Cross crawling is actually something we kind of do naturally when we go for a walk. This is why the simple act of a good brisk walk is such a great way to get inspiration – apart from anything else, it gets you breathing!!
This exercise is in two parts which can be done separately, or combined if you feel particularly energetic. It seems appropriate linguistically to call them steps.
Step 1: Walking
If you are able, go for a 10 to 20 minute walk each day, either before you start a creative activity or, especially, if you hit a creative block.
For at least five minutes of the walk, swing your arms from side to side in front of your body. Depending on your physical ability – and where you are doing it – this movement can be as small or large as you feel comfortable with.
Step 2: Cross crawling
You can do this exercise in the comfort of your own home and it important that you do it slowly and you only go as far as is comfortable.
1. Stand with your arms to the side and let the tension fall from your body. Feel the floor with your feet.
2. Now bend your right leg at the knee and swing your left arm in front of you across your navel and, if you can, touch your left elbow to your right knee.
3. Let your right leg fall gently and your left arm return and now bend your left leg at the knee and touch your right elbow to the left knee. Again make sure your left arm crosses your navel.
5. Try to repeat the exercise 10 to 20 times for each side.
If you find it difficult or you seem to get your sides mixed up like tapping your head and rubbing your stomach, don’t worry. This just means your left and right hemispheres really need this exercise. Either really slow the movements down or try it lying down. It will come in time.
I first did this exercise over 10 years ago and after the exercise I briefly started mirror writing. This is often a trait seen in those categorised with dyslexia. If it happens to you, take it as a sign that new pathways are opening up in your brain.
Less Strenuous Versions
Note if you are physically infirm or unwell and either of these exercises is either impossible or likely to cause you harm, instead of getting your elbow and knee to touch, you can just tap your opposite knee with your hand as shown here. This has much the same effect.
What is most bizarre though, if you not able even to do this reduced movement version, you can actually get some benefit by closing your eyes and imagining you are carrying them out – as observed and supervised below by a professionally qualified ‘cross-crawler’ who takes me on ‘training sessions’ daily – although I labour under the illusion that it is me who walks him.
Such is the power of the mind.
If you would you like to learn more about these techniques, make sure you get a copy of Tom’s new book to find out where ideas really come from and how you can make sure yours actually happen …
Many people ask me how they can be more inspirational or can experience more inspirations. The answer is perhaps surprising as it doesn’t lie being more intelligent or studying. It involves doing something we all do every day, without thinking about it, and that’s to breathe.
Of course, this is quite handy as we all breathe anyway to stay alive.
What brought me to this realisation was some research I did around the actual word, inspiration. Our words and our sayings give away much about their true semantics.
If you look up the word inspiration say at www.dictionary.com, you will see the following definitions:
1. an inspiring or animating action or influence:
2. something inspired, as an idea.
3. a result of inspired activity.
4. a thing or person that inspires.
5. Theology.
a. a divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul.
b. the divine quality of the writings or words of a person so influenced.
6. the drawing of air into the lungs; inhalation.
The first four you will probably have expected but it’s maybe a surprise to see that there is a theological connotation for inspiration. The last definition is one that most people don’t think of even though it’s perhaps fairly obvious. Inspiration is of course one half of the respiration process.
Further insight comes from looking at its etymology, or root meaning. You find that the word ‘inspiration’ is comprised of the word “in” and the Latin “spirare”which meant “to breathe”.
Now I was aware we speak on the out breath. Could it be that ideas come to us on the in breath? I did some more research and found that Eastern mystical practices such as Taoism use breathing exercises in meditation to both balance Yin and Yang energies and encourage the connection to the divine.
Whole Brain Breathing
Now our neurons don’t store any oxygen but they need oxygen in order to function. So guess what? If you increase your depth of breathing by really using your diaphragm, your brain gets more oxygenated.
Now you don’t have to do this all day but it’s a great thing to do as you get up and when you need an shot of inspiration – for example, if you flag in the afternoon.
Here’s the sequence to follow:
1. Place your hands on your belly so your fingers tips on your left and right hands are touching
2. Now breath in so your belly really expands and your finger tips separate
3. Next breath out fully with your out breath being about 3 to 4 times longer than the in breath – and then your fingers touch again
4. Repeat this nine times
5. If you want to get a bit fancy, on one breath, imagine the oxygen filling your left brain and on the next, the right – alternate this sequence and see if you can work up to 18 breaths in this way
If you would you like to learn more about these techniques, make sure you get a copy of Tom’s new book to find out where ideas really come from and how you can make sure yours actually happen …
So before the start of another week and, for me, another week of blogging as part of the Ultimate Blog Challenge … how can you make it go much better than the last?
Firstly, make sure you’ve filled in the audit of last week in part 1 …
Then complete the exercise below:
How to Have a Great Week – Part 002
Before rushing into next week in the same way you handled the last, make some notes of what just transpired.
1. Write down three things you would like to happen
2. Write down three things you would like to learn
3. Write down three signs that would signify to you that a change is underway
– then for each day of the week, keep a journal of all the good things that came your way. Some of them will be unexpected; some of them will be on your list – for each of them as they come in, remember to say “Thank You”
Optionally, to superpower your week, now listen to this guided visualisation and send unconditional love into all the situations, tasks and people you’ve mentioned above and let the week unfold
So it’s the end of another week and, for me, another week of blogging as part of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.
Next week I am starting a mini-series on Whole Brain Thinking and I will end the month with a mini-series on the Flavours of our Thoughts and the concept of Thought Loops that tie us in knots.
Big, big thanks to Michele Scism and Michelle Shaeffer for coming up with the idea – it’s been so much fun and has made some fabulous connections, several of which will be turning into business in the coming weeks.
As a respite from what has been a wonderfully busy month, weekends give us time to rest, gather our thoughts and plan the coming week.
Accordingly, this is the first in two short blogs on How to Have a Great Week.
How to Have a Great Week – Part 001
Before rushing into next week in the same way you handled the last, it’s time to make some notes of what just transpired.
1. Write down three things that didn’t go as well as you hoped
2. Write down three things you didn’t get done that you hoped to
3. Write down three habits or situations you found yourself in that you hope don’t get repeated next week
– then do nothing until tomorrow’s post which will show you how to make next week go amazingly well
Optionally, you may like to listen to this guided visualisation to make your internal chatter go quiet so that the inspirations for next week can percolate in …
In the 1960’s, Professor Roger Sperry was amongst the first scientists to discover the left and right sides of the brain performed different functions. His work was primarily based on studying people with mental illness or physical brain damage.
His research won him a Nobel prize.His research papers had great titles that indicate where he was coming from:
“Interhemispheric relationships: the neocortical commissures; syndromes of hemisphere disconnection.”
“Lateral specialization in the surgically separated hemispheres.”
… this was pioneering stuff !!
Nowadays, scientists can temporarily anaestasise sides or parts of the brain while normal and healthy ‘patients’ are awake and then they can study what functions are affected. With MRI scanners, we can see which bits of our brain ‘light up’ when we perform certain tasks or think certain types of thoughts. Neuroscience is truly entering a Golden Age.
In his phenomenal book, The Master and His Emissary, Iain McGilchrist describes how a chicken uses its right eye to look for grain while its left eye scans for predators and danger. He also postulates how left and right brain functions have changed over time influenced, as they are, by cultural advances and education – i.e. brain training.
Remarkably, several mystics ‘knew’ about the hemispheric differences years before the advent of brain scanners. It was thought the left brain worked inside space and time and was the ‘generator’ of consciousness. They ‘knew’ the right brain operates as a ‘receiver’ of thought and acts everywhere and ‘everywhen’ else.
It has been discovered recently that the corpus collosum, which connects the two sides of the brain, actually suppresses one side of the brain while the other gets on with its ‘job’.
It’s generally agreed that Whole Brain Thinking is a ‘good thing’ and I can testify that when you do it that 1+1 equals at least three if not more.
In this next blog series as part of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, I’ll be introducing simple techniques we can all do to activate and integrate both sides of our brain.
I’ll be covering:
The Inspirational Breath
Cross crawling
Mind Mapping
Food for thought
Which side are you on?
To get you started and warm you up, read this blog and listen to the free audio visualisation on Getting in the Zone
So tune in for the next week of blogs if you want to increase your creativity and productivity by leaps and bounds.
If you would you like to learn more about these techniques, make sure you get a copy of Tom’s new book to find out where ideas really come from and how you can make sure yours actually happen …
It’s simply never a better time to be an author. You can go from edited manuscript to publishing it globally as an ebook within a couple of days and in print within just a few days.
My guest this week on the Barefoot Book show was Joel Friedlander who has written an amazing book called A Self Publisher’s Companion which, in my opinion, is the new bible for both authors and publishers who want to get in print and share their message with the world.
Have a listen to this week’s broadcast to find out more …
A Self Publisher’s Companion
No matter what kind of book you want to publish, you’ll find advice, inspiration and down-to-earth tips from an expert designer who has spent years helping self-publishers launch their own life changing books.
Today’s author needs to get up to speed with so many things that are very new. Do you know your way around:
Print on demand and digital book production?
Typeface selection and how it impacts the readability of your book?
Ways to monetize your content, spread your word and gather your tribe?
Get this fabulous book in print or for your Kindle, iPhone or iPad … more details here
Calling all Authors
If you have a book you want to promote, by far the best way to do it is to have someone interview you about it.
I can highly recommend a great way to do this and that’s to use Jackie Walker’s Soundwave Interview service.
Jackie can also organise a slot on the Barefoot Book show as part of the service – details here
Cross crawling is actually something we kind of do naturally when we go for a walk. This is why the simple act of a good brisk walk is such a great way to get inspiration – apart from anything else, it gets you breathing!!
Less Strenuous Versions
If you would you like to learn more about these techniques, make sure you get a copy of Tom’s new book to find out where ideas really come from and how you can make sure yours actually happen …
Many people ask me how they can be more inspirational or can experience more inspirations. The answer is perhaps surprising as it doesn’t lie being more intelligent or studying. It involves doing something we all do every day, without thinking about it, and that’s to breathe.
It’s simply never a better time to be an author. You can go from edited manuscript to publishing it globally as an ebook within a couple of days and in print within just a few days.
Calling all Authors