Heart, Mind, Body and Soul

Bullies have been a problem since Cain killed his brother Abel. All of us remember who the bullies were in school, and who was being bullied. Some of us, myself included, experienced bullying first hand. (Yes, “mean girls” existed even in the 70’s, and it wasn’t fun).

School professionals, who see these problems first hand, have been accused of standing by and doing nothing. So in the last few years, many districts have tried to develop programs to prevent bullying, with varying degrees of success. Read the rest of this entry »

I just read a very interesting article in the latest Psychology Today (May/June 2009, page, by Matthew Hutson) entitled “The Muscle is the Message”. There doesn’t seem to be a link to it, so with all credit given to Matthew Hutson, I’d like to summarize it here. It really demonstrates the connections our brains make between body and emotion. Read the rest of this entry »

More than 200 dancers were performing their version of “Do Re Mi”, in the Central Station of Antwerp. with just 2 rehearsals they created this amazing stunt! Those 4 fantastic minutes started the 23 of March 2009, 08:00 AM. It is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of “The Sound of Music”. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you know how to fail?

Americans seems to have an ingrained script that all failure is bad. We like to see ourselves on a continual growth chart, always moving upward, with no setbacks. That’s part of why tougher economic times, like our present situation, can seem like a terrible aberration, something that should not be happening. Read the rest of this entry »

As a disclaimer, I need to say that I don’t specialize in working with autistic children and their families, so I am not familiar with the professional research. But I found this article interesting. It’s relatively simple to try a gluten-free casein-free diet. Gluten refers to wheat products and casein to dairy products.

Here is the link a story in our local paper:

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/apr/26/changing-childrens-foods-can-also-alter/

and a companion piece on how immersion in the arts helped one young man blossom

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/apr/26/power-tools-for-special-needs/

I’d be interested to hear your comments.

I just came from a great lecture by Mark Waldman on spirituality and neuroscience. What we are learning about how the brain works is so amazing! Thanks to imaging studies, we can see what parts of the brain “light up” or are activated as we experience different thoughts and emotions. This information is so helpful in reducing anxiety and depression.

We think with the frontal lobes of our brain. As humans, that area is incredibly developed, and helps us accomplish so much. But so much of what we think ends up causing us anxiety. In some ways, our brains can be seen as “anxiety scanning device”. We are always looking for danger, because that is a good way to survive. However, these days we need ways to help shut off that “anxiety scanning device” so that we can be peaceful and at rest.

Meditation, centering prayer, deep breathing, relaxation exercises — all of these help our frontal lobes settle down, and change the connections that are formed with the emotional centers of our brains. It is really true what we think changes our brains. The analogy I use with my clients is that we “wear a groove” in our brain by repetitive thought; it can be a positive groove or a negative groove.

More accurately, what happens is that we are always forming neuronal connections, so it would benefit us to be consciously focusing on increasing our positive thoughts, and reducing the negative ones.

Meditation in any form can help us learn to stop focusing on our negative thoughts. We can learn to just let them float by, and by doing so, we learn to relax and rejuvenate.

I just came from a great lecture on mindfulness and neuroscience. I learned a lot, which I’ll be sharing. Here’s a great quick idea to use for anxiety.

Try yawning, on purpose, for at least 60 seconds. Two or three minutes is even better. What do you notice? Yawning turns out to be a great “reset” for our brains. It changes our brain chemistry and our body chemistry, and definitely lowers the feeling of anxiety.

A friend just sent me a link to this wonderful video. It is actually a commericial, but don’t let that put you off. It is one of the most touching messages I’ve seen in a while. I hope you like it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um9KsrH377A[/youtube]

This week’s Time Magazine has an interesting article about how kids with ADHD learn. According to a recent small study at the University of Central Florida, fidgeting may help stimulate networks in the brain that control working memory. Read the rest of this entry »

My clients are always more on top of popular books and movies that I am, so I hear about some great ones, but it takes me awhile to get to them.

Several clients in the last couple of months have told be about Fireproof. My husband and I finally watched this last night, and we really enjoyed it. It is a great movie to watch if you are struggling in your marriage, and even if you aren’t. Great for new couples, great for couples who have been together a long time, just really great. Read the rest of this entry »