Th Brain

Your brain has two sides ,and each has a distinctly different way of looking

at the world. The more we integrate those two sides, the more developed we

make ourselves. Integration not only increases our ability to creatively

solve problems, but to control physical problems such as epilepsy and

migraines. Even more startling is evidence coming to light that we have

become a "left-brain culture".

Your brain's right and left side have distinctly different ways of

looking at the world. Your two hemispheres are as different from each other

as me to you. The left brain controls the right side of the body (the

exception to this occurs with left handed people which is 15 percent of the

population) and is logical scientific, judgmental and verbal. It's

interested in the facts, and efficiency. The right brain controls the left

side of the body and deals with the creativity and imagination. It is

concerned more with the visual and emotional side of life.

As you read, your left-side is sensibly making connections and analyzing the

meaning of the words, the syntax and other complex relation-ships while

putting it into a "language" you can understand. Meanwhile, the right side

is providing emotional and even humorous

cues, recognizing visual

information and causing you to find humor or sadness.

While all of this is going on, the two sides are constantly

communicating with each other across a connecting fiber tract called the

corpus callosum. There is a certain amount of overlap but essentially the

two hemispheres of the brain are like two different personalities that

working alone would serve no efficient purpose, but when functioning

together bring all things into perspective.

The most creative decision making and problem solving come about when both

sides work together. The left brain analyzing issues, problems and

barriers; the right brain generating fresh approaches; and the left brain

translating the into plans of action.

"In a time of vast change like the present, the intuitive side of

the brain operates so fast it can see what's coming," says Dr. Howard

Eisenberg, a medical doctor with a degree in psychology who has studied

hemispheric relationships. "The left brain is too slow, but the right can

see around corners."

An increasing number of medical professionals believe that

being in touch with our brain, especially the right half, can help control

medical problems. For some doctors use "imaginable thinking" to control

everything from migraines to asthma, to high blood pressure. It is said

that by teaching someone to raise to raise their temperature - by imaging

they are sunbathing or in a warm bath- they can control their circulatory

system and therefore the migraine.

Knowledge of our two-sided brain began in the mid-1800's when French

neurologist Paul Broca discovered that injuries to the left side of the

brain resulted in the loss of speech. Damage to the right side. In the

early 1960s, Nobel Prize winner Dr. Roger Sperry proved that patients who

had their corpus callosum severed to try and control epileptic seizures

could no longer communicate between their hemispheres. The struggle can be

seen in the postoperative period when the patient is asked to do a simple

block