Ever Heard of Chi Gong?

Video Link Above

   I have been blessed to study Golden Shield Chi Gong for about nine years.  I say blessed because I feel great. 

    I was first drawn to Chi Gong because the demonstration was held at The Mentor Center, which was the Chicago headquarters of The Mankind Project.  I figured if they were doing it, I had to be ok.  The individual who was leading the demonstration, Ed Fleischman, was a vibrant guy who reported that he had been studying Tai Chi for twenty years and was now learning this new discipline. 

Julie and I took our six month old son to the demo, and Shane at one point was startled by a loud exclamation made by Ed. 

And Ed apologized to my six month old boy for startling him. 

That really sold me on the program, that an instructor, working hard to line up dues paying converts would take a moment to apologize to my son for disturbing him.

So I signed up, and began a study that has lasted nine years or so.  I am part of the first group of westerners to learn from this tradition.  Our master was given permission to teach to  Americans by his master. 

There have been some very interesting initiations, and let me assure you this is not wizardry.  I have not learned how to levitate, or make people cluck like chickens.  What I have learned to do is accumulate energy and use it to live zestfully.  But enough of me.  Please take a look at the demo video, and prepare to be amazed.  Mike Logan

I have been doing some research into grief counseling, and building some pages at my web site in regards to grief and grieving. There are lots of searches for grief counseling, and a subject which I had not thought much about although I have seen it in my counseling practice, is anticipatory grief, the kind a care giver has for a family member who is suffering from a terminal illness.

I have a domestic violence practice and I have had care givers who have been arrested for domestic violence go through my program. Often, those care givers are not taking care of themselves, are suffering from anticipatory grief, burn out, blow-up, and get arrested for domestic violence.

Lots of the care givers for us baby boomers will have anticipatory grief also, which is the sadness which comes before the actual death. We watch our loved ones move through the dying process, lose the identity we have grown to love, and we feel sadness.

Anticipatory grief can be useful for the caregiver, and not so useful if we pull away from the dying person prematurely.

The concept of anticipatory grief was only first described by Eric Lindemann in 1944, so it is relatively new in the psychiatric literature.

The dying person also has anticipatory grief, which can really complicate the emotional side of the grief process.

So I guess the question is, how can those of us in this situation grieve the loss of a future with the individual who is dying, while still staying attached to the present.

Complicated business, isn’t it, and perhaps even more so with the holidays coming.

My sister, who is my last living relative, will be here for the holidays, and I am going to ask her if we can either video or audio record our memories of the family for my children.

Our childhood was not all that pleasant, although there were loving moments, and as my son nears his teen years, I want something here for him so that he will know what can happen with choices involving drugs and booze for example.

And as I think about my sister and I doing that, I feel some sadness. Lots of sadness about my childhood, and lots of courage too.

Four Brain Fitness Programs Tested and Compared

     For those of you following me, you are probably aware that I have been trying out various brain fitness programs on my 60 year old brain, so that it does not slow down like my computer. 

     When my computer needs more memory, I order it and plug it in, but my brain is not quite so simple. 

The good news is that my brain does create more RAM, and plugs it in near the hippocampus where it is available to remember parent teacher conferences and where I put my car keys, even my schedule if I really furrow my brows, but the old memory and the new memory can be negatively impacted by any number of livestyle choices, like hanging on to stress, poor sleep, and lack of challenging activity, and poor nutrition.

Sort of like opening too many windows on your computer, and eventually it freezes.  That is a stressed computer.

But there is a tremendous amount of new information about something called neurogenesis or the creation of new brain cells available now, and the marketers are all over it because Baby Boomers like myself are worried about having too many windows open in our brains and they lock up, and off to the home we go.

I do not want to go to the home before I see my grandchildren, and since my son Shane is 10, and my daughter Hannah Marie is 4, I need to keep my RAM fresh for a lot of years.

So I bought four of the available brain fitness programs and I am using them to see how they impact my RAM. 

My experience is now available for you to take a look at here.  Brain Fitness.

The programs are all very different,  have different costs, and require different time investments. 

I hope my experience clarifies a choice for you.  Now I have to go dry off my VIP downloads that the kittens just spilled my son’s water all over because he did not fill their water bowl, and they were thirsty.

Frazzled Daddy Mike

Hello All,

I was perusing my Google alerts today when I came across a post at Military.com which really jogged some memories, almost 30 years worth, from my days as an early initiate of Transcendental Meditation. The author, Jeff Anderson, is speaking to focus while exercising, and saying that we should focus on the muscle being exercised in order to increase neuromuscular growth.

Here it is in his words.

This “cartoon-like” mental imagery has been shown to greatly increase the neuromuscular activity and lead to greater intensity in your training sets…two very important factors in stimulating muscle growth for greater mass gains!”

He mentions training used for Olympians in the 70’s utilizing Transcendental Meditation, which brings back some memories. And when I lift these days, although I am not working to prepare for combat, (is parenting combat?) I find myself focusing on the muscle I am exercising and keeping my eyes closed, which is part of Mr. Anderson’s formula. That internal progression has happened naturally for me, and is a thought provoking idea for growing new body maps.

Thankyou Mr. Anderson, for a thought provoking post, I will be checking in with on occasion.

Gerontological Counseling

        I just put up a new page at my Ask Mike the Counselor2 site called gerontology counseling.  I am a Baby Boomer and I have spilled past the 60 year old marker, like so many of my contemporaries.   I am no where near a traditional kind of retirement financially.  I cashed in my SEP earlier this year because it had been hammered in the market place, and I may do the same with my IRA, because it is also taking a serious beating in the financial marketplace, so there is not going to be a company watch for me and a hammock waiting in the yard for leisurely naps.  

I actually began to prepare for this stage of my life in the early ’90’s, when I switched careers and became a counselor.  It is a business that I can do with a lot less physical effort than construction or fast food management or uniform services, which I had been involved in as a younger man.  Then I had kids which complicates my senior years in a mostly pleasant way.

There is very little in the way of information out there for mental health counseling for seniors, which surprised me.  I found reference to only two degree programs in my admittedly cursory search, and those seemed to be focused on pre-retirement and end of life issues.  Me, I am playing catch with my son and helping him prepare for Little League stardom next year, and dealing with his sister’s four year old temper tantrums. 

Perhaps I have an impetus to care for myself that other Senior’s do not have because of my children, but it is truely a quality of life issue for me to workout, eat well, do brain fitness workouts, (see Lumosity link below), stress management, and challenge myself with building an online business.  I would also like to help others build online businesses too. 

I am being urged by my wife to tell my life story to a tape recorder for my children, and when my sister comes this year at Christmas maybe we can work on that.  Sounds like an interesting tool to develop doesn’t it, something along the lines of the oral histories taken by historian  Stephen Ambrose at the 50th anniversary of WWII.  Look for a teleseminar and/or e-book on that subject soon. 

Podcasts for Baby Boomers for more information!  Craig and Alysan are cool boomers.

Do you like Bob the Teacher and his style of online teaching and building?  If you do, then you should go here now, and click for Bob’s Election Day Blowout.   Many of Bob’s products and services are on sale just while the polls are open tomorrow.  Don’t miss out voting in this election.

http://ElectionDayBlowout.com/2008/?choice=6

Memories Are Made of This….

Scientists Identify Machinery That Helps Make Memories
ScienceDaily (2008-11-01) — Researchers have identified a missing-link molecule that helps to explain the process of plasticity in the brain during memory creation and that could lead to targeted therapies. … 

Now that I know what the article says, how do I induce the process of memory making?  How do I facilitate the process of memory making? How do I help my clients with this,  the making of memories?

The article goes on to say, ”

A Commercial Break

Although my blog has been mostly about break throughs in brain fitness ideas and research these last few weeks, and counseling prior to that, I want to talk about personal coaching today.  I have been working with Bob Jenkins, aka Bob the Teacher, for a year now, in order to take my online business to a new level, and the mentor I chose was Bob Jenkins, because his style of teaching, which is patient and respectful for newbies.  Bob has a history of running innovative and powerful promotions, and he is up to it again with his Election Day Special, a one day affiliate event on election day.

The last time Bob did this was Super Bowl Sunday last year and he generated $5400.00 revenue in a half-time sale.  Better get in on this one quick folks, the election is over quick.  But the good news is Bob’s teaching will be here for a long time.  Mike, whose Brain Fitness will be tested today at the Anger Management class

Now here is an interesting idea by Chuck Westbrook, for bloggers who have great content and not enought readers.  Let’s form a co-op and support each other.  He has about 250 bloggers involved,  and is picking the first to be the object of huge numbers of new viewers.  This could be fun, and good job Chuck, in getting this going.  Thanks. Mike Logan

Brain Fitness Software

Click the link above folks to see how brain fitness software is already used in top athletic programs, like the Memphis Tigers basketball team. 

I am not surprised, as I have been using both high and low tech performance tools for a long time, including EEG Biofeedback and HeartMath for stress reduction.  My study of Chi Gong has brought a ever increasing level of energy for my 60 year old workouts.  I am increasing the level of resistance organically, without a great deal of striving.

So I am not surprised that the top level teams in and individuals are beginning to use tools like this to enhance their performance.

Here is the link again.

Intelligym

I did say last night that I would be writing about Sports Vision Magazine, but I am going to have to subscribe or find a copy at my sporting goods store, because their is  not a lot online about their magazine, at least that I can find today.  There are some excerpts, which sound very intriguing, especially about the stress management.  I have a ten year old boy who wants to be a baseball player, and some exercises for his eyes and hand-eye coordination would be good, although he is the x-box king of this house.  More tomorrow.