WHAT do they have to do with another?

Carl Jung said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”  He’s talking, of course, of what we automatically accept about ourselves, and pointing out that we can choose to change aspects that limit us.

He’s right! Do we LIKE our habits, that work so much to make us who we are? Is there an aspect we’d like to change? (If so, I highly recommend Atomic Habits by James Clear.)

Neurodevelopment is highly involved in this — if we DON’T have a piece  on the pyramid firmly established, we’re having to use up conscious brainpower bits to do so. So the reverse is also true: “Until you make the conscious UNCONSCIOUS, it will direct your life and you will call yourself overwhelmed.”

When we’re not automating what we should — the bottom of the pyramid — we have to do it at least subconsciously, if not consciously.  So if your back always itches, or you’re just an anxious person, or a myriad of other things — you’ll be spending valuable brainpower dealing with it. That’s what early neurodevelopment does: automates what should be automated, so you have ALL your brainpower available for doing life!

Sympathetic Vs Parasympathetic nervous system is so 1993!

In 1994, Stephen Porges proposed a new understanding about the vagus nerve and the autonomic nervous system, and the implications are still being sorted out.

Implications for our physical health — digestive, lungs, heart, inflammation, and more.

Implications for mental health — depression, healthy engagement with others, fear, and more.

Until we had ways to easily and strongly affect the nervous system (other than breathing, etc) I was interested but on the bench.  Recently, however, I found a very effective way to quickly and powerfully affect the vagus nerves, and the lives of my clients has immeasurably improved. I’m intrigued at the interplay for mental and physical health when the reflexes are considered along with the vagus nerve, and am assembling a class on how to balance the vagus nerve, spinal sympathetic accessory nerve, interweaving fear paralysis and Moro Reflex integration into the game.  When the class is done, much of it will probably be online in webinar form, with class time learning the lab portion.

“Our teenaged son suffered terribly from depression and anxiety, was cutting himself, abusing alcohol and started smoking.  He was institutionalized twice and was prescribed high doses of anti-depressants and anxiety medications.  He saw a psychologist and a psychiatrist.  All of these things either heightened his depression or did little to help our son.  Then I met Ruth.  She taught our son various movement therapies and in a relatively short period of time, he was completely off his medications, began taking college classes, changed jobs, and is now planning a trip with siblings! Before Ruth’s help, NONE of these things would have been possible! In his very first session, Ruth taught our son to do PACE exercises and immediately he said the tightness in his chest from his anxiety had noticeably lessened! Seeing how she helped my son, I, too, began seeing Ruth! After doing the exercises she asked me to do, I noticed that I hadn’t been to the chiropractor in over 5 months and I used to go twice a month! Ruth also helped me with anxiety and other issues.  Thank you so much Ruth for helping us!”

I’m seeing more young people — mostly male, but a female or two — coming to me with issues of going out into the world.  Fortunately, there’s ways to help them grow into that prefrontal cortex, where they’re confident to make decisions and find their way in life.  It’s a complex and painstaking process, but for those of you with kids — do your best to help them learn healthy real-life skills, so that retreating into a screen-world is less appealing.

It’s hard enough to “launch” a garden-variety child, but when they’re on “the spectrum,” oh my heavens!  After one session recently, a happy mom wrote:

(My son) is so much more present.  I feel more of an easy connection with him.  He seems more plugged in and better able to share opinions.  More active in little ways.

When I listen to someone on the phone, asking for help, usually for their child, I try to guess what will best help him or her.  

And then God laughs.  A good belly laugh at my folly, I think, because whether the it’s anxiety, or attention and focus issues, or difficulty reading or test-taking — the potential causes are numerous.

Most of my programs will help most of the people, but I’m learning the trick to really figure it all out is to keep an open, neutral mind when I see the person.  Maybe their eyes aren’t working as a team well, or the optic nerve doesn’t process one or more colors well, or a trauma distracts their brain from smooth information processing.

That’s why I so enjoy teaching:  three days of class gives YOU a broad range of tools.  And I love when Mom too sees benefits to doing these exercises herself: her life gets easier in the bargain!  So — if YOU’D like to improve your ability to relax, read quickly, balance your checkbook, or be more productive — either take a class or get in for a session or two.  Child or no, life will only get better and better!

(This isn’t Christian, but it looks as though he felt this way)

Christian’s mom stopped me in the hallway.  “Not one!” she said, holding up a finger for emphasis.  “Not ONE phone call from the principal.  Not ONE phone call from the IEP coordinator.  Not ONE phone call from the classroom teacher” since their first appointment with me, two weeks before.

Michele hated getting the calls.  She’s a super-achiever, very accustomed to hard work resulting in success, she and Christian’s dad had worked hard at parenting, and still their 10 y/o was having some fairly pronounced difficulties focusing, behaving and learning in school.

I’m presuming the professionals equally dreaded making the phone calls, but the one who likely the least happy was the one who couldn’t get a vacation from this reality: the child, whose world consisted of unsuccessful struggle.

Just two weeks of exercises, however, seems to have put much of that unhappiness behind.  The child’s hard work to behave, the parent’s and teacher’s consistent efforts, are now making a difference.  I’d assigned Brain Gym’s PACE exercises, plus some from Rhythmic Movement Training.  Both of the parents in this case are professional musicians, who know more than most how pivotal PRACTICE is to success.  With that firmly in their world-view, they made sure their son did ALL the exercises I’d assigned — and his results were stellar!  Not only is focusing and behavior easier, but now he can put all that energy into actually LEARNING!  A bright kid, he’s going to soar academically as his nervous system develops connections that a ten-year-old should have.

Michele now has her music students doing PACE before lessons, and suggests it before practicing or anything else they’d like to do really well.  She says it really makes a difference in how the lessons go.

I’m reminded at how IMPORTANT PRACTICE IS, and delighted to contemplate how much happier that boy is, and how much better this makes the lives of his parents, teachers, and friends.

So, if this sounds like you or a friend — contact me for sessions, or sign up for a Brain Gym or Rhythmic Movement Training class!  For me, both have been just about the best bang-for-your-buck that I’ve ever spent.

Therapeutic neurodevelopment solves problems people assume can’t be solved.  In one swoop, many of the problems that vex us most get help: mental health, efficiency, productivity.  It lifts moods, calms and relaxes.

• Brings parents, teachers, therapists and more to a new, better, “normal”
• Connections don’t need to be continually reinforced
• It’s a marvelous way to ward off the difficult parts of aging — memory, balance, flexibility!
• Learning! Social skills! Clumsiness into grace! Memory! Writing blocks!

What’s not to like? Come to a class for you, and for the people in your life.