Brain Awareness 2010 Nia Class Syllabus

Brain Awareness 2010
Partnered with http://www.dana.org/
Focus: the brain, the mind
Intent: students will leave with a better understanding of the physical anatomy of the brain, their brain/mind usage, and ways to improve function through Nia and in life.

3/15 Monday – Yellow Lunar Warrior- questions/intelligence/fearlessness

Focus: Mindfulness. Observing to learn. Prefrontal Cortex
Intent: Mindfully relate to your body/mind learning the moves of the new routine Butterfly.

Note: mindfulness is noticing what is happening without creating a dialogue about what you notice. Maintain this throughout the week , in and out of class.

Homeplay: Have at least one meal each day where you practice “mindful eating”. Noticing what food looks like, feels like, tastes, texture, how it feels in stomache etc….and random thoughts and feelings. Eat in silence with others….

Benefits: promotes relaxation, decrease stress hormones, promotes adaptability, helpful with all brain diseases including depression, pain management, anxiety, etc.

3/17 Wednesday- White Self exhisting Mirror
Reflects/endlessness/order

Focus: Two halves Make the Whole- Left and Right Hemispheres of the brain
Intent: To sense linear, ordered , patterned movements, and from this shift into sensing a move “wholly”, feeling the spaciousness, freedom and creativity . Back and forth.

Homeplay: Draw the two halves of your brain, pencil inside each half all the tasks you did yesterday ….on the left side all the linear , orderly tasks you did and on the right, the creative, primal, dreaming/sensing activities….feel free to use symbols or drawing or words.

Benefits: Helps everyone to build new neural pathways. Keeps brain healthy and young. Great for ADHD, and other “over thinking” problems, excellent for people who’ve experienced stroke.

3/18 Thursday –Blue Overtone Storm
Catalyze/self generate/energy

Focus: Reptilian, limbic, monkey brain
Intent: Lose your mind and come to your senses. Using your sense of smell, touch, taste, hearing, sensation, you’ll journey into the depths of the brain and out. Noticing where you are and shifting yourself into other parts of the brain as you notice, sense, and re-direct.

Home play: Notice and journal about what happens in your body when you are in reptilian, limbic or frontal lobes.

Benefit: ADD, Depression, development of the brain

3/19 Friday – Yellow Rhythmic Sun
Enlightens, Universal fire, Life

Focus: Cerebellum
Intent: 5 sensations of fitness- balance

Homeplay: Go outside and on a walk, use nature and whatever you find to activate each of the 5 sensations in different parts of your body. FAMSS: flexibility, agility, mobility, strength and stability.

3/20 Saturday – Red Resonant Dragon
Nurtures, birth, being

Focus: Memory- Hippocampus
Intent: Building and strengthing neural pathways …relaxing as you challenge yourself to remember. Dynamic ease

Homeplay: Sitting comfortably in a chair, recall an event that happened last week , maybe in Nia class. Bring to memory , in clear detail, including all conversations, colors, sights, smells….Pretend you are being interrogated by a friendly officer and you are remembering the details , recalling them specifically. Do this for 15 minutes and then let it go. Come back an hour later and recall the same event, see if you remember more details. Go through from beginning to ending like a movie. This is a great way to improve recall memory. You can change experiences and make this memory recall a ritual at the end of the day as a way to “stay empty”.

3/21 Sunday- White Galactic Wind
Communicates/breath/spirit

Focus: Music and The Art of Listening Thalamus and Temporal lobes
Intent: RAW

Homeplay: Listen to a variety of music, count out beats, and define sections of chorus, vocals, instrumentals, intro and other. Staying relaxed and focused throughout an entire song or more.

3/22 Monday- Blue Solar Night
Dreams/abundance/intuition

Focus: States of consciousness Asleep, Awake, Aware, Dreaming
Intent: Deepen awareness states.

Homeplay: Before going to bed tonight, put your journal by the bed. Bring your body into a relaxed state. Recall RAW. Observe your breath and feel very relaxed, alert and waiting in your body. Ready yourself for a blissful night of sleep. Intend to remember your dreams. Make this commitment to yourself. Sleep deeply and peacefully and have sweet dreams! Upon awakening , write down your dreams immediately.

3/ 23 Wednesday Red Spectral Serpent
Survives /life force/instinct

Focus: Parietal lobes – pleasure and self healing
Intent: to work with the natural process of healing in the body through pleasure seeking

Homeplay: What percentage of the time do you feel pleasure in the body? What part feels it the most? What does your body like- go through each part and listen to your body’s response to the question of “what brings you pleasure?”. For an entire day, seek increasing the sensation of pleasure in all that you do.

Brain Awareness Wrap up: Reflect on the last week and a half and journal about what you learned about the brain, and you. Especially and guidance you received or and specific sessions that you’d like to personally set some goals around. Notice the new awareness and gifts that this week of a sustained collective focus had for you . Share with Kelly if you wish!