Soothing the Solstice-fevered brain
I just discovered a useful brain-gym site: http://www.navaching.com/hawkeen/mjug.html
One thing it recommends for stressed-out people is carrying around a small ball for juggling. Tossing it from hand to hand for a few minutes with the eyes closed will help balance the brain hemispheres.
The Hawkeen Training site also has some other brain exercises to identify and shift between 12 different states of attention involving combinations of visual-auditory-kinesthetic, internal-external, and broad/narrow focus. Their fascinating double-vision meditation is similar to a technique that I used to calm myself as a child. (It seemed a lot easier then!)
One interesting bit of information I learned here (http://visionandpsychosis.net) is that movement or flickering lights at the very edge of our visual field, repeated over and over, can make us paranoid. The Reptilian Brain thinks something is sneaking up on us! Having workstations face into the wall is very bad feng shui.
Perhaps to build a case for a WCB claim, the writer refers to it as a "neurological injury." S/he says the moving light-and-shadow from a fan, a fish tank or a screensaver can have the same effect (and so could windchimes or any other mobile). The site contains some useful suggestions for eliminating peripheral flicker from a home or workplace.
Here's a brain-balancing technique from yoga:
Clasp the hands, extend the arms in front and, holding the head motionless but following the hands with your eyes, trace a couple of infinity signs first in one direction and then the other; then a few big circles clockwise and counterclockwise. If your arms aren't too tired, you can also do some upright figure 8's in each direction and half-circles at top and bottom.
Different eye positions activate different brain circuitry related to visual-auditory-kinesthetic memory, imagination or self-talk. The same principle is used in NLP and EMDR. Also, each side of the body is controlled by a different brain hemisphere, so movements that go back and forth across the midline train the brain to switch sides readily.
A couple of other quick fixes to reset a wonky brain to neutral:
- March across the room, swinging opposite arm and knee at the same time - or march in place, taking high steps and actually slapping the knee with the opposite hand.
- Identify the pulse on both sides, either at the temples or (better) by touching thumbs to forefingers. Usually the two pulses will be out of synch, but they can be synchronized by attention. Then you can match the pulse to the timed breath, and slow the pulse by slowing the breath. Once you can feel the forefinger pulse, it's easy to create walking or running meditations using breath and pulse.
HOW TO USE BREATHING TO ENERGIZE OR RELAX
What is relaxing:
Slow, exhalation, abdominal breathing, left nostril, pause after exhale.
What is energizing:
Rapid, forceful, inhalation, right nostril, hold breath after inhale.
The balancing breath, also called alternate nostril breathing, goes in this pattern:
- Inhale through right nostril for count of 4, hold for 4,
- Exhale through left nostril for count of 4, pause for 4,
- Inhale through left nostril for count of 4, hold for 4,
- Exhale through right nostril for count of 4, pause for 4,
- Repeat until you feel a sense of well-being.
Don't close the throat during the pauses.
To relax or energize rather than balance, alter the count accordingly.
- To energize, make the inhale longer and exhale shorter, or use only the right nostril.
- To relax, make the exhale longer and inhale shorter, or use only the left nostril.
This is one case where more of a good thing is not better. The energizing breath is easily overdone and can bring on the unpleasant symptoms of hyperventilating. If you get caught in this loop, the quick fix is breathing into a brown paper bag. People who have histories of mental illness or tend to be emotionally on edge should not use the energizing breath at all, only the balancing breath.
Lastly, in honour of Summer Solstice, there's the cooling breath!
Shitali Pranayama:
- Roll the tongue to form a tube and stick out the end of the tongue. (If you can’t roll your tongue - not everyone can - just purse your lips into an “o” shape.)
- Inhale through the tongue-tube.
- Exhale through the nose.