This documentary discusses the implications of the two sides of the brain and the role they play. The left and right side. Western society has become left brain dominant, which our schools and especially universities have helped contribute to. I refer to this as the script. Or the teleprompter. Or the tape recorder. The image or word making machine in your head. People that tend to be so attached to the word or language or correctness are less able to read body language, energy etc, because they’re caught up on the literal. They can’t see beyond the literal or the explicit. The right side dominant brain I bet would tend to be more atheist and the left side brain would be more open to higher power (God or Universe or whatever name). This is what BE BAD training is all about. A big realization I had in Thailand for the yoga teacher training with Baptiste, was all these different walks of life, doctors, nurses, engineers, etc would open up about some issue they were going through. The light bulb went off for me because so many people (including myself) waste so much time, thinking about themselves (which is left brain working) rather than taking action (or playing – right side brain working). Kids are more in the right side of the brain, feeling, movement, sensing, emotions (energy in motion) connecting etc. I talk about this all the time in yoga class, without dividing the brain up. I look at it from the lens of thought or “no thought”. That still doesn’t completely land, because the left brain will interfere and argue or question that statement, rightfully so, since that’s its job!
***The women in the documentary had a stroke. She was left-brained dominant. Her stroke was a Godsend for her, sort of woke her up. The video doesn’t explain this, but perhaps there was some injury to the right side of her brain, which forced the left side of brain to get to work! I don’t know this, I’m speculating. She did become a happier and more delightful person as a result of her access to the right brain. Anger and aggression they explain is the result of the right side of the brain. Makes sense, because I am angry because I have a thought or idea or point of view (if I’m in an argument) I am attached to and I can’t get past that thought or idea, so the brain on the right side experiences a sort of paralysis or intense contraction. Our psychology and biology are so closely related. *** Heading below to my previous Journal in email, about subconscious. If I’m left brain dominant, the right brain, which is the side of the brain that deals with space, feeling, and big picture, is weak or not accessed then you lose access to deeper more subtle memory containers of the body. This would be subconscious (what’s below conscious – so what’s not in my immediate memory or to say the memory that my left dominant brain contains). ***Personally I don’t think I ever worked my left side brain very well, which led to a low self esteem. I think I lived in my left side brain but I did not work it. I was not good at school or memorization, but I did think a lot and usually just about fantasies or horrors, a day dreamer which led to much of my confusion. An astute observer is working the right side of the brain (the purpose of meditation is to balance the brain waves getting equal access). For me, opening up the right side of my brain has given me better access to my left side. (Of course, I can’t prove this but just a feeling. ). This is why people always say do the thing you love. Because in love, your right side brain is accessed (again this part of the brain responsible for connecting, emotions, feeling, etc). And when your emotions are moving you feel a high, a greater purpose. But if the right side is so weak, then it will be difficult to find anything you love. So you can search and search for love externally or you can change it internally, by reordering your brain!
Einstein said “The rational mind is a faithful servant but the intuitive mind is a priceless gift. We live in a world that honors the servant, but has forgotten the gift.” “Love is the attention of the pure existence of another.” Dogs do this and babies do this. Rational minds DO NOT DO THIS.
This is why cold plunge – it gets you out of that left side brain, I believe (can’t be 100% sure, but in my experience I cannot be comparing, analyzing, judging when in cold water. I have to “let go” and be with my whole body, every feeling and sensation.). The high is getting out of my head! ***Yoga and breathwork do the same thing, cold plunge is just more confronting, therefore surrender is the only choice. Whereas with yoga I can come out of the pose all the time, or avoid different feelings. It’s harder to avoid the feelings of being submerged in cold water. So someone with anxiety or depression will have to face that anxiety or depression for 3, 4, 5 minutes in the cold. For me personally, holding a long chair pose is what made me realize my proclivity for avoiding difficult feelings running their course through my body. This could explain why I was often sick and tired. When you allow for internal change, or passage of emotions through the body, your chemistry improves, your health improves and you smile more and complain less.
So the obstruction that is dividing the left hemisphere from getting to the right side is your “thinking”. You can’t think your way to love. Love just is. The dog and your baby give your attention of the purest kind, which is love. This is why you love your dog and your baby. Neither is “thinking” about you when they are looking at you “they don’t have your thinking mind or development of left side brain). Zen refers to a beginner’s mind, or empty mind, or no mind. The point of this is to get to the other side of the brain. Or to open your mind to see the whole picture or recognize a bigger perspective. We become fragmented in a part of the brain, losing access to our greatest gift – our intuitive mind.
steve k
Below is the documentary you can watch for free on YouTube.
