Exercises from "The Mastery of Learning"

YOUR visual system begins with your eyeballs, a set of compact organic optics which, in many regards, are not nearly as good as that of most cameras. Each eye-ball has a sensor array at the back, called the retina, which works effectively across a tremendous range of light levels with a high acuity foveal capability and very sensitive peripheral motion detection system. Their performance is incredible, plus your mind/brain as the processing unit making the end result absolutely brilliant with capabilities far beyond anything man-made. We have the technology to build something better than most of the individual characteristics of your visual system, but we cannot even come close to matching the whole package. In order to understand the purpose of your foveal and peripheral visual systems, let us do a small exercise.

  

YOUR FOVEAL AND PERIPHERAL VISION:

Instructions:

Position your right hand extended in front of you with your thumb pointing upward in what is often referred to as the “artist’s stance.” When you are looking directly at your thumb, you view it with your foveal vision. Notice that you are able to see your thumb and thumbnail in high detail, or high acuity. Now, without moving your eyes, slowly rotate your right arm to your right keeping your thumb pointing upward. Somewhere past extending your arm straight out to your side you will lose sight of your slowly moving thumb. Bring it just back into view, and then move all of the fingers on your hand. Notice that they are much easier to detect when moving than when still. Also notice that you can detect no details, and in fact, you are not even able to detect colors or whether your thumb points up or down when it is motionless. Now you have a sense of feel for what your detail-oriented foveal and motion-detecting low-resolution peripheral vision are capable of.

  

LEARNING THE BRAIN GYM© EXERCISES:

Instructions:

A simple exercise to help with hearing, exam taking, and the general stimulation of memory is the Thinking Cap©, one of nine different Brain Gym© exercises covered in the book and seminar. These exercises were orginially developed by Dr. Paul Dennison and are strongly advocated by Dr. Carla Hannaford. For the Thinking Cap© you unroll your outer ears from top to bottom several times by massaging them between your fingers. There are more than 128 acupuncture points on your outer ear that holistically map to the entire body. This simple exercise therefore stimulates your body and
                          brain thus enhancing mental performance.