Live in the Solution
I do a lot of things - in my clinical practice, in my writing and performance, and in my personal life. Brain Gym® is the underlying framework for all of them – that is, when I’m making sense!
Here are two principles of Brain Gym that I find universally relevant:
1. Movement grows the brain. If the way we move our bodies wires us – for thought, for feeling, for action – how we move is a powerful choice. With every movement we make, quite literally modify the equipment we use to live. When I really look at that, the overwhelming sense of responsibility can send me running to the refrigerator.
2. Energy follows intention. What we want – both consciously and unconsciously –directs our movement. When our face muscles move into a smile, a specific set of instructions is sent to the brain/body system. This result of these instructions influences the next movement, and the next, and the next, until we finally stop moving. That is what happens when we die.
We can see life simply as a series of movement choices. When we are 100% in the moment, these choices flow from an integrated brain/body system based on health and well-being. When we aren’t, they don’t. For example, I have already consumed a not insignificant amount of chocolate, and I’m not even halfway through writing this post!
We often experience our lives as a game of tug-of-war. One end of the rope pulls toward the things we consciously value and want, and the other pulls away, deflecting us from the things we unconsciously fear. We call this experience stress.
To move out of stress, and live a life that more closely resembles our values, we can't make choices based on protecting ourselves from the tnings we fear. We need to prioritize the choices that are based on values of love, connection, joy. But we don’t always have the tools or the environment or the understanding, or most important, the will, to do that.
So it was good to spend the weekend in a storefront in Waltham with nineteen really nice people, one of whom was Cecilia Koester. CeCe was teaching the entry-level course (Brain Gym 170) which she developed. It is the basic Brain Gym course modified for a special needs population.
I told a lot of people about this course, and two enrolled. They both independently came up to me and talked for a long time about how profoundly the class had affected them. But neither one specializes in clients with special needs. One isn’t in the healing field at all – she works in data processing!
I recommended this course to them for two reasons. The first is the teacher. CeCe always creates an atmosphere of calm and inclusion, as well as being a master at interpreting movement. (I think these things go together).
The second is that, when dealing with a special needs population, you have to be super-aware of movement. You don’t always have a lot else to go on. We can apply that super-awareness to everyone in our lives, including ourselves.
Movement means the same thing to everyone. We all have the same basic equipment and it responds to the same basic cues. If we want to move our lives in the direction of what we consciously value, rather than what we unconsciously fear, we need to learn the language of the unconscious. Otherwise, the fears get in under the radar, and run us.
The language of the unconscious is movement. Cece’s movement metaphor is what we call, in Brain Gym, “the dimensions.” This is a very simple physical model. We can move in only three dimensions: back to front, up and down, side to side. All movements are some combination of these three directions.
When people are in the back-to-front dimension - for example, head down, charging forward, or head back, checked out - they are dealing with issues of safety. They are not sure that they want to commit to participating in life. They have trouble comprehending what is going on.
When people are moving up and down – bouncing on their feet, hopping all over, or sitting in a chair jiggling one knee up and down – they are dealing with issues of groundedness. They aren’t centered, they are insecure about their relationships. (The back-to-front people usually feel unsafe enough so that they aren’t even aware of relationship – it’s all about them!)
When people are moving side to side – rocking left to right, cocking their heads to one side – they are dealing with issues of communication. They are trying to figure out what they know and how to express that to themselves and others.
Watch for movement direction this week – both in your own body, and in the bodies of those around you. And let me know what you notice! If we have the goal of moving towards what we value, instead of moving away from what we fear - well, energy follows intention! Simply being aware of our movement, and how it may be charting the direction of our life, is the first step.
As Cece says, “Don’t live in the problem. Live in the solution.”
Here are links for information about Cece and Emily Hodos, who organized the course I took. For information on other courses and instructors worldwide, go to Brain Gym International).
Nancy Schimmel Dec 16, 2012
When I read “cocking their heads to one side” I got an immediate picture of my dog doing just that and of course that is about communication.