"Right Brain" & "Left Brain" have become popular new millennium business & career performance metaphors, made popular with books such as Dan Pink's "A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future."
"Right Brain Aerobics" is a play on words -- "how to" training and mental "exercises" that may be useful to increase creative, innovative thinking & tap "inner genius."
At Right Brain Aerobics we find articles about creatitivy, intuition, new brain science, and other related articles & links to be very educational. Many note the the effects of "right brain" exercise and development. We also find in Psychiatrist, Dr. Iain McGilchrist's work on "The Divided Brain" gives a whole new view...bringing the dialogue back into popular discourse since 80's research showed that both sides of the brain could do similar things. According to Sir Iaian McGilchrist, "The Divided Brian," one of the most popular TED Talks ever -- it seems there's still something to this "right brain" / "left brain" idea, that we might rethink. You might enjoy watching.
The following is sampling of articles, quotes, links regarding increasing applications or research regarding the impact of meditative-intuitive-creative personal practice in business, education, health that we find interesting and think you might also. Each reference may lead down a myriad avenues for further study. This area of scientific exploration may be one of the most exciting new frontiers in today's research. We also like Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's book, "My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey ..." A brain scientist looks at intelligence and consciousness in a completely different way after own own personal experience.
These are articles about related topics -- but if you want to start to experience "right brain" exercise and judge for yourself, there is plenty of material in the presentation on the home page and a sample exercise to try every day. See what others are saying!
Right Brain Aerobics is basic training, techniques to explore and integrate the many possibilities for personal development in all of the realms of the 7 Components:
1) Right Brain Starter Section, 2) Mental Focus & Creative Visualization, 3) Affirmation & Breakthrough Thinking, 4) Intuition & Extrasensory Perception (Executive ESP & Thinking Like at CEO), 5) Creativity & Innovation, 6) Right Brain / Whole Brain Strategy, 7) Institutionalizing Right Brain Thinking & Daily Practice Skill Building
In addition to these articles, read Right Brain Blogs like Chapters of a Book! and "Don't Be a Rock Star at Work, Be a Star..." by Sandra H. Rodman
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Meditation/Mental Focus/Visualization research is among the most exciting! In Right Brain Aerobics, the Mental Focus/Visualization exercises are a kind of modern career-focused creativity meditation.
Here are some research artuckes showing positive effects of meditation in career and mental development.
 Brain Building for Business & Career...?
Can you change mental ability and become more creative for any career at any age? Yes. New research shows significant effects for mental focus/visualization meditation exercises. Right Brain Aerobics for Business & Career was developed for to get just this kind of effect -- but applied to business & career. Examples of new research:
- Mental Focus and Meditation Exercises can actually increase brain size... See new Massachusetts General Hospital study published in Psychiatry Journal 1-30-11 -- including "thickening of the cerebral cortex in areas associated with attention and emotional integration
in as little as 8 weeks.
Meditation in the Workplace. Management Issues, Andy Puddicombe, 1-08-08
"This growing trend is perhaps not surprising given the extensive scientific research published by the likes of the National Institute of Health and Harvard Medical School. The findings consistently demonstrate a decrease in the production of chemicals associated with stress, anxiety, depression and insomnia. At the same time they show an increased ability to relax, heightened levels of concentration and the alleviation of the many aches and pains that plague employees everywhere."
"With employee healthcare high on the agenda these numerous benefits alone would be reason enough for many to sign up. But increasingly it is the performance-enhancing qualities of meditation that are attracting all the attention - at the individual, departmental and organisational level."
Kathy Sykes reports her personal experience of trying meditation in conjunction with a study begin conducted: "At the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Professor Richard Davidson has carried out a study where he has seen significant changes in brain activity when people meditated."
"At the same hospital, neuroscientist Sara Lazar is also getting some intriguing results looking at meditation's effect on neuroplasticity — which is the ability of the brain to change structure as it learns new tasks. Neuroplasticity occurs when we learn to juggle or play a musical instrument. In these instances, parts of the brain actually thicken, which shows the brain is, growing new connections."
"Lazar has also found the cortex of the brain — which governs thought processes — are thicker in people who meditate regularly compared to non-meditators.
To see if this is actually down to meditation will require more research, but the potential implications are exciting."
"Meditation Can Lower Blood Pressure, Study Shows." Science Daily 3/15/08
"Transcendental Meditation is an effective treatment for controlling high blood pressure with the added benefit of bypassing possible side effects and hazards of anti-hypertension drugs, according to a new meta-analysis conducted at the University of Kentucky." ... The study's lead author, Dr. James W. Anderson, professor of medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, said that blood pressure reductions of this magnitude would be expected to be accompanied by significant reductions in risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease—without drug side effects."
"Meditation Can Change Brain Function, Psychology Study Says " Findings appear in December issue of Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience'
Dec 14/07, Jenny Lass
"Feeling stressed or depressed? You may one day be prescribed meditation rather than medication, thanks to a study conducted by researchers from the Department of Psychology and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) at St. Joseph's Hospital." ...
"People with no meditation training showed very little change in brain activity from task to task. They mostly engaged the areas along the middle of the brain such as the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for personality expression and appropriate social behaviour. However, participants who had practised meditation regularly for eight weeks showed a more dramatic change in brain activity..." .Fi
"Brief Meditation Boosts Attention, Curbs Stress" Reuters UK, Oct. 9, 2007
"NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Recent studies have suggested that months to years of intensive meditation can improve attention and lower stress. Researchers now believe that in less than one week of meditation practice with the integrative body-mind meditation training method can produce noteworthy improvement in attention and ones' state of mind." ... Dr. Yi-Yuan Tang from University of Oregon in Eugene and colleagues report their research in today's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."
"Our study is consistent with the idea that attention, affective processes and the quality of moment-to-moment awareness are flexible skills that can be trained," they add."
"Eyes of the mind: Can dynamic meditation really help the body to heal itself? An American psychologist and researcher believes so." The Star online, 5/9/07
"Studies done in universities across the United States over the years have shown guided imagery to be effective in relieving stress, boosting immunity, and also alleviating depression. These techniques are also used in what is known as dynamic meditation, and Dr Aretoula Fullam, a psychologist who has trained in clinical mind-body medicine in Harvard, believes that dynamic meditation is fast becoming accepted even in scientific circles."
"Meditate to Concentrate: Penn Researchers Demonstrate Improved Attention With Mindfulness Training," University of Pennsylvania Office of Communications, 5/9/07
"Meditation, according to Penn neuroscientist Amishi Jha and Michael Baime, director of Penn's Stress Management Program, is an active and effortful process that literally changes the way the brain works. Their study is the first to examine how meditation may modify the three subcomponents of attention, including the ability to prioritize and manage tasks and goals, the ability to voluntarily focus on specific information and the ability to stay alert to the environment."
"Researchers found that even for those new to the practice, meditation enhanced performance and the ability to focus attention. Performance-based measures of cognitive function demonstrated improvements in a matter of weeks. The study, to be published in the Journal Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, suggests a new, non-medical means for improving focus and cognitive ability among disparate populations and has implications for workplace performance and learning."
"Changed Thinking Can Alter the Brain: Meditation can create brain changes that in turn affect perception," St. Petersburg Times, Florida, 4/10/07
"Anything that stimulates your brain, including the words you are reading at this moment, affects the way you think. But, as neuroscientists are learning, this road runs in two directions: While your brain produces your thoughts, your thoughts have the ability to make physical changes in your brain. For example, if you develop the habit of recognizing and challenging negative thoughts about yourself (I'm stupid; no one will ever love me, etc.), you may be able to brighten your mood more effectively than Prozac could."
"Quieting your mind through meditation may increase the activity in your left prefrontal lobe, which produces feelings of happiness and contentment. ... The secret to such changes is focusing your attention, according to Sharon Begley, author of Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves [01/2007] ."
Quote: "I have meditated for 40 years, and have long felt that the potential of mind training to improve our emotional, physical and spiritual well-being has barely been tapped. ... As human beings, we really do have inner powers that can make a world of difference, particularly if our goal is not merely to advance our own agendas, but to cultivate compassion for the benefit of all living beings.”
--John Robbins, author Healthy at 100 and Diet For a New America
"What's New in Science" -- Mindfulness-based Relapse Prevention. he Daily, University of Washington, 5/02/07
"UW scientists are testing a new approach to drug and alcohol addiction treatments, called mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP), which melds Buddhist meditation techniques with traditional therapeutic approaches."
The MBRP program helps people cope with these emotions by teaching them Vipassana, a Buddhist meditation that emphasizes mindfulness, said Sarah Bowen, a psychology graduate student involved in the research. Mindfulness is the ability of the meditator to be 'in the present moment,' observing his or her thoughts without judging them, said Neharika Chawla, another psychology graduate student who works on the treatment."
"Relaxation and Meditation Helps Students' Stress during Exams," The Minnesota Daily, 5/01/07
"Becoming a 'Walking Meditation" - Healthy, Wealthy, & Wise online , 5/01/07
"It is important to realize that meditation is not a practice that one uses to escape in order to hide form a disruptive life, nor is it a practice for relaxation alone. It is so much more and provides the opportunity to experience ourselves from an entirely different perspective."
Dr. Sue Morter
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Call The Gallagher Management Company - 410-905-2055 to arrange Right Brain Aerobics training for your business.
For Right Brain Aerobics Public Talks and Classes see Right Brain Aerobics Academy.
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Right Brain Aerobics is a structured and wholistic approach -- increase right brain or creative-intuitive acumen and integrate with left brain abilities for higher levels of performance and productivity.
For Right Brain Aerobics Corporate Training call The Gallagher Management Company 410-905-2055 or Email Bill Gallagher, Gallagher Management Company. For Public Talks & Community Classes see Right Brain Aerobics Academy. |
Right Brain Thinking
Business Looks for Renewal in Right Brain Thinking, International Herald Tribune, Janet Rae-Dupree, April 6, 2008
"...after a few generations in the Information Age, many of our high-concept, high-touch muscles have atrophied," he said. "The challenge is to work them back into shape.
"Why bother? Because much of the left-brain-centric work that Information Age workers in Europe and North America once did - computer programming, financial accounting, routing calls - is now done less expensively in Asia or more efficiently by computers. In short, if it can be outsourced or automated, it probably has been.
"Now the master of fine arts, or MFA, Pink says, "is the new MBA."
He's not the only one saying it. When General Motors hired Robert Lutz in 2001 to whip its product development into shape, he told The New York Times about his new approach. "It's more right brain. It's more creative," he said.
"I see us as being in the art business," he said, "art, entertainment and mobile sculpture, which, coincidentally, also happens to provide transportation."
Business Intuition
Business Intuition - The Future of Corporate America Elise Lebeau, M.Sc., eZine Articles, 2008
"... more and more entrepreneurs are realizing the unlimited potential of intuition in keeping up with a fast-pace business world. This realization opens the door to a deeper understanding of intuition and its application in business. There's always a solution. It just doesn't always come from your left brain! The challenges of Corporate America can be successfully addressed by relying on the ingenuity provided by a structured approach to Business Intuition.
To some, it's the only rational way to go..."
[Note: Right Brain Aerobics might well be described a "structured approach" to intuition -- it also includes creativity and meditation as well as other non-traditional integrated inputs to increase intuitive abilities.]
Intuition in Business -- Lynn B. Robinson, The Mobile, Alabama Harbinger, 11/17/98,Mobile Alabama Harbinger, 9/17/98. Quotes:
o "Peter Senge [MIT Sloane School of Management], in The Fifth Discipline, argues strongly:
'People with high levels of personal mastery do not set out to integrate reason and intuition. Rather, they achieve it naturally-as a by-product of their commitment to use all the resources at their disposal. They cannot afford to choose between reason and intuition, or head and heart, any more than they would choose to walk on one leg or see with one eye.' "
o "Michael Munn, Ph.D. is comfortable with naming and using his intuition. As a former aerospace chief scientist for Lockheed, Munn is an award-winning engineer who has managed multi million dollar covert projects. He and his teams have worked on tough technical problems for which there were no textbooks because they worked at the cutting edge of discoveries. ...
"Munn credits their success to the use of brief meditative periods throughout the day so that they had time to listen to their intuitions. Munn says, 'How do I know the answers are there? I see pictures or movies or dreamlike sequences. I have an immediate inner knowing that this is the answer for which I was waiting. My intuition lets me know, 'This is it!' "
o "Through a willingness to combine intuition and reason, intuitive people appear to have some life advantage. Edith Jurka, M.D. asserts that intuitive persons have a sense of more ultimate control and advantages in life because intuition and right brain functioning add creativity, humor, and the ability to solve problems, to reach goals and to manage people more effectively."
o "Those who accept the use of intuition in business do so in many ways. It is used in decision making, in product development, in stress management, in team building, in worker relationships, and in multiple other ways. As people begin to see work as a place for human, personal development, they begin to see deep intuition as key to that growth. They begin to use intuition to uncover and actualize the limitless potential of their lives. ... To use intuition to its fullest requires attention to its growth and development."
"Mind Power" -- The Intuition Network transcript from the series Thinking Allowed.
Conversations On the Leading Edge of Knowledge and Discovery, Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove, interview with Bernie Zilbergeld, Ph.D. author of Mind Power. And see Index of Transcripts. "... to what extent can we take charge of our lives, set goals for ourselves, and consciously, deliberately move towards those goals, thereby transforming our lives through the power of our own mind?"
"Intuition in the News," Chicago Tribune, quoted by Lynn A. Robinson
"...a survey that was conducted in May 2002 by executive search firm Christian & Timbers reveals that fully 45% of corporate executives now rely more on instinct than on facts and figures in running their businesses." Harvard Business Review quoted by Lynn A. Robinson.
"Intuition is the new physics. It's an Einsteinian, seven-sense, practical way to make tough decisions. Bottom line, circa 2001 to 2010: The crazier the times are, the more important it is for leaders to develop and to trust their intuition." Tom Peters
"Business Intuition" by Carol Kinsey Gorman, Ph.D. from Link & Learn, April 2003.
"At the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Douglas Dean studied the relationship between intuition and business success. He found that 80 percent of executives whose companies' profits had more than doubled in the past five years had above average precognitive powers.
"Management professor Weston Agor of the University of Texas in El Paso found that of the 2,000 managers he tested, higher-level managers had the top scores in intuition. Most of these executives first digested all the relevant information and data available, but when the data was conflicting or incomplete, they relied on intuitive approaches to come to a conclusion."
"Intuition in Business," from the Thinking Allowed Series from the national public television series.
"Intuition is a brain skill that organizations must learn to tap in order to remain competitive." Weston Agor, Ph.D., professor of public administration,University of Texas, El Paso. Author of Intuitive Management and The Logic of Intuitive Decision Making.
Research in Progress: Individualism and Creativity as the Basis of Cultural Development and Innovation.
Jonathan Feinstein, Professor of Economics, Yale School of Management. "Jonathan Feinstein studies individualism and creativity as the basis of cultural development and innovation. .. [A]uthor of The Nature of Creative Development (Stanford University Press, 2006)."
Coincidence or Intuition? HeartMath Institute. "HeartMath’s new research is discussed in two parts in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine."
"A new study by HeartMath provides evidence that the heart responds to future events
and indicates women may be naturally more attuned to their intuition. ... The study sought to test whether we somehow receive information about a future event before it happens, and, if so, to determine where and when in the brain and body the intuitive information is processed."
"Intuition has often been thought of as a mysterious sixth sense. However, [the] study...helps to solve some of the mysteries that surround intuition, revealing the role the heart plays in processing and decoding intuitive information."
"The fact that the heart is involved in the perception of future external events is an astounding result. The classical perspective assigns the brain an exclusive role in information processing. This study opens the door to new understandings about intuition and suggests that intuition is a system-wide process involving at least both the heart and the brain working together to decode intuitive information."
Blink, a popular business book by Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point.
Gladwell describes the book as being about "rapid cognition" and "fleeting moments" -- the kind of thinking that happens in "the blink of an eye" [he prefers this to the word intuition, he says]. "When you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, ... your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions." He's looking at those 2 seconds that might, in effect, contain important information or indicators.
[Note: In Right Brain Aerobics this is a focus: expanding the ability to recognize and interpret creative impulses in "fleeting thoughts" passing "in the blink of an eye" --the random information streams which contain golden opportunities that can impact business, career, and personal effectiveness.]
Creativity
"Creativity Institute News briefs," -- The Creativity Institute links to child creative development from around the world.
"Is it right, wrong, or creative?" (8th article blurb)
Ms. Stapelbroek ...makes[s] a case for nurturing creativity in children at early ages, and how creative teachers who prize creative responses can make a world of difference. The comments are in a letter to the editor in response to an article in PHYSICS TODAY, June 2005 by Lee Smolin entitled "Why No 'New Einstein'?" While the article makes a case for nurturing creativity at the graduate college level and beyond, Ms. Stapelbroek uses her children's experiences as examples of how valuing creativity and nurturing it from infancy has the greatest benefits.
New developments in creative mind science: "Prime Minister's Prize for Science, 1997 Australia Prize" to Professor Allan Snyder, the Optical Physicist and head of the Centre of the Mind:
"According to Allan Snyder, the brain is the ultimate non-linear device. 'We don't passively look onto the world,' he said. "Signals actually change the neural connectivity of our brain as they go in."
"...Snyder...was recently appointed foundation director of the ANU's [Australia National University] Centre for the Mind. .. 'We want to look at how minds might function in the future. Also minds in time and space. Alien minds. How do we break mindsets. How do we become creative,' said Snyder. 'We'll also look at the mind in sport. How is it that we can build bodies to do the super human in sport?' "
Australian Institute of Policy and Science profile of Professor Allan Synder, Optical Physicist/Visual Scientist, comments on new developments:
"...challenging mindsets is now one of Snyder's official projects, through the Centre for the Mind, established as a joint venture between the Australian National University in Canberra and the University of Sydney. Here, Snyder and his colleagues have studied creativity and mindset breaking, inspired by their research on the astounding abilities of autistic savants. Together with John Mitchell, Snyder has published a provocative theory suggesting that everyone possesses these spectacular abilities - for example, the ability to do lightning fast, accurate arithmetic, or to speak multiple languages, or draw perfectly from memory. ...[T]he paper was published last year by the Royal Society, the prestigious representative of the scientific establishment, which rarely publishes papers on the workings of the mind."
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