Day 1 and Day 2 exercises were more about shifting our brain out of stress mode. Stress mode can lead to a scarcity mindset, panic, and some very irrational behavior. As I mentioned earlier, prolonged stress can shrink really important parts of our brains, so it is very important to keep it managed! To combat brain shrinkage, we can also help from a different angle. Rather than just reducing stress, we can also BOLSTER our brains!
A great way to exercise our brains, create neuroplasticity and new neural connections is by doing cross crawling activities!
You know how babies crawl before they walk? Crawling is actually ESSENTIAL for developing their brains and nervous systems, and it still really healthy for us as adults. Luckily we don't have to get down on our hands and knees to stimulate our brains.
Properly walking, with a full arm swing, activates our cross crawl, the problem is many people have such dysfunctional gait patterns it's hard to know if they are activating this mechanism.
Other things you can do include THE CROSS CRAWL DANCE!
1) Get a metronome at 40 bpm (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMX3svjulec)
2) Do these movements to the beat, while listening to also stimulate the auditory part of our brain.
3) The goal is to initiate the movement of the arm on one side of the body, and the leg on the opposite side at the EXACT SAME TIME. Make sure there is no lag between your arm and leg when moving!
4) Stop before they are fatiguing. These are meant to be done for a few minutes, multiple times per day, not all at once! Start with 5 reps per side, per exercise!
OKAY: Here are the movements

1) Right arm up in front of you while you bring your left knee up in front of you.
Then switch, left arm up, right knee up.

2) Bring your right arm up to the side, while bringing your left knee up to the side. Then switch.

3) Use the right arm to cross the body towards the left, in front of the torso, while the left leg kicks behind to cross to the right side in the back. You can either hop between legs or come to neutral standing position, then switch.

4) Reach your right arm up while kicking your left leg out to the left, then switch!

5) Kick the right leg straight out ahead while bringing the left arm straight forward. Transition at neutral and switch.

6) Kick your right leg across your body to the left in front of your torso, and bring your left arm straight across your chest to the right. Switch

7) Step your right leg straight back while bringing your left arm directly in front of you. Neutral, Switch.
Give it a try! To challenge your brain even more, you can try saying the alphabet backwards, or drilling times tables while you do the dance with the metronome. The more systems in our brain we employ, the more of a brain "workout" it will be!
I hope your brain is growing and becoming stronger by the day!
Love always,
Dr. Evelyn
Comments