Still Life

I suggested in the previous instalment of this series, that I would show you a way to incorporate Zen Buddhism or at least aspects of it into a 21^st century lifestyle.  First I need to give a brief introduction into the small part of Buddhism that you will need to adopt in order to allow you to grow.  I also need to demonstrate how the current Western culture may be holding you back in this regard too. Before I start, I am not that arrogant to presume that I can enlighten you in any manner whatsoever, all I am doing is giving an indication of some of the tools at our disposal so that we may begin to unlock the doors to our potential.

Zen Buddhism is split into two main philosophies, the Rinzai or Warrior Sect, and the Soto or Farmers Sect, although if you look into the history of Zen there are many more expressions. Both Sects train to reach a state they call Mushin, which sort of translates as ‘mind in no mind’. This is a state that is not exclusive to Zen Buddhists, in fact you may have seen it many, many times before, but not realised.  If you watch any top international sportsmen perform at their very best, they are likely to be in a state of Mushin.

To reach a mastery in any sport takes around 10-15 years of constant, concerted and very hard practice.  The very best have practiced their sport so much, that the movements, and strategies or tactics, become automatic or second nature.  That is, the sportsmen allow the movements to occur as needed without conscious hindrance. Conscious thought at this level, no matter how fast you believe you can think, becomes an anchor or serves as a handbrake.

Conscious thought not only serves as a handbrake in sports performance, but also in everyday life. However, 21^st Century living has got to a point where this busy mind is the norm, and we feel uncomfortable when we don’t keep our minds in this state. Don’t believe me? Many of you are reading this on Facebook, don’t get me wrong I think Facebook is a wonderful tool, but…how many people do you know who have to constantly check Facebook? It’s got to a point where people, especially since the advent of smart phones, check the updates every few minutes, even during meal times with loved ones. This is not limited to Facebook, but I wanted to give a current example of how we as a society crave external distractions in an attempt to fill the emptiness. It’s in the emptiness that the magic happens.

If you take my example above, of the sports champions, it is at moments of stillness in the mind that the awesome potential of humankind is realised, not during times of frantic occupation.  How many times have you been stumped for an answer to a question that you know, but for the life of you can’t recall from the recesses of your mind, but then later on that day or many days later, the answer pops into your mind? This is the same process. The busy-ness of your mind was preventing the connections to be made, as soon as you allowed the mind to be still, it did what it is more than capable of and provided the solution.

To begin to attain the ability to enter Mushin, we need to use a method that introduces the stillness that our current life lacks. At first you may need to create an artificial situation so that you can allow yourself to develop the idea.  I say ‘allow’ and not ‘try’ because entering a state of Mushin requires a passive approach, not one that you can make happen, no matter how hard you try. In fact, the harder you try, the further you will be from attainment.

The method we use to develop this state is meditation. You may feel a little foolish at first, as I said before we are not used to; in this culture at least, stillness. To begin with, you will probably need to set aside a regular time to practice, probably about 10-15 minutes at first, then a little longer as you develop. Although, you could split this into smaller segments of five minutes and practice a few times every day, this will help with the application of meditation later.

At first it will help to use a quiet, calm place, with little external noise or motion that may distract you, again, at later stages, the distractions will be part of the environment we will choose to utilise the state of Mushin. But to begin to learn, a peaceful, natural place helps.

A comfortable posture is helpful, so use something similar to the lotus pose from yoga, although you don’t have to cross your legs as far, as this may cause discomfort to your ankles and knees, an unnecessary distraction. In this pose you can close your eyes, to remove visual distractions, but as you get better, you may want to practice with eyes open. A good intermediate step is to use a candle and focus on the flickering flame.

Breathing is very important as it modulates your nervous system, I’ll write a separate piece on breathing, but for the time being simply allow your belly to swell when breathing in, and allow it to return to flat when breathing out.

You can also use a mantra to filter out distractions.  Some people use the word Aum (Om) as they are exhaling, you don’t have to, you could quite easily repeat a line from one of your favourite music tracks. It’s just a way of keeping your mind centred.

This artificial setup is the first step to utilising Zen in your daily life, so that growth may occur.  In the next article I’ll show you the steps to dropping the artificial cues above; so that we can incorporate and increase the frequency and duration of the time we spend in a state of Mushin. This, as explained above, is the key to physical and mental performance.  When you take the brakes off of your potential, you can see what your engine is really capable of. 禪

Free Your Mind, And The Rest Will Follow

In the previous article in this series, I explained how past learning affects your current ability to think and your future potential for growth.  I showed that your perception is based upon prior teaching and that you can be trapped in a limited viewpoint if you fail to free your mind.  I’m not talking about freeing your mind in the ‘new agey’ sense of the word, although it does tread a similar path.  It’s up to you where you think I’m coming from, people who know me certainly wouldn’t lump me in the same class as the crystal healing, pyramid hat wearing, Orgonite cloud busting fellows. But that doesn’t mean we should write off some of the practices, there is some hardcore science beneath, once we remove the fluffy wrapping.

When I’m referring to freeing your mind, I’m simply suggesting that we should allow ourselves minimise the effect of past experiences, especially the negative emotions such as fear. Fear and other negative emotions are so pervasive in society today, although you may not be aware how widespread, and deeply ingrained, in our daily lives it is. Unless you recognise these emotions, and take steps to counter them, you will be permanently restricted by these memories, which then limits your comprehension of the possible. If you can only comprehend a certain reality, that is the reality you will perceive and unfortunately restricted to living.

Consider the expression being ‘One with the Universe’.  The majority of people would think you as kooky if you uttered this down the pub, and being kooky in some establishments is not the best trait to put on display.  However, the kooky individual, although, now in fear of his life from the other rocket fuelled (alcohol) patrons, is absolutely right.  The mass populace, however, believe otherwise, due to their past programming, and cannot see (perceive) the understanding behind this phrase.

The current hypothesis (not a theory yet, theories are more concrete, although they do use the term theory in its name) is that everything in the universe is composed of vibrating strings of energy; this is known as String Theory.  That is, everything, from the biggest star, to the smallest atom, if you reduce it down to its constituent parts, is composed of the same vibrating strings. It’s the combination and quantity of these parts that create the different objects. 

The biggest illusion we trick ourselves into (and for good reason, it helps us navigate this world) is that we are separate from the Universe. We think that we are ‘in’ the Universe, yes you are, but you’re also made of the Universe.  In fact, you are constantly exchanging energy with the Universe.  The Universe flows through you.  You are a localised concentration of the vibrational energy of the Universe. Sounds mad? Read on.

Who are you? It’s a simple question, but the answer is a lot more intriguing. You may think you are the same Mary Smith or Bob Saunders you always have been, and always will be. Obviously you have changed, from a baby, to an infant, to an adolescent to a fully grown adult, but that’s not what I’m getting at.

Every seven or so years, every single molecule of your body has been replaced with new molecules.  I’m talking everything, from all of your bones and muscles down to your DNA.  Every seven years, there is a human we like to call Mary or Bob, who looks and sounds the same, maybe a little more wrinkled, but nothing in their body is the same as it was seven years ago. So who is Mary or Bob? Who are you?

You are the information that has been passed on from one version of ‘you’ to the next.  This opens up amazing possibilities, but I won’t get into that here. The information that is passed on can come in the form of a chemical such as calcium that the body has developed many uses for and will alter the expression of Bob or Mary usually in a good way. Or the information may come in another chemical form such as strychnine that would alter the expression of Bob or Mary in not such a good way, usually Death. Thoughts are also a form of information, that is passed on, not only from Bob to Bob, but as I’ll show in another article from Sue too, which also alters the expression of Bob.

Our task here is to realise that our potential for expression is governed by the inputs of various forms of information, be that for good or bad. We need a method for assisting our body to filter an excessive amount of negative memories, so that we are open to new possibilities.  Luckily for us, those crazy monks in orange suits have given a way of doing just that.  The method is Zen Buddhism.  In the next article I’ll show you how we can use Zen Buddhism to our advantage, and also incorporate it into a 21^st century life.

Thor: Drop the Hammer

In light of the release of the new Marvel film Thor next week, I guarantee some dappy ‘personal trainer’ will try to capitalise on the success of the movie by promoting a workout based on one of the key characters in the storyline, no not Chris Hemsworth (who has done a great job of getting into excellent shape for the role of Thor), but Mjolnir; Thor’s Hammer.

Hammers have been used in strength and conditioning for years in compound exercises such as sledge hammer swings for power development, and in isolation using smaller hammers (or asymmetrical dumbbells) for specific muscle work. Used in the proper context, they are an invaluable tool and a very effective form of training.

However to gain market share, the workout will be promoted toward anyone willing to part with the money in their pocket, running the gamut from out of shape couch potatoes, to pensioners with degenerative disc disease, neither of which will benefit from this, and in all likelihood will be disastrous for their all ready abysmal health.

As there aren’t too many variations on the exercises, I’m fairly certain they will try to adapt kettlebell or medicine ball exercises for use with a hammer. Again exercises that really shouldn’t be used with certain populations.

Power exercises focus very much on the speed component of power (strength x speed), and this greatly multiplies the forces exerted on the body, especially if we then put a weight on the end of an extended lever (the hammer head on the end of the 2 foot handle, on the end of an outstretched arm). To subject an untrained body to this amount of stress is a recipe for injury, probably a serious one, especially to the spine.

Power exercises are not the icing on the cake, they are the fancy decorations on the icing, on the cake.  To use power exercises you need to properly prepare your body.  There’s no point trying to develop the speed aspect of the power equation, without having developed it’s just as important counterpart; strength.  Maximal strength can only be attained if you have sufficient functional hypertrophy (don’t confuse this with the faddish ‘functional’ training).  To develop functional hypertrophy without a cycle of anatomical adaptation to strengthen the joints to withstand the increased strength is futile, as your joints will be the weak link in the chain, which will either break down under stress, or if the body senses a weakness, will restrict the development or expression of strength.  Add this to a body that hasn’t been analysed and corrected for structural and postural balance, then you can see the stupidity of jumping straight into high level exercises.

Your body is the most precious thing you currently or can ever own.  Don’t place it in the hands of anyone that is simply trying to make a fast buck, or haven’t had the education to separate the wheat from the chaff.  The latter can be forgiven, almost.  The former, not a chance.

In my articles I’ll give you an idea of the protocols you should be following, so that you hopefully will not fall foul of shysters.  Whether you choose to utilise that information, is up to you. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

Alcohol Causes Cancer…Erm…No…

Reports in the National Newspapers today very clearly state that Alcohol consumption causes 13,000 cases of Cancer ever year in the UK.

No it doesn’t.

There is a clear relationship between Alcohol and Cancer, especially Cancers of the Oral Cavity, Pharynx, Larynx, Oesophagus and the Liver, and possibly in the case of Beer, the Colon and Rectum.

But Statistical relationships are not the same as Causal relationships. Animal studies have shown that Ethanol is not a carcinogen. It is, however, a co-carcinogen, and this is why the link is more subtle than that of other known carcinogens. Alcohol (ab)use, as well you know, in the UK is widespread, far more popular than Smoking. And even though we drink copious amounts, direct links to Cancer are only found in 1% of drinkers. Compare that to Smoking that is directly linked to 33% of all Cancer Cases.

Alcohol may contribute to Cancer in two main ways. The first is that the metabolism of Alcohol generates excessive amounts of free radicals, that are part of a fairly accepted model of DNA damage. Damaged DNA is one of the initial steps in Cancer.

Our body can usually recognise this damage, and either repair or remove the offending material.  That is, if you have a health immune system.  The Star player in the immune system is an antioxidant molecule called Glutathione.

Unfortunately a by-product of Alcohol metabolism called Acetaldehyde is partly detoxified by Glutathione. Chronic drinking essentially ties up your available Glutathione, as it tries to deal with the immediate threat of Alcohol toxicity. This then leaves your body defenceless against other insults on its physiology, the second way Cancer takes hold due to Alcohol.

Even though Alcohol can pave the way for Cancer to take hold and develop, it doesn’t cause it.  So, where does that leave us? to drink or not? We know that a certain level of Alcohol consumption, especially good quality Red wine, is preventative against certain disease states, but too much, or the wrong type opens the floodgates to disease.

Moderation is the key, but probably more moderate than our usual definition. A glass or two of wine (or beer) per day is probably fine, but make sure it’s quality, as the chemicals used in cheap products possibly are carcinogens. At this level Alcohol seems to be health promoting as opposed to disease inducing.

Brain Plasticity Gives Rise to Rigidity; a Blessing and a Curse

Our Brains amazing ability to restructure itself (plasticity) also has a dualistic alter ego. This Jekyll and Hyde mechanism on one hand allows for more efficient use of certain pathways (which I’ll show you how to utilise in future articles), but on the other hand, condemns the owner of the brain to live in an unalterable, un-adaptable existence. We all have experienced people that display the negative effects, who won’t or can’t, by virtue of inability or cognitive dissonance, accept reality despite overwhelming evidence.

The way it works is summed up in this phrase ‘Neurons that fire together wire together’, and ‘if you don't use it, you lose it’.  When experiencing and interacting with physical reality we do so through the lens of habitual usage of our brain.

To understand the importance of this you need to understand that nothing that you see or hear when you look out of your eyes or listen with your ears exists out there.  Everything you perceive is a construction of your mind, made up of three pivotal components: Past learning, physiological mechanisms, and stimulation of your senses.

Use of pathways in the brain, is like walking through a forest, the more often a certain pathway is used, the more deeply and permanently that pathway becomes entrenched. If you have another pathway in the forest that is either rarely or never used, the forest will reclaim that area. The same happens in your brain, if you use specific synapses in detriment to others, the ones that are stimulated remain and become dominant, the unused synapses literally cease to be. The plastic brain becomes rigid.

Humans have capitilised upon this, even before our current understanding of neuroscience, in many ways. One very widespread method is through religion.

I’m sure we’ve all had discussions with devout believers, who can’t accept other interpretations of reality that are in discord to their own. Don’t blame them, this is merely the outcome of a repeated input into a plastic brain. The input has been repeated so often, and usually since childhood, that the brain is wired to perceptually accept only that reality. The Jesuit motto ‘Give me the child until he is seven, and I’ll give you the Man’, embodies this idea.

Your past learning determines much of what you perceive. The semi-humourous phrase ‘I’d give them five minutes’, in reference to a persons ability to survive in a hostile environment, is an appreciation of this. Although I consider myself fairly on the ball with a pretty well functioning visual system, I have grown up in an urban environment in the western world, which skews my perception. If you dropped me in a jungle complete with customary beasties, I would be reliant on my perception shaped by the boundaries and sharp contrasts that I had learned to navigate my environment. Although I probably would be able to identify the amazingly camouflaged animals, it would probably be one second prior to it chowing down on my leg. A local person, growing up in the jungle, would have perceived the animal immediately, and would not have suffered the same fate that I hypothetically endured.

You past learning determines your ability to perceive the world. In the above example, it’s not that the animal didn’t exist, it undoubtedly did, I just couldn’t see it. Unless we free our minds of bad learning from our past, it will continue to cause similar difficulties and limitations on expanding your potential.

In the next article I’ll show you how to begin this process.

Limitless? Yes, you are.

Limitless is a movie currently showing in cinemas nationwide.  Without spoiling the film, it is based on the premise that aspiring author Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is suffering from chronic writer's block, but his life changes instantly when an old friend introduces him to NZT-48, a revolutionary new pharmaceutical that allows him to tap his full potential. The drug stimulates the brain so that Eddie can recall everything he has ever read, seen or heard, learn any language in a day, comprehend complex equations and beguile anyone he meets as long as he keeps taking the untested drug.

The story is based on the myth that we only use 10% of our brain. This isn’t true at all, you use 100% of your available brain. Now, the difference is how well that 100% expresses itself. It can be running on a maintenance cycle (most of us) or expressing its true potential. We are slowly learning ways to tap into our amazing ability.

For a brief insight into how amazing our brains can be, consider the following. Daniel Tammat, a high functioning autistic gentleman, was challenged, and succeeded in learning a fairly complicated language (Icelandic) in one week. Or that the artist Stephen Wiltshire was able to recreate an amazingly accurate panorama of the City of London, after having been taken for a Helicopter ride above it. Don’t get me wrong, these individual’s abilities also come with deficiencies in other human traits, but, they do give us a glimpse into what is possible.

Back to the main crux of this article, the Science Fiction film Limitless, and the concept that a drug can allow us to tap into our potential. Science Fiction? Science? Yes. Fiction? Not a chance.

We have at the moment a nutritional regime that can improve the speed of brain function 25% in one month, this is without any other training. Simply giving the brain the nutrient environment it needs to express the potential of its genetics.

To gain even greater results, you need to satisfy a few other criteria.

First the use of brain training software, which has shown in studies to improve auditory processing speed by on average 131%, and visual processing by 300%. Some software is great, others, not so. As always, Caveat Emptor.

As I’ve shown before physical exercise is also a vital component of the mix to stimulate neurogenesis, however it can’t be just any exercise. I’ll cover the requirements in a later article.

And finally Music. This is fairly new to the mix, as there are conflicting views on it’s importance. I’m leaning toward it (music) being a integral piece of the puzzle. The research is currently happen, and I’ll update you as we get a clearer picture.

You can then apply this increased brain power to realise your amazing potential, in which ever area you wish to flourish. You need to let go of your feeling of limitation and as the film title suggests become ‘limitless’.

Interested? Get in touch.

Systematic Suppression of Potential

A percentage of my research into Human performance, in fact increasingly so, is centred on the emerging area of Neuroscience. It doesn’t matter what part of performance we are trying to enhance, the human brain plays a pivotal role. However I’m not going to get into details here about current advances in our knowledge or how to implement them into our daily routine so that we can benefit. What I want to share is a quick anecdote to what is going on in the minds of the people who set the scene for the ‘education’ of our children.

I was having dinner with a few friends who are in senior positions in their fields, one in Education, the other, if you see the connection, in a (very) related field, although not through a cursory glance.  I had that week been researching various areas of neuroscience to update the HPC-UK Brain Program.  During the course of the evening I ‘shared’ what I had been doing that week, and tried to suggest that education in its current methodology is not best serving the children.  Again I won’t go into details about what I shared, I will do that in separate articles, I just want you to see the response. 

I talked about how the current teaching and learning, not only activates very limited pathways and processes in the brain, and how using simple strategies we could vastly change this scene so that increased neural plasticity and brain power would be the rule not the exception. I also spoke about how children aren’t taught to develop ‘working memory’ which would at a minimum decrease supposed behavioural problems, but more importantly allow children to utilise higher level thinking skills and creativity.

The response? I was told that what I said was ‘great, but, ‘we’re’ not interested in that.  We want children to grow so that they are able to perform an operation as efficiently as possible, regardless of the process involved.’ I questioned this saying that surely we want to assist in developing children so that they can make connections and see beyond what we see as possible, and then find ways to make that an actuality, which only a creative mind can achieve. I was then told that ‘No, as long as they can perform a function and produce the result we want, we don’t care’.

This is not about teachers, most of whom are great people, this is about the people that dictate to the teachers and other direct people of influence, what they can, and just as importantly can’t do. The teachers are merely puppets in this game.

So this is the bottom line, they want, for lack of a better term, your children (and you, the children are the investment) to be robots. Essentially a body to perform a function efficiently and no more.  They don’t want humans to realise their potential, and that potential is far, far in excess of what you may believe is possible. However to begin that journey you must ‘unlearn’ a few, albeit pervasive, things that hold you down and limit your infinite potential. I’ll attempt to show you how to do that, and don’t get me wrong, I’m far from being anywhere near any kind of self actualised ‘Nirvana’, far from it. But the Beauty of being Human is that we can recognise that we’re going wrong, or that something doesn’t feel right, and then use our brain to correct this. However, unless you first empty your mind, you’ll never be able to change it. To re-program your mind, you have to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. I’ll finish with a quick passage from a fairly ancient text which summarises the first step.

The Book of the Five Rings tells the story of a self important professor who went to visit a famous Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the professor talked about Zen. The master poured the visitor’s cup to the brim, and then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself. “It’s overfull! No more will go in!” the professor blurted. “You are like this cup,” the master replied, “How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup.”