My Daddy Diary Week 1

Today was my first day of Lamaze class, and I couldn’t help but feel excited. I didn’t know why other than, to be supportive of my girlfriend and our baby. I do understand the process of child birth, but what I didn’t know, is that is where our past conditioning began… in the womb. Some of the first circuits the brain builds are those that govern the emotions. Emotions tell us we are alive, and through our feelings our brains create logic, where we store information, not create it, based on our emotional responses to experience. The first two emotions are opposites: feeling calm and relaxed and feeling distress. Beginning around two months of age, these start to evolve into more complex feelings. Ironically the same way our brains are developed, is the same way we maintain the strength of those bonds between our feelings and thoughts as we age, through our feelings. Brain cells are “raw” materials — much like lumber is a raw material in building a house.

Heredity may determine the basic number of “neurons” (brain nerve cells) children are born with, and their initial arrangement, but this is just a framework. A child’s environment has enormous impact on how these cells get connected or “wired” to each other. Many parents and caregivers, as I have understood intuitively that loving, everyday interactions — cuddling infants closely or singing to toddlers—help children learn. As I stated, a brain is not a computer. The brain begins working long before it is finished. And the same processes that wire the brain before birth also drive the very rapid growth of learning that occurs immediately after birth. At birth, a baby’s brain contains 100 billion neurons, roughly as many nerve cells as there are stars in the Milky Way. Before birth, the brain produces trillions more neurons and “synapses” (connections between the brain cells) than needed. During the first years of life, the brain undergoes a series of extraordinary changes. Then, through a process that resembles Darwinian competition, the brain eliminates connections that are seldom or never used.

“Windows of opportunity” are critical periods in children’s lives when specific types of learning take place. For instance, scientists have determined that the neurons for vision begin sending messages back and forth rapidly at 2 to 4 months of age, peaking in intensity at 8 months. It is no coincidence that babies begin to take notice of the world during this period. Scientists believe that language is acquired most easily during the first ten years of life. During these years, the circuits in children’s brains become wired for how their own language sounds. An infant’s repeated exposure to words clearly helps her brain build the neural connections that will enable her to learn more words later on. For infants, individual attention and responsive, sensitive care giving are critical for later language and intellectual development.

Research does not suggest drilling children in alphabet songs from different languages or using flash cards to promote rote memorization of letters and numbers. Children learn any language best in the context of meaningful, day-to-day interactions with adults or other children who speak the language. Schools can take advantage of this window of opportunity to teach language. If children are to learn to speak a second language like a native, they should be introduced to the language by age ten. Early stimulation sets the stage for how children will learn and interact with others throughout life.

A child’s experiences, good or bad, influence the wiring of his brain and the connection in his nervous system. Loving interactions with caring adults strongly stimulate a child’s brain, causing synapses to grow and existing connections to get stronger. Connections that are used become permanent. If a child receives little stimulation early on, the synapses will not develop, and the brain will make fewer connections. Recent research on one of the body’s “stress-sensitive” systems shows how very stressful experiences also shape a child’s developing brain. When children are faced with physical or emotional stress or trauma, one of these systems “turns on” by releasing the hormone cortisol.High levels of cortisol can cause brain cells to die and reduces the connections between the cells in certain areas of the brain. Babies with strong, positive emotional bonds to their caregivers show consistently lower levels of cortisol in their brains. While positive experiences can help brighten a child’s future, negative experiences can do the opposite.

Too much cortisol in the brain can make it hard for children to learn and to think. And they may have trouble acting appropriately in stressful situations. Healthy relationships during the early years help children have healthy relationships throughout life. Deprived of a positive, stimulating environment, a child’s brain suffers. Rich experiences, in other words, really do produce rich brains. Helga and Tony Noice, both Elmhurst College faculty members, believe that the specialized techniques that actors use to bring their characters to life may also be employed to delay or even reverse cognitive decline among the aging. They are engaged in a collaborative research project that draws creatively on their respective expertise in psychology and the theatre.The Noices are investigating whether training in various acting techniques—from role-playing skills to interpretive methods—might have a positive effect on cognitive functioning in older people. Over the last seven years, they have completed a series of three related studies, one in Switzerland and two in the Chicago area.

They discovered that after their elderly research subjects received instruction in acting—a new experience for them—the subjects experienced significant improvement in memory and other cognitive functions. Their general sense of psychological well-being also improved. “The more stimulation you offer the brain, the more you increase the chances that the brain will remain healthy throughout your life,” says Helga Noice, a professor of psychology. “The acting process produces a particularly high degree of stimulation.” An actor, she notes, needs to be engaged on many levels: emotional, physical, and intellectual. All of this complex activity appears to alter neural connections in the brain. Their innovative, interdisciplinary research project is a perfect fit for Helga Noice, a cognitive psychologist with expertise in human memory, and Tony Noice, a professional actor who teaches theatre and speech as an adjunct professor at Elmhurst. The couple spent many years studying acting from a theoretical point of view, looking at how the expertise of actors differs from that of scientists, musicians, and visual artists.

In 1996, the government of Switzerland invited them to conduct a pilot study in which they taught the techniques of stage acting to older adults. The subjects’ verbal recall and recognition improved, even though they were not taught any memory techniques. “New research indicates that the brain is much more plastic than we thought,” says Tony Noice. “The brain can literally be modified through activity. This is what we are trying to do with acting. In the training we emphasize that the participants must actively put themselves in the place of the character—to intimidate, placate, or plead with someone for real.”

In 2001, Helga Noice received a three-year grant from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) to conduct further research, this time including the visual arts. The 124 participants in the NIA study were predominantly college-educated older adults who lived independently in the western suburbs of Chicago, drove themselves to the training site, and were an average of 73 years old. One group acted as a control and received no training. A second group received visual arts training twice a week for four weeks. Lynn Hill, an associate professor of art at Elmhurst, led the visual arts component; she had the participants view and evaluate paintings. The third group was trained in the theatre, also for four weeks. Tony Noice encouraged each of his subjects to go well beyond the scripts, to interpret each character’s personality and motivations.When the subjects were tested at the end of the study, the visual arts group showed measurable improvement in cognitive skills.

The theatre group showed, as it were, dramatic improvement. Their word recall improved by 18 percent; their problem-solving ability by 55 percent. In addition, the theatre students showed a substantial improvement in their perceived quality of life. All of these benefits continued to be observed four months after the sessions ended. Recently, supported by a grant from the Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust, the couple went to work with residents of Plymouth Place, a continuing-care community in LaGrange Park. The study group included 18 people—average age, 82. They came from both the independent living and the assisted living sections of Plymouth Place. This time, the participants studied acting only. As in the earlier study, the cognitive skills of the participants improved in several areas, including word recall, working memory, and problem solving. Their self-esteem also improved. What’s more, a little theatre group has sprouted at Plymouth Place, with Tony Noice providing direction. In December the group staged the short melodrama The Widow’s Plight.

In future research, the couple would like to study less educated populations, to see if they can obtain the same improvement in mental and emotional well-being. They also hope to compare the impact of acting with that of other creative activities, such as painting, music, and creative writing. The impact of their findings may someday have a substantial impact on an aging population. “If we can keep our cognitive powers as long as possible,” says Helga Noice, “we can avoid premature loss of independence and lead more fulfilling lives.” So you see, to disconnect from how we feel, is to stop exercising our brains. We think that continually educating ourselves or storing mass amounts of information into our brains is what makes us smart, when in actuality…just the opposite is true. It is like putting a band aid on a big wound.

It is through emotional availability, that we train our brain, and build a powerful mind muscle. Of course IQ is important for problem solving, but evolution happens through EQ…the same way we are wired since the 7th week after conception. If we went back to our origins, maybe mankind would not be defining it’s self through war, and focus more on FETAL BRAIN &COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT through our behavior for life. We would see that the cures for infectious disease lie in our brain, not in technology…don’t take my word for it…just look around at the world today…how is this working? Today more than ever I am grateful, that I am emotionally available for myself, and then for others by listening and communication.

Do we form beliefs based on our experience, or do we create experiences based on our beliefs?

Experiences and expectations do, of course, influence one another, but while most of us may credit the logical and psychological idea that our beliefs are primarily shaped by our experience. In psychology, this commonly recognized phenomenon is called the self-fulfilling prophecy.Everything is a form of energy; our mind shapes that energy into manifest form and colors the filters through which we see the world. Almost since infancy, we have stored programmed sensitivities and expectations into our subconscious.

Those of us who expect that “people can’t be trusted,” find evidence that supports this belief. Even if we outwardly say that you can trust someone, the subconscious provides the key to creating experience. The key to changing these inevitable outcomes is to create new expectations, based on clear intention, not blind faith. This helps to take us beyond our previously assumed limits, themselves generated by earlier beliefs, and expectations that may have been forward within the first months of life. What we expect tends to appear in our life, because we set in motion subtle psychophysical forces; like attracts like.

We achieve only to our expected or assumed limits.Energy follow thought; we move toward but not beyond what we can imagine. What we assume, expect, or believe. Colors and creates our experience; by changing our expectations, we change our experience of every aspect of life. What we believe or expect, over time, at the deepest or subconscious levels, tend to shape our external reality. We feel what we focus on. Live with great expectations, and great things will happen.

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Zero Or Hero Part 2? You decide!

More from "Eric the Expert!" The following is a response to my previous email. That I sent Eric, in response to his training video on youtube. I posted it here under my notes under Hero Or Zero, if you didn't get a chance to read it. I am using the same title, because somehow...I don't think Eric get's it:/

Raul,

Yes, the rectus abdominis originates in the iliac crest and inserts into the anterior serrator (sp), intercostal muscles, and the anterior portion of the last few true ribs and sternum. They are 4 pairs of bilateral muscles lying under the skin and past an initial layer of fat, and may be 8 small muscles conveniently, but they all act synergistically as one unit to bend the body forward just above the umbilicus. My apologies on not making that point, I overlooked the "?" from that perspective.

Eric

Eric,

Thank you for the response, but this is not my perspective, this is scientific fact. Are you familiar with muscle biopsies? As I stated in my original response to your video. Through the advancement of technology, we now have an Image resonance that can tell us what is happening inside the body (muscle biopsy), while we exercise. Taking the guess work out of our training. I use to teach trainer how to personal train. I recommended that after they master the basic concepts and principles. Look to science and technology for answers that are fact, not fiction. Why try to interpret medical abstracts? I did it for a living, and at times. My legal background was of greater service to me, than my medical!It is purposely done this way, by big business that has a vested interest in a billion dollar industry, of separating us from our money!! Exercise and Nutritional Science, are still in their infancy. Long term studies are still needed to connect the dots so to speak. We need common sense approaches, not nonsense. The kind that is utterly intuitive, because they are instinctual. We trainer’s would be of greater service to others. If we presented the known fact’s, and left the theories to Fortune tellers! This is why I created Zero to Hero TV. To keep it simple, until science catches up with me;) I am not an expert…as I feel they can’t exist when without thee known facts…but I do have a solid educational background and a lot of direct experience. I want to close it saying, that your particular video. Has nothing to do with facts, and a lot to do with perspective. I wish you all the best, and if I can be of service in

anyway. Please do not hesitate to ask! You can make it easy if you watch my show below...Zero To Hero TV!

Kind Regards,

Raul Rodriguez

Zero Or Hero? You decide!

The following is an email I received when I asked “Eric the Expert” on Youtube.

Why he referred to training the lower abs muscles, as being different then training the upper abs muscles, and why was he implying that they we all different muscles. That required different exercises to get a six pack? Assuming (which he also failed to mention), that we had the right diet to facilitate the lowering of body fat, as we all have an anatomy chart somewhere. I omitted his last name, as my intention is to educate, not facilitate…ignorance!

Raul,

Lower abdominals are part of a series of abdominal muscles known as the Rectus Abdominis and consist of 4 pairs of bilateral muscles each lying the most superficially to the skin. These muscles are the first layer usually trained when one does crunches and they are known as the "six pack" but there are also 3 other abdominal layers such as the external and internal obliques, and the transverse abdominis. The lower abdominals are the lower set of the 2 pairs of rectus abdominis.

Eric

Eric,

Thank you for the great speech, but you failed to mention the point...which is the "6 pack" is not individual muscles. They a series of muscles comprised to form just one. Meaning that they only recruit muscle fiber from one incursion point...hence the name Rectus Abdominis! Nice try:)One other training tip for you, as I also have a bio mechanics background. Are you familiar with segmental hyper mobility? If not you might want to subscribe to my channel, where I will discuss the dangers of doing movements that are inherently dangerous. In an attempt to stimulate the muscles from a different angle, yet the same incursion point. Like lying leg raises for example.

Your analytical rhetoric may sound great, but is it still based largely in theory, not science. If five people sat down and read the Bible or the Quran. We could get five different opinions…which would all be RIGHT! To a certain degree that is, but what most self professed experts fail to realize, is that technology has infiltrated every market segment! Exercise and nutrition, are sciences, with technology that has taken the guess work out of our training and nutrition needs. The only things we lack are long term studies. In essence, exercise and nutritional science are still in their infancy. If you would like to explain your training theories on my show you are more than welcome. The point of my show is not to be right, but on getting results for my viewers! By focusing on clear, concise, accurate information.

I rehabilitate their bodies and train their brains. Your training theory only serves to confuse the typical laymen, in your zest to be considered an expert or guru through your interpretation or manipulation of the facts! The sciences were created evolve humans from the dark ages. Not to keep us there, through misinformation. We can get studies to prove anything these days, as big business, insurance companies, and pharma companies, specialize in pseudo science, designed to separate people from their money through marketing. I know how to read and interpret unbiased, double blind, placebo studies, done on the correct target market group. Most people don't...and that is why "THE EXPERTS" speak and write in a language, that few can understand! Rather than bore my viewers with explaining what the scientific terms mean. I will empower my viewers with common sense, not non-sense approaches to training and nutrition.

If we are not part of the solution, then we are part of the problem.Two plus two equals four and what goes up must come down! That is not going to change...no matter how much you wish it would to suit your belief system. Maybe you might want to revaluate keeping it simple, for the welfare of others? Just a thought...At any rate...Thank you again for your response, and I do appreciate you taking the time to research your response: )Right out of Anatomy 101!;) Don't forget to subscribe to my youtube Raul School channel @ raulrodriguez101 Until my show is launched...you might learn to never under estimate the beauty of simplicity or at least anatomy!

Good Luck,

Raul Rodriguez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7yhCdZH1R8

Zero To Hero TV

http://www.youtube.com/raulrodriguez101

I want to take a moment to discuss health....

Health like prosperity has many meanings. In the early stages of my career. Getting fast result with my clients, as with my life. Sometimes had disastrous long term effects! Why would some of my clients that had gotten fast results when they were training with me. Get back out of shape within a year of discontinuing training with me? How could they not appreciate achieving the goals that they had wanted? Especially when it took all that hard work! Was I focusing on rehabilitating there body, and enough on training their brain? This remained an enigma to me for many years, until one day when I was training myself. You see, I personally prefer to train alone, because exercise is one of the ways I meditate. I know this sounds counter intuitive, based on what all the so-called guru's teach, but just maybe we have evolved to just be...as we do?

Not for others, but for ourselves. Just maybe, meditation is evolving in response to the Nano age of instant gratification. Dunno, but what I do know is. There is no wrong or right way to do things, just our way. If it works, that is what matter's. When I exercise or train with weights, as I prefer to call it. Probably because exercise sounds so one dimensional. I am way past the mental masturbation of wanting a better body! Good enough is also a relative term. Like a dog chasing his tail, it wasn’t fun anymore when I realized it was my tail I was chasing! Getting back to my point, in sharing my experience. I was in one of my meditative states while training. Where my intention was for the future, but my attention was in the moment. In that moment, I had an epiphany.

Up until that moment...my entire life was driven by fear. My fear was the driving force of my vocational and recreational success. My fear had served me well to become an over achiever. Anything I did, I immersed myself in, until I achieved the top of my chosen endeavor. When I had reached the summit so to speak, and it was very fast process.In that moment I realized that I was nothing more than an automated response, based on past experience. My present way to approaching success had become what I did, not who I was. My success was based on what I conquered, not what I built. Success was only possible by achieving my individual accolades, ego driven. My needs were all based on my insecurities. My success was my client’s success. My power came only with my title, my approval, my clients success had become mine, and when they was gone…so was my sense of self. I became again…void of emotion, because everything was ego based, the root of my fear.

I felt that external success would give me a freedom from my past, because external success gave me a high...but not resolve. I became addicted to the high highs and low lows. I wasn’t achieving success with myself or with others I had adopted, so to speak. I became depressed.In that moment, I discovered the root of all addictions and an unhealthy co-dependency I had developed through absent parent's growing up. Whether healthy addictions or not. I was escaping myself! I wasn’t living; I was too busy making a living. When I became aware that it was my tail I was chasing, the high of the hunt was gone. Since that moment…I have learned to let go…to detach myself from the outcome. To live in the wisdom of uncertainty…to live in each and every moment. In this process of self actualization, I have come to realize that I am not training my body. I am training my spirit!

Training my spirit, gives me an eternal success that is the source of my strength. That external success (like my body for example), never gave me. It’s called fulfillment…the happiness from within. This process is not about dedicated my life to training, but dedicated training to my life.The power from training the source of our being. The human spirit strengthens our belief in ourselves. By whom we are, not what we do. Spirit lies at the source of all achievement in life. Challenging my spirit in dramatic ways, has produced results in my life by giving me freedom from my past…from the known. Freedom to have my own experience, to form my own belief system, or at least verify what I was being told. True freedom, not the myth that I was raised to believe when I didn't get my emotional needs met as a child.

There is nothing that I haven’t had to work through as an adult from my childhood, that many children growing up in chaotic environment will be faced with. That being said, I wouldn’t change a thing. Why? Because it didn’t break me down, it broke me open. Open to the possibility of tapping into the source my beginning, my spirit! It is my personal labyrinth…where I journey to the center of my being, and then back out to the world again. Where I form invisible bonds, that only grow when I train…in one form or another…that give me clarity, closure, and compassion…My ground Zero To Hero! Those who suffer teach, and greatness comes through suffering.We all have a unique talent or skill that we can share with others…to be of service...this is mine. As I have learned to surrender to the wisdom of uncertainty, and in so doing. I have also learned to let go of fear.

Today I am motivated by love. By accepting where I am to be who I am. I have learned to accept people for whom and what they are. With no Judgments…If you want big boobs like my girlfriend, then good for you. That takes a courage that I, as a man will never know. To judge others is to judge one’s self, because then we live in judgment and we feel what we focus on. Living in the problems, and we will become one…Live in the solutions, and your will become one. A bird doesn’t have to think about flying, it just fly’s. Everything has a certain amount of relevance. Even a certain amount of judgment does. It keeps us out of harm’s way for example. It is when we use it to break the invisible bonds we have with every living thing, that it becomes destructive.We all want the very same things in life like love, certainty, connection, for example. When we learn to co-create with nature through the process of nurturing ourselves, by focusing on ourselves. We give unconscious permission to others around us to do the same, and we build Hero's Not Zero's.

You see, Hero's are selfish, as much as their acts are self-less! They lead by example, by not allowing others weakness's to be their source of strength. They bring light where there is darkness. Our path is right in front of us, calling out in the depth of our own awareness….Only when we are aware that it is real...can it become real. I am an instrument in this revolution against negative reinforcement. Through labeling, stereo typing, prejudice, and racism. Love is nurturing not destructive…my intention is to bring more beauty through awareness into the world…but my attention is living in the moment…and after I am gone…I will have done what I came here to do…and that is enough…