Moved - Discussing Merits/Legitimacy of Mid-Brain Activation

[sonya_post]

The following is a reply from Tamsyn to my question about the legitimacy of mid-brain activation:


I've been struggling with the philosophy behind mid-brain too.  Not because I ever doubted that it was real, but because my earlier research into it always led me into magick (with a k), and that's a forbidden territory to me because of my faith.  I'm really grateful for the insights from Ruwan.  He is definitely not a magician, he has a very scientific approach to it, so I've ventured to study it again.

It has to do with using a sense we don't fully utilize.  Some call it the third eye, but it stems from the pineal gland in the brain.  The pineal gland has many rods and cones just like the eye, which has puzzled scientists because there is no light there.  The pineal gland interprets electricity.  We are electric beings with currents.  I have enough experience with muscle testing, reflexology, and energy work to understand this.  I also believe that we are spririts in a physical body.  Call it a spirit or call it an aura, kirlian photography is picking up something.  I'm sending this message from a small tablet which will wirelessly send my message all over the world instantly.  It's not magic.  So if there is a part of the brain that is designed to interpret electricity, why should it be so strange that my brain is more powerful than the man-made device in front of me?

Not only are living things electric, but every thing has an electric energy.  I was going to link to a post on the TweedleWink Facebook page on Aug 31st where they talk about it, but they took it down.  I did post an excerpt so I do have this;

Quote
The right brain is photographic and receives images through visual and "other" pathways. This is very common with children and adults whose right brain pathways are sensitive and open.

Everything has a frequency. Each word has a vibration and sends energetic, electrical information outward--forming a color/shape in space as well as a feeling. Students who are blind or those with "second sight" depend on their frequency intake in order to receive these currents to learn more about the world around them. It's simply another sense... commonly referred to as the "sixth sense."

One of my early- learning friends who isn't active here is my partner in trying to figure is out.  Raymond has been so helpful.  She went to the mid-brain activation center in California (www.midbrain.com).  She assures me that it's real.  They were so surprised to have a white person show interest.  As we have gathered bits and pieces about what they do, we realized that a lot of it is the same as what they do in the Wink program, so we are taking that very seriously.  ( my package is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday!). Things like photo eye play, photographic memory, and most importantly, getting into that deep relaxation mode known as the alpha state.  At the midbrain center, Ashly discovered that the first day they mostly listen to music.  As I have become more aware of that, I can actually say that I've had an experience with this.  I woke up in the middle of the night in this state and noticed that there was light of some kind in my eyes.  This has happened before, but I usually ignore it and wake up.  This time I tried to maintain it and focus on it.  To my surprise, the distinct shape of the floral patterns on my sheets came into view.  I got excited and woke up more and the image was gone.  I can't replicate it or call that ability at will, but I have had two other experiences with it as well.  I don't think this ability is limited to children.  I also know that my ability to remember and even control my dreams may have helped, and my diet doesn't need to be changed to detox my pineal gland.  That's why many adults struggle to activate it, I think.  Children haven't been as exposed to toxins that clog it up.

I know it sounds kind of crazy, but then again, ten years ago the idea of teaching babies to read sounded crazy to me.  Here I am doing it.  It's time for the next step.

By the way, my husband read my post and said he doesn't think "magic bullet" is the right word.  It's more like a greased bullet that goes faster, or a better gun to do the job.  We don't want to take shortcuts as much as find the best way to get it done.  Right now we are playing a lot of math games to develop that part of the brain, but we are holding off on drilling multiplication memory.  Instead we are focusing on the ability to memorize things quickly and easily.  We are memorizing fun picture sequences with silly stories.  Soon enough memorizing math facts will be easier for him because we have built up the neural paths for memory.  I have heard that mid-brain activation doesn't make you smarter, it simply upgrades your brain.  I like that terminology.  No shortcuts, just faster transportation.

That's what I'm hoping for anyway.  I'm still a newbie with very little experience with it.

[Tamsyn]

Yes, that was off topic.  Good move.  . I'll re-add my disclaimer too, that Wink doesnt advertise itself to be a mid-brain product, and that I don't think that Wink alone would be enough to activate it.  But I don't know yet.

[sonya_post]

OK, now I have to also make a disclaimer. The Brain Gym that I am familiar with is really not completely "the Brain Gym" books and exercises. I am familiar with NILD; http://www.nild.net/  and very similar to that is Dianne Craft: http://www.diannecraft.org/   

Anyway, one of the things I wanted to mention, merely for "oh that is interesting" purposes, is my former chiropractor. He was very good and but I thought he also spent a lot of time in the "fever swamps" if you will. He would have me stand palms up and place different bottles of pills on them and watch them move or see if they moved in my hands at all. I would try not to laugh when he did this. His explanation was basically the same as yours as far as energy and current. Anyway, he asked me if I'd had sun stroke after one of these episodes. And I had had sun stroke about 7 years prior to this event. Then he said very calmly and seriously, "I think it effected your brain." I about fell over from laughter. And he was right. It had. All from little bottles of pills on your hands.......

Tamsyn, you explanation does make some sense.  I haven't purchased the TW products as I did think it was enough different from what we are already doing. Maybe I am very wrong.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

I don't have a ton of time to reply right now, but these playlists I have been putting together might be of interest to you/others researching these kinds of ideas.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV22lJfjA2X0SA0L0OdhUb7wg_WgROiU5

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV22lJfjA2X3XM1loQoDfJSyQY1o0EYTh

Also, re: Wink being about the midbrain....Pamela Hickein was trained as a Master Shichida instructor and Shichida is definitely all about activating the midbrain, or as they say, interbrain. TW may not bill themselves as such, but the parallels are clearly there. (This last Shichida books shown here, which I do not own, shows their activities have the goal of moving toward activation of the mid/interbrain).
http://shichida.co.jp/english/c1-3_books.php

There is a US Educator by the name of Dr. Celeste Miller who trained under Dr. Shichida for 3 years and associates with Pamela Hickein, as well. I do not know if she still works for the university, but she has written as least one piece on this and I feel it's a huge step in legitimizing this kind of learning. You could argue that these are publicity pieces, but I don't think any Phd would put their reputation/career on the line for something that they did not whole heartedly believe in and in this case, witness firsthand.

http://www.midbrain-activation.com/support-files/02celesteshichidamethod.pdf
http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200801/1200678940.html

[Tamsyn]

Thank you so much for chiming in, TMT!  I've really wanted you to stop by.

I've been talking with my husband about how you made a comment about figuring out how to teach photographic memory.  You also shared the story about your daughter's intuition as she started talking about a Christmas gift that was wrapped in your closet.  I've been speculating that it was related to mid-brain/interbrain activities.  But I shouldn't assume so I'll ask.  Do you think there is a correlation?  If not, please tell me where to look. 

Sonya:
Again, the product isn't coming until tomorrow so I haven't seen it yet, but here is where I think TweedleWink differs from the BrillKids products.  I think of Little Reader as Doman's reading program, and it's the best product out there for reading.  Little Math is likewise Doman's math program in a "done for you" format, and LMs is a perfect unique product in the spirit of EL.  For the encyclopedic knowledge, we can download and use uploaded LR files by BK members or PPT presentations form childandme.com.  This saves a lot of time, but we still need to put forth the effort of gathering, organizing and presenting them to our kids.  I did this with my oldest, but I've been struggling with it with my younger kids.  TweedleWink is mostly a "done for you" Encyclopedic Knowledge program.  It includes reading and math elements, but with all of the art, geography, vocabulary, and other categories, it is a lot more broad.  It's designed to get your feet wet on what the world has to offer.  It's mostly very similar to what you probably already have.

Midbrain-ish elements of TweedleWink are eye tracking exercises, speed reading readiness, and photo eye-play.  Searching the BK archives, I found http://www.sparkabilities.com/, which is a very professional looking eye-tracking program.  Sigh, there's always another product to drool over!  In the meantime, we've been watching and enjoying their YouTube samples.

It's the Wink program that I really jumped at.  It is very unlike what I have in my library.  If they spend the whole first day at these midbrain 2-day weekends mostly listening to music, that music must be very important!  Wink comes with alpha-relaxation music.  There are speed-reading materials, photo eye-play materials, mental imaging, and observation training, as well a book about the Wink program.  It's for older kids, 4+.  I've really been struggling to figure out what's next for our Peter (5.5), and my husband and I feel like Wink is it, it's the next step for us.  It's not just for Peter though, I'm going to do it too, and I've been teaching my younger siblings about it.  My youngest sister is 8 and I'm the oldest of 10, so there are still kids in my family and so far they are really benefiting from this kind of stuff.  Tomorrow is going to be like Christmas at our house. 

[TeachingMyToddlers]

I have been studying this in depth for the last month or so and have been reading anything I can possibly find on the subject. This is information I have pieced together and I feel like a detective hot on the trail trying to make sense of it. The following is not "proven" and I may very well be wrong, but it sure makes sense to me. Please forgive me that it's lengthy, but it's a vast, unexplored subject that is difficult to put into words. After digging deeper, I too agree that this is as much of a biological function as possible, rather than "charms and enchantments" so to speak. But, in general I do believe that human beings are spiritual beings at the core and our true potential is much, much greater than the majority of us are currently living up to.

This is a fascinating article. http://web.expasy.org/spotlight/pdf/sptlt132.pdf

Current wisdom suggests that, in the brain, the seat of memory and learning is situated in the hippocampus. Until recently, one small region known as CA2 had been neglected by researchers because – unlike the rest of the hippocampus – it didn’t seem to have any say in memory. But it turns out that it does, in a certain sense. Indeed, CA2 is full of RGS14. So, yes, in natural circumstances, RGS14 suppresses the faculty of memorizing. But when the protein was silenced in mice, scientists discovered that the rodents were not only intrigued by new objects – thus meaning that they had recognized pre-existing ones which were consequently of less interest – but they were also far brighter than their wild-type companions at making their way through a maze.

So what is happening on the molecular level? The answer is synaptic plasticity. Memory is believed to be a case of synaptic transmission between neurons, and the strengthening of such connections. This has been termed synaptic plasticity and forms the basis of acquiring and consolidating certain forms of learning and memory. These processes are known to occur in the hippocampus, save in the CA2 region. Which is one of the reasons this region had been ignored until now. So, if synaptic plasticity is at the heart of memory, how does RGS14 act upon it?

According to this article, once the suppressing barrier of RGS14 was removed and the brain synapses were allowed to freely "do their thing," memory was improved by 1700% or some other equally ridiculous number (the movie "Limitless" comes to mind, this article does not include a percentage but the original study I read did). I'm not denying what I'm about to say is a huge, massive leap-- but if through over the top, excessive stimulation through RBE, the brain can naturally overcome this synapse suppression then theoretically the result would be the same. This experiment proves that it is biologically possible to purposefully manipulate memory in some form or fashion. So, maybe there is more than one path to achieve this state.

And then you've got websites like this one, there are many of these out there, that use "brain entrainment" or "biurnal beats" to stimulate cohesive brain waves. Overall, relaxation states can be measured on medical scanning equipment and they list several related studies if you are so inclined to look into it more. http://www.eocinstitute.org/Scientific_Studies_and_Research_s/55.htm

The brainwave entrainment from EquiSync offers your nervous system a super fertile atmosphere, triggering enormously positive transformations in your body and brain. Just as higher levels of exercise force your body to strengthen and develop, the higher levels of neurostimulation provided through Equisync audio technology forces your nervous system into optimal performance.

How Your Body Responds to Equisync's Safe and Precisely Designed Stimulus

Your entire nervous system and brain are transformed and reorganized on a higher level. A foundation of new neural pathways is constructed. Your left and right brain hemispheres communicate to a degree never seen before, producing what doctors call whole brain functioning. And, of course, there's all the wonderful benefits that we discussed earlier. Science really has only just discovered the tip of the iceberg in relation to this powerful, life-changing technology.

I have been trying to figure out what kind of music is played at midbrain activation two day events, it's definitely something that at least encourages an alpha state.  It's interesting to me because the effects of meditation (or a similar relaxed meditative state) can be tested through brain scans, etc, so it seems there is a sort of legitimacy about it since it can be backed up. I think something like this potentially combined with the specialized headphones from "the listening program" (by alex doman) would most likely be a home run, but now I'm getting off track.

If at these seminars specialized music encourages the optimal state if brain activity while activities are being performed to heighten sensory awareness (so it is being combined with intent) then it just makes sense to me that midbrain activation is possible and it also makes sense why it needs to be practiced in the 1-3 months following particularly for the neural pathways to become well ingrained. How often are our brains regularly in that state of harmony in order to give those areas their optimum chance for growth? Probably not very often, and children's brains will always be more plastic than adults. (Note: Shichida's methods are more ongoing and do not require attending a two day activation "event" which I am just guessing speeds up the process but the home training afterwards is still very much required for maximum effectiveness.)

Re: Photographic Memory training- The US military successfully used high speed flashing with a tachistoscope speed up to .5 second or less in a darkened room to induce photographic memory. The result was the users were able to not only identify friendly/enemy planes but over time they could also read pages of a book after they were flashed. These machines are now out of date and have been replaced by computer simulations, but market research companies still conduct experiments to flash products for less than a second to consumers, among other things. They go to great lengths to ensure the information goes directly to the subconscious and then measure the outcomes in order to create the most effective packaging and highest sales. They hook up software device add-ons to test the subjects' brain waves, skin reactions, eye tracking, etc during the experiments.

Check out the speed of this flashing in a Shichida class....tachistoscope much? http://youtu.be/R1IMlUdOBLY?t=1m44s

The fact that market researchers use right brain/subconscious methods for capitalism really drives home the point that flashing works if your goal is to input directly into the subconconious/right brain.....the question just becomes how to get it OUT for immediate recall after the fact. Seeing how dramatically brain waves react to music and other stimuli makes it seem reasonable they the mind can be encouraged to be synchronized, and when it is in that state, it is far, far easier for it to learn/change/grow, becoming better connected to recall that flashed information at will. Overall, I believe that midbrain activation is just a biological response of intentionally training this skill to get the brain hemispheres properly "talking" to each other. Neuromarketing is used by nearly all Fortune 100 companies, not just "flashing" but in many ways, the REALLY want your money. And here's a link referencing the t-scope flashing in market research http://www.quirks.com/articles/a1993/19931101.aspx?searchID=617859093&sort=9)

What's with all the right brain flashing? Apparently the eyes don't just give input to their own side of the brain, but instead they ALSO give input to the opposite brain hemisphere, as well. The reason being is that we don't walk about with two separate "pictures" from two separate eyes every day as we visually intake the world, but rather we have a panoramic view. Our brain is so considerate to blur these images into one neat picture for us. So the information is coming in both eyes but bypassing left brain storage and getting funneled into the right brain because the LB just can't keep up and it's just not logical information to be processed there. There are some very nice illustrations of this here and the "X" that connects both eyes to both sides of the brain. There is a really neat study about a cat tested with an eyepatch who eventually had those areas surgically removed, which is how they initially came to these realizations. Anyway, there are some really great images on these slides.

http://www.lst.inf.ethz.ch/teaching/lectures/ws05/229/LectureSlides/Lecture%205%20Cortical%20Vision%20Processing%20given.pdf

So with all of the intense flashing the pathways are getting stronger and stronger, the brain grows accustomed to receiving input much faster, the pipeline expands dramatically, the brain hemispheres are talking to each other in the process of combining visual input from the left and right eyes, and of course memory is being exercised at the same time...which is why high speed image flashing adds up to very effective whole brain stimulation.

Researchers have found lamina IV to be thicker than usual in the visual cortex of a person who has photographic memory and in the auditory cortex of a musician who can play or perform perfect notes or pitches.

http://libby1970.hubpages.com/hub/The-Cerebral-Cortex

Re: intuition & Christmas gifts...there have been several instances that she has spontaneously demonstrated that sort of thing and yes, I do believe it is at least partially related to the early stimulation inadvertently "tickling" all of the right areas of the brain.

Lastly, why on earth would Dr. Shichida write hundreds of books on something that does not exist? Making money I suppose, but the Japanese are such honorable people that are very concerned with self respect, etc, and these claims have been thoroughly investigated by national groups. Are some of the claims fraudulent? Probably! Kids peeking out from under the blindfolds and all of that...but there are probably just as many that are legitimate. This isn't a small following of one single group, there are TONS of these schools and wannabes in many parts of Asia. There has just GOT to be something to it all.  Just like when you are thinking of an old friend and that day the phone rings out of the blue? This is the same thing....just on a higher level. People don't talk about these things because no one wants to be labeled "the nut job." 

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Oh, and Re: Brain Gym. I originally looked into it and wrote it off a few years ago. The thing that intrigued me to take another look was searching high and low for the perfect soroban/abacus program over the last couple of months. Interestingly, I would guess that about half of these commercial abacus training centers incorporate brain gym style activities. Why on earth would capitalist companies who are trying to maximize profit waste their students time if Brain Gym was ineffective? These companies are seeking maximum results in their students because ultimately that will bring in more money through testimonials, word of mouth advertising, success rates, grade improvements, etc. So that link in itself was enough to make me look very closely and take BG claims far more seriously. I still think some of it might be a little whacked, but IMO there is much more merit in the method than I initially gave them credit for.

Ever hear of this little game? Brain waves are totally legit and do affect us and the things around us, in this case, a ball.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ki9Y0N185fY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ki9Y0N185fY&rel=1</a>

And this nuerofeedback brain training company has a partnership with NASA. http://www.smartbraintech.com/

[Tamsyn]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Wow. Karma! 

I'm so grateful to have good mentors on this forum.  You are making a big difference in our home.   

[TeachingMyToddlers]

You inspired me to go ahead and order the last two Shichida books listed on their site, I only have one of them. I need to call them tonight and take care of that. I have seen a fourth one now being offered in English, but I don't know if they ship outside Australia. I'll have to ask on the phone tonight if they have it.

http://www.shichida.com.au/mystery-of-the-right-brain
http://shichida.co.jp/english/c1-3_books.php

I didn't buy this book because I read some reviews by parents here and it seems my kids were already advanced past some of the things taught (reading, music, etc) but I am certain it still has some vital explanations I would very much like to read. But interestingly, just as the ear/braintraining website above talks about brainwave synchronicity, Shichida uses that exact phrase as well which I did not notice before.

Explaining what the right brain education in infancy is all about through its theory and many diagrams and testimonials. (Revised in 2010, A5 size, 140 pages)

Right Brain Education in Infancy: Theory and Practice

Introduction: Your Child's Will
-Three Conditions Necessary to Bring Out Their Abilities-

Chapter 1: An Infant's Astonishing Right Brain Calculation Capability
Chapter 2: ESP: The Fundamental Ability of the Right Brain
Chapter 3: Functions Hidden Away in the Right Brain
Chapter 4: About Images
Chapter 5: Differences Between the Left and Right Brains
Chapter 6: The Importance of Left and Right Brain Synchronization
Chapter 7: Understanding Waves

Initially, RBE didn't interest me before but because I didn't really understand any of it and was too busy teaching my kid to read to worry about such "nonsense." Low hanging fruit, right? But recently in looking for the next steps, I dug deep with renewed enthusiasm and after reading about it, wish I had done so way back when and implemented these methods much earlier.

[Tamsyn]

Wow, I didn't know that his books were in English now!  I searched high and low in 2007 when my oldest was a baby.  I couldn't find it and haven't looked since.  Again you have my thanks. 

[sonya_post]

I have a lot of reading to do. Y'all  make my head hurt.

[Jenene]

TMT, you mention combining music with headpones.  Have you looked into audio visual entrainment devices?
http://bio-medical.com/products/stimulation/audio-visual.html

They also include glasses to flash lights along with the music.  Supposedly you can choose the brain wave level that you want the brain to go to.  With repeated use your brain is supposed to become more used to the level that it is entrained at and be able to operate in that level even without using the device. 

These are actually marketed to help with things like anxiety, depression, sleep disorders etc... to change the brain patterns to a more synchronus, relaxed state.  We will probably end up buying one for our eldest daughter as nothing else is helping with her anxiety but would be interesting to try with the other kids/myself as well.

[andreasro]

Before brain coherence there is heart coherence.
A coherent heart influences the brain and makes it coherent too.
HeartMath Institute has done research on heart's intelligence, heart's waves and much more. Pamela Hickein mentions them in her book, but I've known about them few years before reading her book about TweedleWink.
THey have come with biofeedback games and devices, tools for children and adults.
I have tried their emWave PC and emWave system. They SHOW you the heart coherence, they show you if and when you get to that state.

More: http://www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart/introduction.html

There is another biofeedback game series that I have tried: http://www.wilddivine.com/. It's based on the same principles.

Tweedlewink does exactly the same thing: calms down the heart, then the mind.
I'm pretty sensitive to waves, words, sounds, people's emotions, in the sense that I feel their inner state, I feel what they are spreading by the waves of their feelings, so to speak. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

All it takes to begin on the path of developing these inner senses or to the path of working with you midbrain is to LISTEN, listen to yourself, be AWARE of oneself, turn your focus inside you. And I'm not talking about meditation - this is the upper level. I'm talking about what kids do: they usually are very aware of themselves and the world around them, by their nature, in the first years of life.
So start being aware of yourself, and you will start a wonderful journey and an easier way to reach coherence.

I'm just saying all that because for children it's much easier to enter alpha state. For us, adults, because of our minds and perception, and judgement, etc. it's hard, we need to work more. But, instead of working hard we can do a simple thing:
Use your heart to get to the brain, calm down your heart, make it coherent and the brain will listen.

Tip from HeartMath Institute: there's more information going from the heart to the brain than the other way around. Does this ring a bell or make you read HMI research? I hope it does cause it's mindblowing!


Love you all for all this info! TmT, you've lighten up my mind!

[TeachingMyToddlers]

TMT, you mention combining music with headpones.  Have you looked into audio visual entrainment devices?
http://bio-medical.com/products/stimulation/audio-visual.html

No, I have never heard of this before, thanks for sharing. Initially I thought they were the same as these which I came across on KickStarter, but they are not, correct? http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bitbangerlabs/remee-the-rem-enhancing-lucid-dreaming-mask

[Jenene]

No, different to those.  These AVE devices are designed to be used while you are awake or falling asleep/to facilitate sleep (not dreaming).  They are designed to change the brain's state while awake usually and for sleep would be used to keep you in a deeper sleep state.  Depending on the unit they usually have a few set programs and some are able to be programed with unique programs as well (duration and brain wave level).  What is nice also is that the more expensive units can actually be used as a CES (Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation) Device without the glasses and can be carried around while you do other things.  They are usually marketed for anxiety, ADHD, insomnia etc... where the brain is 'on fire' to try and calm it down but I imagine that you could use it for a 'typical' brain to slow it down to Alpha or less.

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