The Brain In Training

By Karen Monteverdi
GreenMountain Enrichment and Empowerment Center

The article has been updated for a series of surveys and new information discovered in the month of February. Please re-visit this article, I am looking forward to your feedback.

In their work with epileptics in the 1950s, neuroscientists like Paul MacLean  revealed much about brain function, and the relationship between the cortex (left and right hemispheres), and what MacLean and others call the R-complex (our limbic, mamalian and reptilian brain).

The brain stem is dedicated to survival, and is involved in the coordination of voluntary motor movement, balance and equilibrium and muscle tone.

The Limbic system having to do with feeling and emotions. The Limbic system contains the thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus. (source: Bryn Mawr College)

The cortex which is involved with thinking and sensory input and interpretation.

These three parts of the brain are meant to work together and communicate with each other.

Michael Merzenich is a leading developer of therapies based on what's called brain plasticity. He states exercises have 'the capacity of the brain to change itself. It actually changes physically, functionally, in ways that you can measure."

A controlled scientific study (Improvement in Memory with Plasticity-based Adaptive Cognitive Training; the IMPACT Study) conducted in 487 healthy adults over the age of 65 has recorded substantial improvements in cognitive abilities resulting from training with Posit Science’s Brain Fitness Program.

The IMPACT Study clearly shows brain fitness training program reverses "age-related cognitive losses, very significantly ’speeds up’ older brains, and positively enriches the everyday lives of the individuals who complete it"

The possibilities are endless. As we continue to understand that as we put information into our brain our experience changes. My sister just began to play with her own exercise and it is amazing to watch her results.

For years she has been telling me she is horrible at remembering names. It was sometimes painful to watch my sister struggle for a name of a restaurant or person. She would simply say it will come to her, as she further reinforced her struggle by telling me again she was horrible at remembering names.

Beginning two months ago she began to say I am getting better at remembering names. At first there was no change. As she would relate a story the person in the story was described, as "Once I knew this guy". However after one week, she began to remember names of people whose story she often told.

Now she has expanded her memory game by saying to herself "I have an excellent memory and instant recall to anything and anytime I want it."All of the sudden she is able to remember facts, details such as names, places and times of anything anytime.

What I believe is when we talk about ourselves we actually are giving instructions to our brain. What if we begin to talk about ourselves in a way that supports our life?

Anyone one game?

Instructions:

See something in your behavior or life you would like to change. It might even be about change itself. Make sure the statement is formatted in a positive format. For example mine is going to be; I easily and effortlessly create a fair energy exchange in all I do, think and say.

In that light what do you get, maybe something you've always wanted, and I get information.

I would love for you to experience with this technique, and send me your feedback contact karen@gotocoach.net