Photo Creidt: Wikipedia |
The IEEE - International Electrical Engineers -- created a report in 2003 that showed up to 80% LOSS OF CREATIVITY SKILLS/PERCEPTION since 1942. (T. Kipp) which they attributed to computer use. But you can quickly reverse this and start "reconnecting" with your natural 3D multi-dimensional sensory creative-depth-pattern recognition skills -- REAL BRAIN BUILDING -- quickly by attending life creativity/music/arts/theater events with live performers.
Meet new people and talk to others at the events, organize group-attendance events -- and take lessons in creativity, crafts, arts of all kinds, music of all kinds, theater and improv: Amazing increases in all sorts of creativity and communication skills.
PICK AT LEAST 1 EVENT OF THIS KIND EVERY WEEK OR 2. Many are free in every community. This also means: Dressing up, going "outside" if even just to get to the event -- and breathing fresh air, seeing other humans -- increasing creative communication skills and comfort in creative settings. A whole new set of skills, abilities -- and "body awareness." Even seeing beautiful art (whether modern -- or ancient cultural art in museums) causes a kind of "creative rush" and inspiration of new ideas to go through brain and mind. Hearing live performers and seeing them -- inspires the idea that YOU TOO COULD CREATE AND PERFORM MUSIC. Very exciting new activity for a mind space out on 2D Facebook.
Become a Multi-dimensional Being -- not just 1 D or 2D or even 3D -- but Multi-Dimensional Intelligences...
Tip: This commitment to do this at least once every week or two will increase your personal networks for personal life and friendships as well as work -- and make all of your conversations more interesting! Getting to know more "creative" people also increases your creativity! Your conversations transform. Going out in creative interaction, you will also think of more creative ideas about your projects -- ideas tend to "drop in" to the right brain "out of the blue" when attending creative events!
“Do one thing every day that scares you.” -- Eleanor Roosevelt
S.H. Rodman
For more Right Brain Blogs like this see: Right Brain Blogs: The Whole List of Exercises
