ENERGY FLOWS WHERE ATTENTION GOES

Too many of us are living lives that are unsustainable, with rates of chronic illness, anxiety and burnout escalating at exponential rates. We are spending less time outdoors, tapping into nature's rhythm and bountiful health offerings, and more time indoors, in isolation, and in front of screens. Few are reporting feeling energized, focused, and a general sense of well-being.

Dysregulated, distracted, and disconnected, we have allowed ourselves to fall into habits that reinforce this unhealthy and heavily tech-driven lifestyle, that has led to executive function fatigue. These are neither natural nor desirable states of being and will eventually lead to dis-ease within our bodies, affecting health and energy levels that are needed for connection, harmony, focus, imagination, purpose and direction. Rather than feeling a sense of forward progression, many are living lives analogous to the tale of Sisyphus and his never-ending, uphill boulder rolling endeavor. Whereas productivity requires clarity, busy-ness does not. Busy-ness, without intention, generally has no meaningful end goal in sight.

As humans, we were not meant to live the same day, every day, in the same way, without adding healthy doses of variety and adventure. Creativity peaks when we mix things up. However, when everyday feels "mixed up," welcoming novel experiences will be the furthest thought from our minds, but novelty is exactly what our brains need to remain supple and youthful, and operate at peak performance. New and different experiences, carefully woven into a calm and productive body and brain, create new pathways for growth as observed in the proliferation of neuroscience research in recent times supporting neuroplasticity. Chaotic lives give rise to chronic stress and inflammation and are certainly not precursors to a joie de vivre, but instead to a joyless and stressed existence.

It is interesting that many are attracted to time management "hacks" that are fairly easy to implement and are used as potential solutions to a far greater challenge. While I love learning new and different ways to accomplish more in my day, I also realize that without the energy and coordinated executive functioning skills to support such "hacks", my new found tool(s) will in all likelihood die a quick death. Consistency will eventually wane when a new behavior is not supported by and incorporated into a larger executive processing system. Habits need systems to thrive. This creates an ideal segue to defining and deepening our understanding of executive functioning.

Executive functioning, our brain's control center, thrives on healthy energy, as opposed to a bag of hacks and tricks. A chaotic life does not allow for clarity and productivity but will instead invite fatigue and distractibility, which translates into a poorly organized and synchronized executive functioning system.

The human brain, considered the most complex natural system in the cosmos, has evolved and adapted over time. This is especially true of our frontal lobes. The skills involved in achieving success are interconnected, complex, and coordinated, and are collectively referred to as executive processes or functions. When treated with care, its processing power is extraordinary.

The frontal lobes are to the brain what a conductor is to an orchestra, a general is to an army, the chief executive officer is to a corporation.

-Elkhonon Goldberg, Ph.D.

How we plan our day, focus our energy, initiate projects, complete tasks, engage with peers, manage time, tolerate frustration, problem solve, and critically think, to name a few, are regulated by our brain's frontal and prefrontal lobes. These crucial skills incrementally evolve as we navigate through the developmental stages, with a full appreciation of their maturity by approximately age 25. In essence, it takes a long time to grow a human.

Imagine an unprepared conductor, an unfocused general, or a distracted CEO. Whereas we will all, from time to time, perform sub-optimally (for a variety of reasons), this should, however, not be the norm, especially in activities that matter. As we entered the information and digital age, our lives changed. We have become constantly bombarded with incoming stimuli, leaving us little time in our day to pause, reflect, and critically assess our next best move(s). We are barely catching our breath in a never ending attention-diverted work and home environment, resulting in a significant destabilization of our executive processes and therefore our lives.

Each and every time we take our attention away from our primary task by, for example, responding to a text message, viewing a social media post, or receiving a breaking news notification, we are affecting the very parts of our executive processes or functions that are necessary for concentration, task execution, and project completion. It can take as long as 20 minutes to fully return to the task at hand and re-engage our attention following a distraction.

Unless we conscientiously take the steps to stop this runaway train and bring it back on track, it will keep moving off-course until it comes up on an obstruction.

In human terms, this typically means a health crisis (among other circumstances).

SO WHAT CAN WE DO?

The calmer our lives, the better our focus, decision making, and problem-solving abilities. Research supports the integration of a steady yoga and mindfulness practice as key to enhancing and energizing our frontal lobes. When we add effective and productive habits to the mix, we become powerfully UNSTOPPABLE! Motivation naturally peaks under these conditions.

Think of what happens to our muscles following a regular weight lifting practice. They grow bigger and stronger. The following example is applicable to the practice of yoga and its effects on our brain's executive functioning skills. Through the process of neuroplasticity, our brain will develop new connections, changing the structure as well as the function over time, resulting in a strengthening of the cognitive processes that help keep us sharp, energized and motivated. Now, add a daily mindfulness practice, in which we apply intention and conscientious attention to our present circumstances, and our brain will respond favorably with clarity and focus.

YOGA

Yoga, a deeply rooted, healing practice emphasizing the mind-body connection incorporating physical postures, breathing, and meditation, originated thousands of years ago in India. The physical practice of yoga, also knows as asana, can be viewed as a moving meditation, connecting movement to breath. Pranayama is the formal practice of managing the breath, and a steady, rhythmic breath is central to yoga and the quintessential element of life itself.

Breathwork refers to the various breathing techniques or exercises that focus our conscious awareness on our breath, or more specifically our inhales and exhales, for the purpose of improving emotional, physical and cognitive states, and decreasing stress.

It is ironic that yoga's healing effects are considered "new age" when it has historically established itself as an interconnected philosophical system aimed at balancing and harmonizing the mind and body. Its consistent practice yields compounding effects, meaning each and every time you participate in this moving meditation, you're decreasing the negative effects of stress and increasing health and vitality. This appears to be attributable, in part, to significant increases of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a calming neurotransmitter, levels as found in Boston University School of Medicine's recent study of yoga and its effects on the body.

The various types of yoga practices include (but are certainly not limited to) restorative, hatha, hot, vinyasa, and yin. One of yoga's many benefits is that it can easily be practiced anywhere, including within the parameters of a dorm room or a studio apartment. However, taking your practice outdoors and into the fresh air provide additional health advantages offered by nature itself. Grass, trees, lakes, oceans, and mountains beneath an open sky can be especially soothing to our nervous systems and replenish depleted energy.

The Setting of an Intention

Speak what you seek

until you see what you said!

Familiar to those who practice yoga is the invitation to set an intention at the beginning of class; directly after settling on the mat and preparing for an hour or so of engaging in a moving, or perhaps stillness, meditation.

As we are connecting with our breath, perhaps enjoying a healing essential oil burning in the background accompanied by soft music, the cue to set an intention is sometimes met with confusion or a feeling of stuckness. We cannot come up with anything; similar to the phenomenon of "writer's block." Whereas we are all familiar with the ritual of establishing a New Year's resolution in which we generate a set of goals for the upcoming year, the practice of setting an intention is similar by helping us connect with what we truly desire for our lives, and through its expression, we increase its chances for manifestation.

Several examples of intention setting themes are listed below:

gratitude
letting go
presence
love
forgiveness
releasing negativity
inviting positivity
healing
inner strength

MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness helps recalibrate our mind and body. It is the act of paying attention to the present moment with a non-judgmental attitude. Consistently practiced and over time, as with yoga, a mindfulness practice is brain restorative. It helps to change the neural circuitry to one of equanimity and peace.

As incoming stimuli is typically judged as good or bad, positive or negative, mindfulness helps us to see these "as is" with no need to evaluate or judge. We consciously meet the stimuli with a calm strength and presence. Imagine how much energy would be restored by not having a reaction or a judgement to each and every incoming stimulus? We would be training our minds to transition from reactivity to simply being. The energy not needlessly spent on evaluation can now be allocated to focusing!