Tag: neuroscience

Posted on

Get Up & Move: Physical Time

aurel Marshall surfs a long right wave at Keramas reef in Sanur, Bali, Indonesia to improve executive cognitive functioning.

Get Up & Move: Physical Time

This week’s Healthy Mind Platter Essential post is dedicated to “Physical Time.” Developing a daily habit of aerobic activity helps our mental and physical health; promotes memory and learning, response speed, impulse control, ability to focus, while reducing stress, anxiety and depression.

I personally feel the benefits during and after a surf or run; I’m in a great mood after a rush of endorphins, and have found myself to be able to think more clearly, have a balanced response to situations, improve performance, not to mention getting a better nights sleep and reducing stress and anxiety – all touted by Heidi Godman, Harvard Medical School brain health research. Check out the article here.  

Juliette Tocino-Smith packs in a ton of great information for those looking to delve deeper into the impacts of exercise on the brain in her article: 10 Neurological Benefits of Exercise.

What new activities will you try out this week to invite “Physical Time” into your life and wellness journey?

Posted on

Focus Time

ale Asian executive on wellness retreat holds headstand yoga pose on a dock overlooking the water near Mount Fuji, Japan.

Focus Time

Following last week’s introduction to The Healthy Mind Platter, developed by Scientists Dr. Daniel J. Siegel, and Dr. David Rock, today we focus on a central component of our mind platter: Focus Time. I reflect back upon long days in the office, heading home exhausted, wondering what I truly accomplished. A continuous flow of distractions – in meetings constantly pinged through chat apps, emails; office time filled with fly-bys, fire-drills, urgent interruptions; the thoughtfully architected schedule that falls apart after the first morning crisis. It occurs to me that I’ve not protected any time alone to focus and concentrate on critical things that require my 100% attention. The benefits of today’s 7×24, “always on” connectivity culture can be the biggest threat to our brain health and performance. Our brains are not designed to be multi-tasking magicians.

If we can carve out time in our busy days to focus our attention on one task that allows us that sense of mastery or completion, we gift our brains the time to make deep connections. When we allow ourselves adequate focus time, we feel more in control, in balance, in flow, and have a stronger ability to regulate our reactions, responses and stress levels. After two full days of focus time this weekend in an advanced postures yoga class, I learned just how effective I could be, going deep within mind and body, visualizing and feeling the connections as concentrated on one pose at a time. I realized not only a sense of accomplishment and mastery, but a feeling of empowerment as I learned how to maintain focus and block out distractions. It’s empowering, recognizing that feeling of “flow” when you are so focused on one thing, in the moment, and then translating it to other areas of your life.

You don’t need to flip yourself upside down in an inversion to practice Focus Time. Think about one important task or challenge that you wish to make progress on in a goal-oriented way? How can you carve out time this week to focus exclusively on this task? How will you seek to remove the distractions that have been keeping you from this important activity? How will you build a habit of “Focus Time” into your daily mind platter?

 

 

Posted on

2020 In Focus: You do You!

Bruce Munro’s Field of Light at Sensorio in Paso Robles, California with 58,800 stemmed spheres gently illuminating the dark of night in subtle blooms of morphing color that describe the undulating landscape providing inspiration and creativity.

2020 In Focus: You do You!

I once had a coworker so positive amidst swirling politics, gut wrenching layoffs, declining business results, and when asked how he was doing, would always exclaim – “I’m living’ the dream!” I never knew if he was truly doing just that, or was it his witty sense of humor getting him through each day. Regardless, I chose to believe he was living his dream, he loved what he did, and his positivity was infectious. His words have stuck with me throughout the years. It’s these words, embedded in my subconscious, that would resurface at the outset of 2019, and lead me to embark on a journey of embracing my dreams, doing what inspires me and brings me bliss.

Days, weeks, years pass by and it’s not inconceivable to find ourselves numb to our surroundings, going through the motions, doing what we think we are expected to do, falling into a routine or “autopilot” way of working and living that may not be as aligned with our passion or purpose as we wish. Overtime, our routine mindset becomes embedded, hardwires our thinking, becomes the new normal and often difficult to think our way out of.  Neuroscience research gives us the facts behind how this happens, and the good news, it’s not as difficult as we may believe, to “think our way through”positive change. Brain-Based Coaching helps us embrace a growth mindset, unearth insights and translate our ideas to action. We can use this to layer in new neural networks, new behaviors and habits to create and sustain positive change.

Consider giving an open mic to that voice deep in your heart, your true self, to vocalize your dream, passion, purpose. Not so easy to do? That true self may be frequently overshadowed and put ‘back in a box’ by an inner critic, a stronger voice that suggests we might fail, that it’s easier to continue with what’s comfortable and routine, safe and secure. It takes courage to put your dreams out there – personally & professionally – for fear we might expose ourselves and what if we fail? That in itself is a powerful question – what if we fail, what is the worst that could happen? Why not challenge that critic, and explore what if we succeed? What greatness could happen?

2020 represents not only a new year, but a new decade. Allow yourself to dream, to set your intentions, and take small inspired steps toward embracing what lights your world on fire. This is your year, your decade, your time to ‘live your dream.’ Start afresh, by letting “You do You”. Allow your passions and purpose to take center stage, embracing perceived risk with small inspired steps, breaking out of autopilot mode, and changing your thinking. Be inspired to listen to your passion, and take action. You got this!

Posted on

Neuroscience of Ocean Exposure

light sand beach with emerald waters depict neuroscience of blue mind that shows how being near, in, on or under water makes you happier, healthier, more connected and better at what you do.

Neuroscience of Ocean Exposure

I love this article by Sherri Hayden, Neuropsychologist, sharing her first hand experience with surfing and how ocean exposure can help regulate “fear and stress”, as well trigger “rest and restore” responses. Her story is one of personal transformation, transcending fear, building strength and pushing beyond self-limiting talk; how engaging in new experiences in well supported environments has been a catalyst, positively impacting her life. Her story represents what W.J. Nichols has coined BlueMind: “how our exposure to the ocean can make us happier, healthier, more connected and better at what we do.”

NeuroLeadership coaching facilitates positive change by improving thinking. When combined with novel new experiences (like surfing, stand-up-paddling, and yoga with an ocean view) insights abound, self-development accelerates, and new thinking drives solutions, actions, and results. SwellRetreats integrates all these elements to deliver a powerful personal blue mind experience.

Written By Sherri Hayden

Published in the Barnacle Babes ~ The Blue Healing Issue

My relationship with water has been a complicated one. Although my earliest memories are of joyful play in the water, fear experiences would subsequently present themselves in my life. The most memorable fear experience being a near-death drowning in the Old Man River of the Kananaskis, southwestern Alberta, when I was seventeen. Had my brother failed to pull me from those river rapids that moment would have been the end of my relationship with water. Luckily, the experience just left me with a debilitating fear of running/moving water that resulted in a degree of avoidance throughout much of my adult life.

Despite this trauma, I went on to pursue my vision of clinical practice as a neuropsychologist serving patients with dementia and traumatic brain injuries. I have felt honoured to share the journey for those facing end of life or with traumatic change to their brains. However, after twenty-five years of secondary exposure to the trauma of others, the weight of their suffering was taking its toll on my own health. This was compounded, around age fifty, with several personal stressors (i.e., a seriously ill child and sudden retirement of my husband), which served to demand more self-care be incorporated in my life.

Strangely, these crises brought me back to the moving water I feared so much from my past as I impulsively signed up for a women’s yoga and surf retreat with SwellWomen in Maui. This experience, which I had initiated to escape my life stress, actually served as exposure therapy (exposure to the source of anxiety/fear in a controlled context in order to help overcome the distress) for my fear of moving water. I emerged from the week with a greater sense of balance and bravery to face the stress I was returning to at home. Since then I have surfed various locations throughout North and Central America with many remarkable women from around the world who also are challenging their own limits in their own way.

My background in neuroscience subsequently brought me to explore our understanding of ocean exposure effects on our brains. For instance, studies suggest ocean sounds activate our prefrontal cortex (the most evolved and complex part of the brain and includes the center for regulation of our stress response). Ocean waves sounds have also been found to play a role in balancing serotonin levels and in reducing cortisol, both involved in regulating mood and stress response. This seems demonstrated in therapeutic surfing programs, such as those geared towards veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In my own experience, this ocean environment not only provided much needed exposure therapy for my fear of moving water but also engaged my prefrontal cortex to enhance regulation of my high levels of stress. With this framework, I can imagine the process of surfing provides opportunity for my prefrontal cortex to regulate both the “fight-flight” response with the surge of catching a wave or being tumbled by one, as well as the “rest and store” response, triggered by sitting on the board feeling and listening to the rhythm of waves between rides.

However, this is not the only potential benefit. There is growing attention to the concept of neuroplasticity, our brain’s ability to change, such as creating new neural pathways. What we now know of neuroplasticity in aging is that novel experiences may help set new neural pathways, which likely strengthen and perhaps provide a protective effect for neural tissue. This is why new experiences throughout our lifespan may be a means of ‘beefing up’ our brain tissue. This concept brought me to become certified as an open water diver this year at age fifty-five. Once again, fear presented itself during the certification process with thoughts about I’m too old to learn something new and fear of being forty feet under water with only a regulator to keep me alive. However, as my sixteen-year-old son wanted to pursue this goal, I persisted to complete the requirements in order to share the experience with him. This not only strengthened my relationship with my son, but also with the ocean and the amazing creatures within it.

Recently, I had opportunity to attend a workshop of Mind Body Medicine in Ucluelet, BC which inspired my hope to integrate understanding of neuroscience with the healing powers of the ocean and other lifestyle factors for brain health and healthy aging. In reflection on this, I find it is interesting to consider that the three animals with the greatest potential life longevity are sea creatures, such as the Greenland shark, bowhead whale and Galapagos giant tortoise). As we seek greater understanding for healing of our body, brain and mental health, it seems we should turn our minds to the ocean. Certainly, in my own life, the ocean has been a revelation for its power to help me to manage stress, both personally and at work. For this, I am grateful.