Facilitating Right Brain Thinking

[Approaching Infinity]

Came across this little video where McGilchrist gives a very brief description of a meditative exercise he uses to balance attention of the two hemispheres: keeping your attention both focused and broad.

Gurdjieff's body sensing exercises, and meditative relaxation exercises in general, will seem to accomplish this. For example, Gurdjieff would get you to focus on one body part (maybe "filling it" with "sensation"), then another, then both, eventually until one was sensing one's full body. The limits are endless, e.g., you can incorporate all kinds of sensations: pressure, temperature, sound, vision (if eyes are open). One of the goals of the self-remembering exercise was to learn to enter into this state of maximal attention, and then recall it at will. I think some of his other exercises (e.g. imagining one's body as hot or cold) were perhaps designed to facilitate this calling up known "states" at will. But regardless, focusing and broadening attention seems a good way to balance hemispheres!

 

[Tuulikki]

Came across this little video where McGilchrist gives a very brief description of a meditative exercise he uses to balance attention of the two hemispheres: keeping your attention both focused and broad.

Fascinating man. I know very little about this subject but definitely going to order the book to try and develop my knowledge. I guess it makes sense that early tribal societies concentrated their minds on the things that would keep them alive, and working as close knit communities, thinking of others as much as themselves, obviously must have facilitated that. We seem to have lost a lot of that important connection but the left brain is obviously also very important to our present day lives. Therefore balance between the two hemispheres is very necessary. Balance - one of the most important factors in existence.

 

[Cosmos]

What I find particularly interesting is our experiments in Neuro Optimal and that it was somewhat of a mystery to me what that machine is actually doing and how at the time. Now it seems to me that McGilchrist might have inevitably provided the actual „mechanism“ and scientific data in his work that could very well explain what Neuro Optimal is actually doing. It seems like Neuro Optimal is rebalancing left and right brain activity? I noticed that because of the particular separated way our ears are „wired“ (meaning left ear almost exclusively depending on the right hemisphere and right ear to the left hemisphere ) scientists have for example used cold and warm water irritation of ears to stimulate and/or suppress either hemisphere with quite astounding results, not only in brain damaged individuals. McGilchrist makes quite a number of references to that. I think that method is called „caloric vestibular stimulation“ and/or „caloric reflex test“:

caloric vestibular stimulation - Google Suche

Out of curiosity I tried to find some simple machines and/or methods to do such stimulation outside of clinical practice. Without much success.

 

[Cosmos]

If I remember correctly McGilchrist also talked about other methods that were used in clinical practice and/or studies to either suppress and/or enhance the activity of a given hemisphere via electric and/or electromagnetic means. I would guess that happens in pretty similar ways as the Neuro Optimal machine is doing it (with electrodes). It seems like those methods are non invasive and safe from what McGilchrist said.

 

[Anthony]

I came across this book a while ago but never got into it as I was never good at drawing or interested in it; Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

Anyways, it is supposed to facilitate right hemisphere activation and here's an overview of the theory behind the book, if someone is interested.

 

[Ben]

I came across this book a while ago but never got into it as I was never good at drawing or interested in it; Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

Anyways, it is supposed to facilitate right hemisphere activation and here's an overview of the theory behind the book, if someone is interested.

I have it. It's really aimed at improving drawing skills with exercises designed to literally 'draw on the right hemisphere'. Drawing things upside down, exercises to help with perspective and depth, and so on. Interesting, but very much an art focused book.

 

[Cosmos]

I have it. It's really aimed at improving drawing skills with exercises designed to literally 'draw on the right hemisphere'. Drawing things upside down, exercises to help with perspective and depth, and so on. Interesting, but very much an art focused book.

Yeah I heard of that too, but I kinda thought that using written language in trying to „activate the right hemisphere“ or balance the hemispheres might be rather counterproductive given what McGilchrist has written.

Generally speaking, it almost sounds to me like McGilchrist doesn’t focus so much on „what needs to be done“ to balance the hemispheres on purpose, since that can easily lead to a „left brain“ approach on „how to do it step by step“. In fact I think he might have alluded to that somewhere.

My experience so far in reading his latest book (far from being finished yet) is that he somehow is able to break through the „left hemisphere dominance“ by simply laying out his case in various ways, including by left brain reasoning.

That might be on purpose by the way and it seems to help. Maybe by absorbing the information something already happens in that regard since a „new world“ can open up again? I think just the fact of reading the book might be a pretty good start in countering left brain over dominance.

Maybe in a non linear and organic way through getting aware of it, and changing things?

 

[Tuatha de Danaan]

Thank you T.C. I thoroughly enjoy listening to this man who has a "gentle" way of speaking and teaching. Could listen to him for hours.

 

[Ben]

Yeah I heard of that too, but I kinda thought that using written language in trying to „activate the right hemisphere“ or balance the hemispheres might be rather counterproductive given what McGilchrist has written.

Generally speaking, it almost sounds to me like McGilchrist doesn’t focus so much on „what needs to be done“ to balance the hemispheres on purpose, since that can easily lead to a „left brain“ approach on „how to do it step by step“. In fact I think he might have alluded to that somewhere.

My experience so far in reading his latest book (far from being finished yet) is that he somehow is able to break through the „left hemisphere dominance“ by simply laying out his case in various ways, including by left brain reasoning.

That might be on purpose by the way and it seems to help. Maybe by absorbing the information something already happens in that regard since a „new world“ can open up again? I think just the fact of reading the book might be a pretty good start in countering left brain over dominance.

Maybe in a non linear and organic way through getting aware of it, and changing things?

I've just finished the Matter with Things. He covers a lot of ground, but if I were to summarise the view of the right hemisphere (and point towards some kind of strategy to support its role) it would be this: paying attention to reality as it is. Isn't that fascinating in light of what the C's say?

 

[Jones]

There's an Iain McGilchrist talk with a developmental psychologist, Isabela Granic. They talk about practices to help balance the operations of the hemispheres. Grandchildren has apparently been following McGilchrists work for a decade and incorporating it into her own approaches. Coming from the developmental approach can help track how LH dominance come about.

I think it is in the above that McGilchrist mentions that there was a cartoon made on his work to introduce it to teens. I think this is the one he might be talking about.