The idea of 'brain training' has become popularised through the latest generation of techno-gadgets which, helpfully, remind us that buying more computer games is actually educational and therefore good for you I have to admit that jumping about with the Wii and playing Trivial Pursuit with the family on New Year's Eve was actually quite fun - but in moderation! Brain training works on the assumption that the brain is like any other organ in the body: it can be damaged through abuse and strengthened through a good work out. All of us who are seeking to develop and transform our lives and our environments for the better know that physical addictions damage the brain and moderation is key to a balanced and healthy mind and body. On the 'mental' level the theory goes that the more we challenge our brains to use different types of thought process, the stronger and smarter our brains become.
When I was at university I was a member of the 'Thinking Society' and we used to do tests looking at our individual strengths and weaknesses in lateral thinking, analytical thinking, creative thinking etc. There were about five of us and the tests we were doing were largely photocopied out of old Psychology manuals. Today 'brain training' is big business with any number of self-help guides, on-line tests, brain training gurus and games; there is huge competition in the technology industry for the brain training pound.
The way we think about the brain has changed massively over the last ten to fifteen years and today it is recognised that physical, emotional and spiritual activity are just as important to brain training as performing great intellectual and analytical feats. A quick search on brain training brought me to My super-charged life which identifies meditation, sex, nutrition, singing from memory, and walking around blind-folded as just some of the '20 ways to train your brain'. In our super adult, super charged, super fast world we are being reminded that play is the single most effective method of keeping ourselves smart, effective and happy. Apart from the sex of course, the adventures of the Secret Seven, Famous Five and the Swallows and Amazons are perhaps the nearest I could get to 'brain training camp'. Get some good tuck, run about a lot, play games, use your keen observational skills, do a bit of problem solving, help each other out of scrapes, have a good old group bonding session and then home for a well earned rest. The problem is that, to most of us, the activities of the Secret Seven would leave us knackered for days: we simply don't have the resources to solve crime before supper. The Western world seems designed specifically to drain us of our mental and physical resources; we no longer recognise our overall being as a self sustaining organism that is meant to be in balance. For me 'brain training' does not go far enough, we need to recognise that we are more than a brain, indeed, we are more than just a body.
As adults we tend to see play as something which is usurped by responsibility. Anything that is worthwhile will require seriousness, effort, self-discipline, hard work, time, and probably money (all the stuff that drains our physical and mental resources). Play is relegated to the luxury of 'leisure time' which, at most, gets a couple of hours a week lip-service if we're lucky. Of course, our brains and bodies still crave play, which is why alcohol, television, watching other people playing sport, and web-surfing all eat away at our lives: they are sanctioned, sterile and largely inactive past times which con our brains into thinking they are training when really they are being filled with crap.
From a shamanic perspective the brain is simply one part of our consciousness, indeed, the entire body is really one part of our overall 'self'. For me there is really no limit to the self. We are not self contained little beings wandering round with a body and perhaps some form of spirit or energy body attached to it like a balloon. We are part of a web of being which includes the physical world that manifests us, the mental world that stimulates us to growth, and the spiritual/ imaginative/ dream world that "is "us. All of these different bits of us consume and produce 'energy' which I'll describe for now as 'movement that effects change'. Energy changes form all the time: food turns into fuel that turns into physical movement or mental process. Anyone who works with energy healing or magic will also tell you that, after a session they are famished; after all, they've been working hard channelling energy. A person who has received an energy healing may feel full of energy, or perhaps lighter if stagnant energy has been shifted to allow new energy to flow once more.
Shamanic practice is about working with energy. All shamanic practitioners work on themselves and some will also work on others. The most commonly recognised shamanic practice is called 'journeying' where the consciousness of the practitioner is either said to leave their body and travel elsewhere or to expand outwards so that they are able to access other realms; in any case, the purpose of journeying is to seek wisdom and to retrieve power, soul essence, or energy that has been lost. In a world that drains us this is obviously a key skill to learn and develop and, luckily, the majority of us now seem to be born with an innate ability to journey once we are shown how. Perhaps this gift comes from the universe seeking to restore balance, or perhaps the sheer power we now have to change our world is opening our eyes and minds to the consequences.
Some people are just naturally able to journey, but most of us need some guidance to get us started. However, just because you can journey doesn't mean you have the clarity to see truth when it's in front of you, or the wisdom to act on that truth. I doubt that any shamanic practitioner out there can say with hand on heart that they have always immediately understood messages from spirit and acted upon them. This is where brain training comes in: learn to still your mind and find clarity; learn to support your process through self care; learn to differentiate between 'I should' and 'I am'; learn that obstacles are largely illusions; learn that play is work and work is play.
Sadly, a spiritual experience, even the most intense, is seldom enough to do more than give us the initial impotus for change. Our ability to then bring change into our lives is determined by the overall state of our consciousness. How much energy is available to you? What perspective do you have on your ability to make change? What support networks have you created for yourself? Does the thought of changing your life make you feel knackered already or are you bursting to grab some tuck, track down the baddies, save the day and be home in time for supper? If the answer is 'knackered' then perhaps some brain training is in order before you start to tackle any serious life change and so deplete your already exhausted resources.
You can book a mentoring session with me in-person or via Skype to develop a personalised programme using techniques that promote clarity, boost your energy levels, identify blockages and get you on track. Mindfullness, meditation, stress management techniques and journeying form some of the methods we can work on together and your journey can also be supported by in-person or distance energy and shamanic healing.
