Bilateral Stimulation and Religious Practice

You will find bilateral stimulation used in various forms of spiritual worship, such as hand clapping and dancing in Baptist Church worship, davening in Orthodox Jewish Synagogue worship and various yoga practices.

Go to a Baptist Church and be prepared to sing and dance. The question is why? Do they do it to make services go by faster? Do they sing and dance just because they like singing and dancing?

No and No. They sing and dance because singing and dancing brings them closer to G-d. They sing and dance, because singing and dancing apply bilateral stimulation while they pray. Check out this article by Dr. John Sullivan, Executive Director-Treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention - Dancing in the Spirit.

Think about what they are doing. They are applying bilateral stimulation while they pray and sing. They are clapping. They are moving their feet back and forth, over and over again. Most importantly, they are praying. They have goal. They have an objective. They want to feel G-d’s Spirit. Listen to the progression of the music. It starts slow and then it starts to speed up and the entire congregation starts to build into a religious fervor. Does bilateral stimulation help them achieve their goal? You bet.

You may not have ever attended a Conservative or Orthodox Jewish Service. It’s fascinating and a little bit different. Every so often, every man in the synagogue will stand up and shake back and forth while they read their prayer book and under their breath, utter the breaths in break neck style. What they are doing is referred to as “davening.”

Davening (bilateral stimulation) while praying has been going on for thousands of years. So why do they daven? Praying while davening helps religious Jews feel closer to G-d. It helps them to feel G-d’s spirit. The goal of each prayer is to take the reader to a different place. Some prayers talk about being better than human. Some talk about bowing down to G-d. In all cases, the prayers have more meaning and impact on their lives the closer they can feel to G-d.

Bilateral stimulation helps target and focus the mind. It helps you feel more connected. It helps you to feel whole.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Enter your email address to receive updates to our blog:

Enhanced Mental Focus and Overcoming Blocks

I want you to know that everything you read here, I have tried and I believe in. I preach this stuff everyday to the people I meet and try to live it as best I can. I truly believe that having an active mind - a mind that’s curious and able to concentrate and a mind that completes things rapidly is critically important. Life is hard enough, so why not take advantage of the G-d given abilities we all have? With the use of Focus Stones, you can be your best.

Focus Stones

Focus Stones is a unique product and if you think the concept is a little odd at first, I would probably have to agree. When I first encountered these techniques, I thought it all a bit weird. Nonetheless, I paid attention to what I was seeing and hearing. As I applied these techniques to my own life, I was seeing definite results. My ability to complete things rapidly was enhanced. For example, instead of taking hours to write a document, I finished the task in minutes. My life changed radically for the better as I became highly skilled at my job.

Bilateral Stimulation

I began to believe in the power of bilateral stimulation to activate and enhance mental capability. Looking around the world, I saw signs of bilateral stimulation being used everywhere. Even my interpretation of something as simple as going for a walk changed.

Walking was no longer just a way to get from point A to point B or a way to exercise. I saw walking as a critical way to activate the left and right brain. I noticed that famous philosophers and scientists like Rousseau, Nietzsche and Einstein (who biked instead) took time out of their lives to comment on the importance of walking and thinking, I paid even more attention. Walking helps you to think better.

Everywhere I looked, I saw people expressing themselves with both sides of their body - the left side and the right side - the logical side and the intuitive side. Strength, power and accomplishment were the result of joining both sides together. The left side by itself is coldly rational and unemotional, while the right side knows what’s going but has trouble getting anything done.

Balanced Thinking

I saw that people were a combination of two halves. When we are functioning optimally, everything is even and the mind is balanced. However, things can get out of whack. An overly dominant left brain can detract from creativity and impose so much self criticism that it’s hard to let things flow. An overly dominant right brain doesn’t allow you to function optimally in what is a left brained world. (I am strongly right brained and have struggled in my past to do things in a linear, left brained way).

To be at your best, you need both sides of the brain to work together in harmony. This is the reason I developed Focus Stones. The initial work is with golf, but the concepts translate to any field or endeavor.

The Toxic Combination of Restlessness and Meditation

You often meditate successfully, but there are those times that you just can’t sit still. Ahhhh…this is the most frustrating. Just so you know, I am almost always restless and can completely relate to this issue. Through experience, I’ve had to learn to compensate for my restlessness. More on how I overcome restlessness it in a few moments. First, let’s break down restlessness by doing what I always do…ask questions.

Why Are You Restless While You Meditate?

The list of why is endless. Maybe you need exercise. Maybe you’re overtired and sleepy and your body is fighting back. Maybe you haven’t eaten enough protein. Maybe you’re tired from work. Whatever…

I have another hypothesis. Maybe your body is trying to activate your mind by moving. What’d you say? Why would your brain want to induce your body to be restless and to move? - For a similar reason your body craves salt after you work out. When you workout, your body sweats and looses critical fluids which are needed to replenish. Your mind gives you a craving to drink something like Gatorade. You can choose to ignore the craving, but the mind of humans has been formed over many years of evolution and it won’t be easy.

Bilateral Stimulation Helps Meditation

What I have found is that I can meditate far more easily by applying bilateral stimulation. Sometimes I use my hands, unclenching and clenching my left and right fists slowly. Better yet, I use my Focus Stones.

My theory is simple. Different types of people just can’t sit still and they need the distraction of something else. This logic is similar to the way music helps some people study. It’s well documented that familiar (not something new) music can help a person better focus on the task-at-hand. The mind needs a distraction - something to put it into a rhythm.

Why not try Focus Stones for bilateral stimulation the next time you’re experiencing restlessness or having trouble meditating.

When Tests Keep You From Achieving Your Goals

We’ve all heard the story…the sad luck story of, “I had the grades. If I only could have done better on the SAT, I would have gotten into the right college.” And as my mother in-law says, “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”

Tests can be a hurdle due to obscure questions, rarely used words and math problems that seem otherworldly. Yet, for those planning to go to college, SATs are a necessity of life. You have to take them and you have to do well.

Tragic is the young person who has decent grades but is unable to get a good SAT score. Maybe they have test anxiety. Maybe they don’t like taking exams in a crowded lecture hall. Whatever the case may be, their test scores don’t reflect their true ability. It’s heartbreaking when the SAT becomes an arbitrary wall that keeps them from moving. In fact, many studies show that SAT tests have proven to be an invalid predictor of future success. What SATs are good for is identifying kids with extremely high IQs and filtering out kids with very low academic ability.

For the rest of us, including myself – the average, the mediocre, the masses – the SAT was basically useless as a predictor of later success. The more important characteristic is the ability to persevere. More on this another time…

Here’s the question – For those of us that are average, how do we get better at the eternal SAT? What can we do to improve our score? It’s obviously important. Those of us average people who do well will go to the best schools. And yes, you can always take SAT training, which has been proven to help to a degree, but that’s not really my point today.

Ask yourself the following question: What would happen if you could take the SAT in the comfort of your own home, where you could stand up for a moment to stretch, take a walk to solve a particularly vexing problem or just lean back on your favorite pillow and think? Would you get a cup of coffee? Go to Starbucks? The test taking environment is difficult – painfully so. It’s almost another form of hazing. I know because I suffered through it.

Wouldn’t it be better to give someone unlimited time to answer the question? Perhaps, but would that be fair? Would it be better to allow students to take the test in the comfort of their own home? Perhaps, but that wouldn’t be fair as it couldn’t be administered.

So, we put our children through all-day tests in a ridiculous feat of extended concentration. Consider how many of us are at our desks at work for 5-6 hours without hardly uttering a word or taking a minute to check out a baseball score or stock price or simply just to read the latest in entertainment news. My point is simple. The tests and the resulting anxiety that comes from these tests is unnatural.

Even Focus Stones can’t take the place of a real break and a more relaxed test taking environment. When I look back on the importance of these silly tests, how I felt while taking them and how the results could have impacted my life, it frustrates me - just a little.

I really don’t have an easy solution, but what I do know is that the people who excel at these tests fit a distinct profile. They are the linear left brain dominant thinkers who can quickly work through the logic of any problem, memorize any passage and recall information in 2 nanoseconds from years ago.

Cheers to the right brain thinkers. Cheers to the men and women who think outside the box and read the nuance of what was supposed to be simple. Perhaps, all we need is a little more non-linear thinking to move us all forward in the world!

Walking Improves Mental Processing

Test studies reveal that small increases in aerobic fitness selectively improve mental fitness. This is particularly the case in the so-called executive control functions of the brain.

Executive Control Functions

Executive control functions (the ability to plan, coordinate, schedule, as well as selective focus on information in the environment and ignore extraneous information ) typically show the largest decline with normal aging. The nice result of this study is that a person who hasn’t been physically active during his or her younger years can still greatly benefit from walking.

Walking Improves Blood Flow and Mental Processing

Walking improves the oxygenation of tissue through increased cardio-respiratory fitness translating to improved brain-blood flow, specifically to the frontal and pre-frontal areas of the brain (area that controls executive control processes).

Dr. Mercola, author of Take Control of Your Health - Your Complete Guide To Optimal Health, states that studies show substantial benefits from walking 45 minutes a day - 3 days a week. Walking has been found to be an incredibly powerful tool to stay healthy and improve mental processing.

The Unnatural Act of Meditating

It’s pretty well documented that meditation helps you focus better, think more clearly, be more patient and maybe  get you  through your day with a little less coffee.

So… you’ve never really figured out how to mediate.  It just doesn’t come naturally to you. You sit down and pretend to be some type of guru. You feel silly. You sit there for five, ten, thirty minutes and nothing happens. You’re bored out of your mind. Your mind is racing ahead to your next meal or maybe what you have to accomplish before the day is over.

You’ve tried meditating before and you’re sure pretty sure you won’t b able to reach any type of Zen state. There are a ton of reasons why you’re having trouble.  My contention is that all the myriad of reasons really boil down to one.

First, I have a thought that I will ask in the form of a question? Have you ever been so busy at work (or at school) that you don’t have time to spend on all the things that you need to do? Your whole day is booked. You don’t have time to assess and analyze your work. You just do it and however  it comes out is what you turn in. Your mind is in overdrive, racing one hundred miles an hour. You are in an adrenaline pumping zone.

Basically, you were meditating while you worked. (Interesting note: There is a long history of mediation while performing tasks. You’re not doing anything new.) With single minded focus you accomplished what you needed to do. You may argue with me that work isn’t meditation. That’s where you and I will disagree. Most every human meditates every day.

When you drive to work do you take the same route every day? How often do you look up and realize that you just drove a block and you weren’t even aware of it? You were meditating. In a meeting or a lecture, do ever look at your watch and realize that you have no idea what was being said for the last five minutes? You were meditating. You may have another name for this state of sub-consciousness. Basically, your mind is taking a break for just a few minutes, which is a form of meditation. Whenever time stands still for you, you’ve meditated.

The biggest difference is that these everyday experiences and the meditation you’ve tried and failed at is one of direction. In a self directed meditation you have a goal or objective. Maybe you have a mantra.
So what’s the problem? You can mediate when the pressure is on (when you’re under a strict deadline) and you can meditate when you’re bored (sitting in a meeting), why can’t you meditate when you choose too?

In the first case, your adrenaline was pumping and you didn’t have time to edit yourself. You just let things come out of your mind. Editing is typically a left brain function. This means that you basically turned-off your natural, mental editor and relied on your G-d given talent. You just worked. You’re left brain was not dominating your right brain. Your right brain was free to inspire and direct your actions while your left brain guided you.

The right brain is more intuitive and understands things rapidly, using images and feelings about information you already had stored in your mind. There was no time to argue with yourself, put out the fire and react later. The urgency of the situation ratcheted your performance up. There may have been some small errors like punctuation, which is more of a left brain function, but you probably did pretty well.

In the second case, you’re bored left brain allowed for your right brain to be more active. Your right brain kind of took over and wandered into some images and thought that you might not even recall. You didn’t analyze anything critically. You just felt kind of mindless. This meditation had not direction and no purpose.

So David….what’s the problem? The problem is one of brain alignment. Your left brain oriented functions and right brain oriented functions are off kilter. When either one is dominating, it’s very difficult to meditate. When you sit down with a very directed meditation, you’re left brain has taken charge and isn’t really leaving any room for your right brain.

Some of you may argue that the brain isn’t so neatly divided into left and right brainfunctions. You would argue that brain processing is highly distributed. You would be correct. However, since all communications from between hemispheres has to go through something called the corpus callosum, it really doesn’t matter. The corpus callosum manages all the traffic from both sides.

If a memory or command is split across the left and right brain, the communication has to go through it. The distributed nature of thinking require that you use both sides of the brain. If you get anxious or critical or commanding, your left brain is going to take over. This is why I sometimes refer to left brain and left brain oriented and the right brain as right brain oriented.

How do you align your mind to work in an optimal manner? How do you reach balanced mental state? You’ve probably figured out that balance is the one thing I was referring too. Without balance, it’s very difficult to meditate.

Stay tuned for my upcoming posts on how to achieve better mental balance and deeper states of meditation.

Do You Ever Just Want to Leave and Go for a Walk?

You’re at work and you’re mentally stuck on a task that you must finish. What do you do? You work harder. You work longer. Is that the way our fathers did it? Rumor has it that people used to take Martini lunches, or least go for a walk during the work day.

Doesn’t the idea of leaving the office during the day and going for a walk sound decadent? The idea of leaving your desk and getting a breath of fresh air has become a luxury, and not just for you. In a recent survey taken by Steelcase, an office equipment manufacturer, 55% of workers take a half hour or less for their lunch breaks. The 1 hour lunch break is a total myth.

What’s cool is what happens when you take a walk -You’re stretching your body and your mind - the scenery changes -interesting people walk by. My advice almost sounds pedestrian. Take a walk to figure things out. And you are probably saying, “Your advice is silly” and “No time!”

Well, if you can’t go for a walk and take a break, then stand and move your body. Many grade school teachers have recognized that by letting their high strung students stand at their desks and work they are far more effective. These kids are not sitting. They are actively moving their body while they are working. Teachers understand what we all know deep in our heart. The body and mind are strongly connected.

Here’s another example of movement: Seymour Cray, the inventor of the supercomputer was famous for digging tunnels. It almost sounds silly doesn’t it? One of the smartest men in the world spent hours and hours digging tunnels? Why didn’t he spend every waking hour working on an important problem?

Well…sometimes he would get stuck. Guess what he would do? He would go to his backyard and he would continue digging his tunnel. Seymour Cray stated, “While I’m digging in the tunnel, the elves will often come to me with solutions to my problem.”

Many artists and scientists are inspired when they walk. Here’s a quote I love from the philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau - “I can only meditate when I am walking. When I stop, I cease to think; my mind works only with my legs.”

Moving your body and your mind is important to being a thoughtful person. Though the following sage advice may sound basic, like eating your vegetables everyday, it still needs to be said. Take a walk!

Mindfulness Meditation and EMDR

There are two recognized types of meditation - mindfulness meditation and concentration meditation. The one I want to discuss is mindfulness meditation. In this form of meditation, a person becomes intentionally aware of their thoughts and actions in the present moment and does so without judgement. This includes considering the past, contemplating it and then releasing the thought. There is obviously more here, but I want to cut to the chase. Let’s look at a parallel discipline.

EMDR

There is a form of psychotherapy called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing), where the patient sits with a therapist and is told to relive the past - to think about past experiences that may have been painful. The patient uses mindfulness meditation in a direct controlled way without talking.

However, there is one major difference. Bilateral stimulation is being applied during the therapy. Either lights flash back and forth or vibrations are applied in the patients hands. EMDR therapy is proven and it works.

Some of you may argue that the brain wave states between EMDR and mindfulness mediation are different. You would actually be correct. When experienced meditators are monitored, there is a very strong alpha brave state. In EMDR, the brain wave state is no different than everyday brain wave states.

What people fail to realize is that the alpha brain wave state is the result of thinking of no mental images. In the case of EMDR, the images are painful and plentiful. The goal is to work on an issue. Many experienced meditators have worked through their issues and are really monitoring their feelings.

The Science Behind Why Anxiety Kills Meditation

Have you ever noticed how immediately after a stressful event, meditation is nearly impossible? It’s a well documented fact that even the most experienced yogis struggle to meditate after stressful situations. What we’re going to look here is what physically happens in the brain. Because this is a technical topic, I want you to know where we’re going to end up. Don’t you love going right to the end of story?

What Happens Under Stress?

A stressful situation effectively prevents the logical, rational, left side of your brain from overriding the stress that you are feeling. A part of your right brain is blocking it. Basically, your brain is out of balance. Now, let’s get into the details.

First, the stressful event occurs. A part of your brain called the amygdala (a-mig-dala) sounds the alarm and sends urgent messages to every other part of the brain. The amygdala is the emotional watch dog in your mind. When something upsets you, it is the amygdala that reacts. So what does the amygdala effect?

The hypothalamus (which is right next to the amygdala) reacts to the amygdala and tells the pituitary gland to start producing something called corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). This controls the amount of cortisol in your body. Cortisol helps your body become even more effective at producing glucose from proteins, and is designed to quickly help increase the body’s energy in times of stress. Basically, cortisol tells your body to be more efficient because it’s going to be a long winter, it’s a time of war, etc.

Remember, its fight or flight. If you’re always under stress and you have weight control issues, this is the argument you commonly hear. You’ve probably heard late night TV ads refer to controlling your weigh by controlling your cortisol levels. This is what they are telling you.

The amygdala also tells the cerebellum to get going. Until now, we’ve been talking about parts of your brain that are deep inside. The cerebellum is located just above the back of your neck. The cerebellum tells your body to get ready to move. It controls your limbs.

The amygdala tells the medulla (which is another name for your spine) to activate your cardiovascular system, muscles, and more. You know all those involuntary things you do like breathing and having a beating heart. They are now getting ready to go into overdrive to support the stress you just experienced.

Let’s be logical. Everything is ready to react except for one, your brain. The rest of the brain doesn’t have any idea that it needs to start thinking quickly and pay very close attention. The hypothalamus (remember this was activated by the amygdala) signals something called the locus coeruleus (locus, co-rul-e-us) to secrete something called norepinephrine (no-ree-pine-frine) to heighten response throughout the rest of the brain. The locus coeruleus is deep inside the brain with the amygdala and hypothalamus.

As an interesting side note, what part of the brain do you think heroin effects? You got it, the locus coeruleus. Heroin kind of represses the locus coeruleus, providing a great escape to the stress of life and totally messing with the cycle of things. The norepinephrine spreads thoughout the brain, telling every part of the brain to pay attention, including the hippo-campus. The hippo-campus, which is also deep inside the brain, steps things up another notch and releases a substance called dopamine, which increases your ability to pay attention.

You’ve probably heard of dopamine. Typically, people with ADHD have lower levels of dopamine, while people with schizophrenia have too much dopamine. It’s really an interesting little chemical. What I found the most fascinating is how dopamine can lead to increased creativity and problem solving. More on this another day.

Now, back to our stressful situation. All these parts of the brain are driving a important processes - CRF or cortisol is streaming out, dopamine is in abundant supply and through another process endorphins (which I know you’ve heard of) are making you feel good, just in case you get hurt. Endorphins are little like morphine and will protect you from the pain.

Truthfully, there is some discussion on how the following happens. We just know that it does happens. First a little detail on the pre-frontal cortex. This area is basically your forehead, the area of the brain that separates man from animals. The pre-frontal cortex is where you access your working memory.

Working memory is where you store critical bits of information that you deem important for thinking. The left side of the pre-frontal cortex is for logical and rational thinking. It remembers that a pencil is spelled with a p-e-n-c-i-l. The right side of the pre-frontal cortex is more for mental images and remembers what a pencil does, write on a piece of paper.

Under stress, the right pre-frontal cortex is activated. You’re fighting for survival and the best way to survive is to run and react. Images are important. The meaning of things are important. Remembering how to spell the word pencil and other analytical skills are less critical. The left side of the pre-frontal cortex is ignored.

To meditate effectively you need some balance. You need to be able to focus. You need to be able to ignore the desire to get up and move around. Remember, the fight or flight syndrome has been activated. It’s not so easy to turn off. Interestingly, after a stressful day at work, it’s the right frontal cortex just behind the right eye that gets the biggest workout. To read more about this, visit TheWhyFiles -Stress on the Brain. This is the point when you start to favor one way of thinking over another and this is when the imbalance occurs.

In a nutshell, you’re brain is out of balance during stress. For survival reasons, your right side becomes dominant. This is why anxiety and stress wreak havoc on meditation.

Learn how Focus Stones can enhance your mental balance and ability to concentrate during meditation.

Restless Leg Syndrome

Moving your legs in bed is now a medical condition. You’ve probably seen ads for “restless leg syndrome.” Who hasn’t laid in bed at one time or another, tossing and turning? You simply can’t sleep and your spouse is threatening to kick you out of bed!

What Causes Restless Leg Syndrome?

Like any condition, I’m sure there could be multiple causes, such as deficiencies in diet, lack of exercise or too much caffeine intake. I’m not a medical doctor and I don’t have expertise in sleeping disorders, but I am going to propose the most likely cause. What I have to offer is some common sense and an educated guess on how the mind works. Maybe you remember a theorem called Hakim’s Razor -the simplest explanation is normally the right one. I believe the same applies here.

When you have restless leg syndrome, your body and your legs can’t sit still. Over and over again you cycle through the same positions. It’s a little like hearing the same song in your head over and over. Your mind is overactive and is cycling through different states, looking for a place to stop. It’s in an endless loop-d-loop that’s stuck. You need to hit the reset button.

How Do You Reset Your Mind?

I can tell you two different ways that I cure my restless leg syndrome. First, I stretch. Some of the stretches are yoga positions and others I’ve made up. Stretching your muscles and your nerves reset the mind. (Nerves are connected to the brain - logically this makes sense). However, I haven’t personally conducted a study or have I heard of any tests on this. You’ll have to take my word that this technique works because the drug companies have zero incentive to test this theory at this time.

There is nothing religious associated with this advice. If you want to go into some type of a mantra, be my guest. I believe stretching is enough.

Bilateral Stimulation

The second technique is to apply alternating bilateral stimulation with my hands. Mentally, I focus on trying to fall asleep while I alternatively clench and unclench my fists. First I clench my left fist, then I release it and gently clench my right fist, and so on. Your mind needs to be focused in on falling asleep. If it wanders bring it back to the task at hand, falling asleep.

You can also use a pair of Focus Stones and do the same thing electronically. Depending on how I feel, I use one technique or the other - sometimes both. When you’re done stretching, get in bed and apply a little focused bilateral stimulation to fall asleep.

Good night and let me know how it goes!

Next Page »