With this post, I am going to wind up my discussion of "The Brain's Way of Healing" by Norman Doidge, MD. There are several important and exciting topics in the chapters 4 - 8.
He discusses shining a low-intensity laser on various parts of the head to affect the brain. The author realizes that most people imagine their brain to be in the dark of the skull and more or less impervious to light of any kind and to any effect of light. However, He states that light does penetrate the body and have effects and low-intensity lasers especially so.
He discusses the work and thought of Moshe Feldenkrais. The man was multi-faceted but among other things, he worked with people with body and brain problems in a way that emphasized slow, high-level concentration on movement. In some of my yoga classes, I have experienced ultra-slow movement having a positive effect on some difficulty I had. To make very, very slow movements, it is actually necessary to concentrate carefully and continuously on the movement. Feldenkrais had a wide variety of experiences and adventures, including earning a high level belt in judo.
The author discusses W.H. Bates and his ideas for improving vision. A man named David Webber had a serious illness that caused ever greater difficulties with his vision. However, he became aware of Bates' ideas from the 1930's and Buddhist exercises for the eyes and combined them with ideas from Feldenkrais's approach to body problems and restored most of his vision.
Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita founded a lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that specialized in neuroplasticity applications to serious body problems. The lab developed a device that fits in the mouth and uses delivery of low electrical stimulation of the human tongue as a way of refreshing and improving brain function.
Some approaches to brain and body problems have been effective using sound. Getting a person's mother's voice embedded in other sounds have had a clarifying and improving effect . Adjusting the vibration levels of a speaker's voice from the note range he usually uses to the note range another language typically uses sometimes assists in both hearing and speech. A related book is "Healing at the Speed of Sound" by Campbell and Doman. I have benefited from "The Universal Sense" by Horowitz and the related iPad app "Sleep Genius", which is sound based.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
