Handwriting and the Brain

In the past few weeks, there has been a flurry of articles regarding the link between handwriting and the brain. I already posted the one from the Wall Street Journal, here's another one:


Check it out...
How writing by hand makes kids smarter
Younger Americans are typing or texting more and writing less, even in school — and that's a problem when it comes to brain development
posted on October 6, 2010, at 12:59 PM

Most grade-school children are spending only one hour a week on penmanship.

With the ubiquity of keyboards large and small, neither children nor adults need to write much of anything by hand. That's a big problem, says Gwendolyn Bounds in The Wall Street Journal. Study after study suggests that handwriting is important for brain development and cognition — helping kids hone fine motor skills and learn to express and generate ideas. Yet the time devoted to teaching penmanship in most grade schools has shrunk to just one hour a week. Is it time to break out the legal pad? Here's a look at how the brain and penmanship interact:

Writing by hand can get ideas out faster
University of Wisconsin psychologist Virginia Berninger tested students in grades 2, 4, and 6, and found that they not only wrote faster by hand than by keyboard — but also generated more ideas when composing essays in longhand. In other research, Berninger shows that the sequential finger movements required to write by hand activate brain regions involved with thought, language, and short-term memory.

Writing increases neural activity
A recent Indiana University study had one group of children practice printing letters by hand while a second group just looked at examples of A's, B's, and C's. Then, both groups of kids entered a functional MRI (disguised as a "spaceship") that scanned their brains as the researchers showed them letters. The neural activity in the first group was far more advanced and "adult-like," researchers found.

Good handwriting makes you seem smarter
Handwriting also affects other people's perceptions of adults and children. Several studies have shown that the same mediocre essay will score much higher if written with good penmanship and much lower if written out in poor handwriting, says Vanderbilt University education professor Steve Graham. "There is a reader effect that is insidious," he says. "People judge the quality of your ideas based on your handwriting." And the consequences are real: On standardized tests with handwritten sections, like the SAT, an essay deemed illegible gets a big zero.

This isn't only an English-language phenomenon
Chinese and Japanese youths are suffering from "character amnesia," says AFP's Judith Evans. They can't remember how to create letters, thanks to computers and text messaging. In China, the problem is so prevalent, there's a word for it: "Tibiwangzi", or "take pen, forget character." "It's like you're forgetting your culture," says Zeng Ming, 22. So closely are Chinese writing and reading linked in the brain, says Hong Kong University linguist Siok Wai Ting, that China's reading ability as a nation could suffer.

New technology is part of the solution
New touch-screen phones and tablets, like the iPhone and iPad, are providing a countervailing force, translating handwriting into digital letter forms or making writing practice fun (a $1.99 iPhone app called "abc PocketPhonics" rewards kids with "cheering pencils"). In Japan, an iPhone game called kanji kentei — a character quiz with 12 levels — has become a hit with all age groups.

Science may just be catching up with common sense
Heather Horn in The Atlantic Wire says that while all this research is fascinating, it mostly shows that "scientists are finally beginning to explore what writers have long suspected." She notes a 1985 article in the Paris Review in which the interviewer asks novelist Robert Stone if he mostly types his manuscripts. His reply: "Yes, until something becomes elusive. Then I write in longhand in order to be precise. On a typewriter or word processor you can rush something that shouldn't be rushed — you can lose nuance, richness, lucidity. The pen compels lucidity."

Sources: Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Wire, AFP/Reuters

Perspective

When I fumble into my car and head for the Bikram Yoga studio at 5:40 am, I'm often feeling pretty pleased with myself.

When I reach the corner of Crow Canyon and Camino Ramon, there's usually a woman waiting to cross the street. Sometimes I get there just in time for my light to turn red for her to cross. I have found myself looking for her, anticipating seeing her. She has become an important part of my day.

It always strikes me that she's not only up, but dressed and going to work at that hour.

I feel a deep sense of respect for that woman. I don't know her, but she is important to me. I honor her and thank her for the perspective she offers.

A Day of Wonder

My TAT mentor, Lisa Saubolle, ends each of her emails with "May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder." John O'Donohue

Today was such a day.

It started with a wonderful email from a client who was crowing that he'd gotten his three lowest golf scores of the year + a silver medal in an important East Coast golf tournament + aced an important sales presentation abroad.

That would have been gift enough.

But then I met a new client who had come in for smoking cessation. There was no question that she had been guided to me. As I got to know her a bit, it was clear that she was someone very connected spiritually and that my usual smoking cessation protocol (a unique combination of EFT, guided imagery and hypnotherapy) could be dispensed with for her. Instead, with her permission, I used my touch hypnosis technique to help her relax completely and prepare her for a journey to the Sacred Space of her House of Healing. I figured she was connected enough with her Guides and Angels that they would take care of things. And boy, did they!

She had a remarkable healing from her Guides. They literally cleansed her body of the cigarette smoke as well as her desire to smoke. They showed her many wonderful images and symbols she understood clearly, including the message that this healing was permanent. Me? I took copious notes and held the space.

When it was over, she looked absolutely radiant. She was so happy and calm and, yes, a bit awestruck. She tossed her final pack of cigarettes into my special red basket before leaving. Sweet!

Even though such experiences happen rather frequently in my office, they are a constant source of inspiration and gratitude for me. It is proof positive that when we set the intention to heal, it is a sacred intention and therefore all of our Guides and Angels gather to support that intention in whatever way is meaningful to us.

What a day!

Walking My Talk

During the 9 years I taught Medical Hypnotherapy and Mind-Body Healing at Marilyn Gordon's school, one of the points I stressed the most was how important it is for us practitioners to work on our own stuff with a professional. I would point out that picking up the phone, making the call, scheduling the appointment, and doing the work with someone else kept us in touch with what our clients experience doing the same thing with us.

It's not easy to ask for help. It's not easy to make ourselves vulnerable in front of another human being -- sometimes a veritable stranger. It's not easy to admit we have "stuff," let alone share that stuff.

Yesterday I volunteered as "the client" for a TAT demo with my certification mentor, Lisa Saubolle. The session was just between the two of us, on the phone, and recorded so the other members of our mentoring group could listen later. I had to really concentrate on my own process because thinking about laying myself bare in front of the other group members -- let alone Lisa -- was distracting, to say the least.

The TAT session went well, bringing to light layers of a long-standing self-sabotage pattern I recently recognized. But just as significant was the opportunity to put myself in the shoes of the people I serve, recognizing anew the courage it takes to heal.

Flying Phobias

Did you know that I have a 100% success rate with fear of flying? This includes the woman who changed her reservations at the last minute, watched the plane she was originally scheduled to take collide with another plane upon take off, and was so distraught she had to be completely knocked-out in order to get home later. Her husband wanted to take her to Italy for a special anniversary and she wanted to enjoy the ride. She did! 100% success rate without any negative side effects. There's not a pharmaceutical out there that can match that.

My success rate in helping people overcome panic, anxiety and other debiltating fears (driving on freeways, over bridges and through tunnels come to mind) is not 100% but for those who stick with me, it's pretty darn close.

Average length of treatment is 6 sessions and usually combines EFT with hypnotherapy. The side effects my clients report include improved sleep, better outlook, more confidence. How cool is that!

Love that Bikram!

Just wanted to shout out that I'm still doing the Bikram at 6 am most weekday mornings. Today I will try an afternoon class; although I'm not interested in shifting the practice away from the early morning. Who would ever have believed that I, confirmed not-morning-person, would turn into someone who thrives on being out of the house by 5:45 am? By the time I return home, my husband is up, coffee is made and I'm ready for my Vimala Alphabet daily handwriting practice, still giving me time to be ready for a 10 am client. I love it!

Somewhere over the past few weeks, I've shed a couple of pounds. I'm watching the shape of my body change. I've never experienced this level of visible improvement at this pace before. But then I've never had a 90-minute intense workout in a 103 degree room several times a week before. The funny thing is that as rigorous as the practice is, it doesn't feel like work. I enjoy testing my body's limits day by day. Again, such a surprise for me.

Every now and again that little voice grumbles, "Why couldn't you have found this sooner in your life?" But I know that I wasn't ready for it before. I'm grateful -- and proud -- that I'm ready for it now.

I Don't Get It ...

The other day a young woman called. She was due to take a trip in a week or so and since she's phobic about flying, she was already very anxious.

I told her that I have a 100% success rate in eliminating flying phobias.

It as almost as though she wasn't listening. She kept telling me how hard it was for her to fly and how she needed to be medicated and how she doesn't want to be medicated. She wanted to know what my process was.

I explained about the combination of EFT and hypnotherapy. I repeated that I have a 100% success rate in eliminating flying phobias and that she wouldn't need medication after our work together was complete.

She said she'd think about her options and get back to me if she were interested. She hasn't.

People are endlessly fascinating, yes?