Experts Advocate the F-Word

The brain, neuroanatomy, anatomy and biology loom large in my awareness right now. Taking care of a stroke triumphant is really making me see my brain, my body, my life and my world in a new light. 

Since I first rerouted my planned sabbatical to assist my grandfather after his "brain attack" on June 22, 2011, he has made progress I had not even dared hope for. He has progressed from unconsciousness in a hospital bed to living at home, using both hands deliberately, verbalising his needs and even abstract ideas, and is enjoying three meals a day. Though this may seem modest, it is a vast improvement that has brought awareness - if not awe - of the wonders of the brain's recovery to all those around him.

In an earlier post I included a presentation by Dr Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist who had the rare privilege of consciously experiencing a stroke herself. After a long wait I have finally received her book, My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey. Written comprehensibly for an audience of mere mortals, it provides a background on the brain and the functioning of its hemispheres, as well as an episodic description of her own stroke, treatment and eight years of rehabilitation to complete recovery. In Dr Jill's case, the recovery was so complete that she is now an active, academic advocate for stroke awareness, and specifically for tapping the extraordinary functions of the oft-neglected right hemisphere of the brain. 

It is not without reason that I have mentioned the hemispheres of the brain and their respective functions. Since the work (and Nobel Prize) of Roger Sperry  brought brain hemisphere research to public awareness, the idea of literal left brain thinking and lateral right brain thinking has resonated with fools like me - the oddballs who easily surrender to the fertile chaos of the right brain. What  My Stroke of Insight demonstrates is just how dramatically the right brain's functioning differs from the left brain-dominant thinking that more or less runs the modern (Western?) world. Though I am no expert, the author suggests that 75% of strokes take place in the left hemisphere, while Wikipedia states that a stroke typically affects the dominant hemisphere, and also that the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere is the most common location. At this point I would like to add my layperson's suspicion  that (a) strokes are far more common in the modern/Western world and (b) so is left hemisphere dominance. Statistical confirmation is most welcome. Dr Jill's resources on the subject - some spanning centuries - can be found on her resources page. 

A keystone of My Stroke of Insight is that the right brain hemisphere offers a sense of connection, flow and profound inner peace that is underemphasized, if not completely foreign, to the ways of modern life. Cultivating a "balanced brain" is a goal fostered by the book, and since the left brain is rarely neglected by the modern education system and workplace, right brain stimulation is advocated. The right brain can be stimulated through myriad activities, but specifically on those phases that require complete absorption as opposed to mechanical practice: yoga, dance, musical performance, art, sex, being in nature, juggling, play, preparing food, fixing something, and pretty much anything that makes you lose track of time from sheer engagement (blogging, in my case!)... and isn't it odd that these activities correlate exquisitely with the Flow activities described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi? 

It looks suspiciously as if the experts are advocating nothing other than the f-word. Yes. They are advocating fun. Does it work? My experience with a stroke veteran, students, colleagues, customers and my evasive self is proof to me. 

A Train - And An Adventure

The most fascinating adventures are not fit to print. Suffice it to say that many of mine* started on trains. And so it is that I often hanker after a train when there is none to be found. When the Gautrain, South Africa's first mass rapid transit system, was recently declared open, the promising implications for the country, commuters and economy were overshadowed by my admittedly selfish, unbridled glee. When I finally made it to the Gautrain this weekend, the experience did not disappoint. 

Sharing Gautrain photos

I bumbled curiously into the station, and was immediately seduced. The Gautrain system has managed to dispel that most ominous of spectres that so easily haunts a nation like this one: hopelessness. Hope, pride and promise oozes from every gleaming inch of the station, the trains and convenient connecting buses. Patriotism is not my strong suit, but when my train swooshed, gleaming gold, up to the platform there was a lump in my throat. The excitement of the weekend crowd, most of them also first-timers, was disarming, and I couldn't help but join the chatter as countless families immortalised their historic first Gautrain ride on camera. 

Emerging from the Rosebank station

Predictably, there was a mass exodus at Sandton, notorious for luxurious shopping. A small crowd remained for the last stop (at least until construction is complete): Rosebank. The soundtrack to all this poured down into the station: The Soweto Marimba Youth League, seen in the video below. Emerging from the long, steep stairwell, the familiar skyline and stingy spring sunshine of Johannesburg confirmed the surreal impossibility: this truly was a different city. Not just any city, but the one where I was born and raised. A city evolved.

The Soweto Marimba Youth League (www.smyle.co.za). Click to play video clip. * Not just the one involving a multingual Indo-Argentinian Tantra master in Pondicherry who needed a traveling companion to watch his backpack, which happened to be crammed with a few million rupees.  Images: All images in this post by mtcleroux. View the full Rosebank album in Picasa Web Albums.

Parallel Reading: Art, Science and Magic

Bookplate of Willard S. Morse 

This post is about a very fruitful way to take on reading for learning and creativity. I call it parallel reading, which I define as reading several texts (from any field) at the same time. (A similar definition is used by confusedofcalcutta, who suggests that Internet use has made us read more in parallel. Another definition, often used in education, is to have different people read the same book to gain different perspectives.)

Having long  lived in non-English speaking countries with only access to very limited academic libraries, I delighted in the simple pleasure of joining a local community library recently. The luxury of choosing SIX books on ANY topic was just too much to savour in my limited time, and I wound up randomly grabbing a few things off the shelf, even though I was still deeply embroiled in a few books at home. 

Since this is, after all, my (somewhat rerouted) sabbatical, I am enjoying the interdisciplinary cross-fertilization of ideas that is emerging from my many readings. In fact, the strategy gels well with the ideas expressed in my current read by the "Father of Flow", Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In his book Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, one of his conclusions is that interdisciplinary thinking is fertile soil for paradigm-shifting creative discoveries. My current readings are nothing if not interdisciplinary. Let's have a look. 

Life Science, a high school textbook picked up off the library shelf, is filling in the shameful void in biology and chemistry that somehow arose from my arts-based education. Though covering concepts that seem basic to some folks, I am continually stunned at new discoveries I make on each page. (I can't possibly confess just how basic some of them are!) The history of scientific discoveries in the book also illuminates some of the ideas in Creativity, mentioned above. Yes, I am reading a school book and I am loving it. 

After reading a recent magazine article on the whole brain learning research of Dr. Kobus Neethling, I was interested in finding out more about the work if this super-achieving fellow South African. Surprisingly, his book Am I Clever or Am I Stupid was on a shelf right next to me. One more serendipitous piece of the puzzle and  further connection with the theme of creativity. 

In the background, my Permaculture studies are also simmering away. This is actually a priority, and the reason behind the Life Science reading. In addition to the course materials, there is a whole lot to read! There is even more to do, and I am enjoying gradually taking hold of my own little piece of land to begin my forest garden. 

Another good read is The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman. I actually bought this at the airport and started on the plane, which resulted in very good in-flight service. I find the fundamental things apply, and the world of business makes an interesting counterpoint to nature and the mind, that seem to be my other main themes. 

Since I have just started Nia classes (and am absolutely infatuated with this martial arts/dance/bodywork fusion form), I am also re-reading The Nia Technique. The anatomical approach ties in nicely with the Life Science reading and the adventures of my two (much loved) left feet in class.

There are drawbacks to reading this way: some books remain unfinished, picking up the train of thought can be tricky, and then of course choosing what to read now is a challenge. Yet the fertile friction between ideas from different fields can be most stimulating. What is more, it helps to maintain a broader perspective on things. I am enjoying all my reads, and the pleasure of reading in parallel is exponential. And so... to bed, curled up with a crisp new copy of Yoga Journal.