Memory Maneuvers With NLP and Vision Exercises: Use Your Eyes To Improve Your Memory and Creativity
A Vision and Brain Health Essay.
Try This Exercise
Look around the room and notice your surrounding then sit comfortably with your eyes closed. As you breathe in relax your eyes and then as you breathe out and then look in each of the directions. Look in a different direction on each out breath with your eyes closed.
Up and to the right (Dominant hemisphere visualization (ie) constructed imagery and visual fantasy)
Down to the left (Internal dialogue or inner self-talk)
Up to the left (Non-Dominant Hemisphere visualization (ie) remembered imagery)
Down to the right (Feelings, both tactile and visceral)
Directly to the left (Non-dominant hemisphere auditory processing (ie) remembered sounds, words, and “tape loops” and tonal discrimination)
Directly to the right (Dominant hemisphere auditory processing (ie) constructed sounds and words.
Directly down
Directly up
Then once again open your eyes and look around the room. What has changed in what you see and in the way your head and body feel?
Six Muscles and Four Nerves
This is an exercise for the muscles of the eyes. Six skeletal muscles surround and move the eye precisely and quickly in an upwards, downwards, left lateral, right lateral and diagonal directions. The contraction and relaxation of these muscles allow the eye to track moving objects, scan for objects, and maintain a stable image on the retina.
The muscles of the eyes are connected to the eyes, which are connected to the brain, which is connected to the body. When the muscles contract they change the orientation of the eyes and with that change what you see, which affects the brain and the body.
Above in parenthesis are the Neurolingistic Programming (NLP) correlations with eye movements. The premise of this exercise is that by exercising the eyes in an upwards and left direction facilitates visual memory.
Superior Rectus (SR): The superior rectus muscle elevates the eye, allowing the eye to look up. (CN 3 Oculomotor).
Inferior Rectus (IR): The inferior rectus muscle depresses the eye, allowing the eye to look down. (CN 3 Oculomotor).
Medial Rectus (MR): On the medial side of the eye, the medial rectus muscle adducts the eye, allowing it to look medially towards the nose. (CN 3 Oculomotor)
Lateral Rectus (LR): The lateral rectus muscle that abducts the eye, allowing it to look laterally or away from the body’s midline. (CN 6 Abducens).
Superior Oblique (SO): The superior oblique muscle rotates the eye medially and abducts it when the eye if facing forward. When the eye is adducted or turned toward the nose, the superior oblique depresses the eye. (CN 4 Trochlear).
Inferior Oblique (IO): The inferior oblique rotates the eye laterally and adducts it. When the eye is adducted, or turned toward the nose the inferior oblique elevates the eye. (CN 3 Oculomotor).
The fourth nerve to the eyes, Optic Nerve goes to the retina, not the muscles of the eyes.
The following is the abstract for an article on the Superior Rectus muscle which moves the eyes up and to the right and left.
Using Eye Muscles To Recover Visual Function, Memory Skills and the Ability to Visualize, a Review of Superior Rectus
Abstract: From the field of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) comes the idea that when a person is speaking and looks up to the left, they are remembering images (things they have seen before). Look up to the right and they are constructing images or visual fantasies (sometimes considered lying). The superior rectus muscle of the eye enables us to look up. It is innervated by the oculomotor nerve or cranial nerve three. Here we look at conditions that affect the superior rectus muscle of the eye and exercises or techniques to strengthen it. The thesis of this article is that exercises that strengthen the muscles of the eye that enable us to look up and to the right will also have a positive effect on the ability to remember images or in other words will improve visual memory. Exercises that strengthen our ability to look up to the left will also strengthen the ability to visualize or imagine things we have never seen. Improving the health of superior rectus increases the possibility of more creativity and innovation. According to Neurolinguistic Programming, the conditions that damage the superior rectus muscle of the eye may also decrease the ability to recall visual images or imagine something a person has never seen.
- Burnham K (2017) Using eye muscles to recover visual function, memory skills and the ability to visualize, a review of superior rectus. Neurol Disord Therap 1: DOI: DOI: 10.15761/NDT.1000112
Narrative Therapy, Visualization, and Brain Neurons in Parkinson’s Disease
Abstract: Narrative therapy (story telling) and expressive poetry (sensory words) can be used to engage the mirror neurons and motor neurons in the brain and decrease the symptoms in Parkinson’s disease. The kind of stories we listen to and whether we identify with the narrator or not influence what parts of our brain “lights up,” get more blood flow, more nutrients, and more stimulation causing it to better develop or heal. This means the kind of stories we tell in our families and communities, the kind of speakers we hear, the kind of music we listen to influences the ability of our cortex to function. Storytelling provides another doorway to greater brain health. Mirror neurons cause us to feel the actions of others in our own body. Motor neurons can be engaged through seeing another person move or through guided visualizations. An engaging story about someone walking is a brisk and balanced way can create an image in the mind of someone with Parkinson’s disease. That image is then translated into a subtle contracting of the muscles needed to walk in that particular way. This stimulates the brain and nerve pathways to the muscles that are needed in order to do these actions. Research has also shown that injured athletes who visualize themselves doing their sport come back to the game with better skills than an athlete who doesn’t do any visualization.
- Burnham, K. (2016). Narrative therapy, visualization, and brain neurons in Parkinson’s disease. 2nd International Conference on Parkinson’s Disease & Movement Disorders. December 05–07, 2016 Phoenix, USA, J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 2016, 6:6(Suppl)
Three Vision Exercises from a Journal that focuses on people with acquired brain injuries or traumatic brain injuries.
These three exercises: peripheral vision, blinking speed and the left-right looking exercises can each change vision and the connections within the brain in a different way.
Peripheral Vision Exercise:
Look straight ahead with the head and eyes. Reach out your arms to the right and left at shoulder level with arms straight. Reach backward then slowly bringing the hands and arms forward as if to clap in front of you. Arms are straight the whole time. Look straight ahead but look for your hands moving into view. Stop moving the hands when you see them. Move the hands and arms backwards slightly. Wiggle the fingers on the right then left then right again. Can you see them? Stretch your vision to your hands and wiggling the fingers all the while looking straight ahead. Make this a practice every day expanding peripheral vision.
Blinking Vision Speed Exercise:
Look around at the light. What can you see? Do you see red and blue? Is the room or landscape painted with yellow or pink? Now start blinking you eyes. You can blink fast or slow or vary the rate as you go. Ask yourself questions as you blink for a minute or so. What do I see that is red? How many chairs are there? Do I see anything that is triangular? Notice the colors, numbers and shapes as you blink. Then after a minute or so stop blinking and look around. What has changed? Is the light brighter? Are your eyes more comfortable? Are colors more vibrant? Open to seeing what is around you.
Left Right Looking Exercise:
From the field of NeuroLinguistic Programing (NLP) comes the idea that when we are recalling certain kinds of memories or imagining something, we move our eyes in a particular direction: up, down, sideways, gaily forward, right and left.
For example, moving the eyes to up and to the left is thought to indicate the recalling of remembered imagery. The premise of this exercise is that moving the eyes, strengthening the muscles, exercising them up and as far to the left as possible activates the eyes and enhances our ability to remember images, in other words improves our memory.
Take a deep breath in and relax your eyes. On the exhale look to the left, as far to the left as possible while centering the head in a relaxed way over the shoulder. Repeat this three times for each direction. Inhale and relax the eyes. Exhale and move your eyes in the specified direction.
Take another deep breath in and on the exhale look to the right, as far to the right as possible while the head remains facing forwards. Do this three times.
After the third deep breath exhale and look up and the left (enhance visual memory) as you think about your best friend’s favorite color. What color is he or she always wearing?
On the fourth exhale look down and to the right as you think about how you felt in your body this morning. Were you happy or sad? What emotions were you feeling? How did your rib cage feel or your shoulder?
On the fifth exhale look down and to the left as you listen to your intuitive sense. What should you make for dinner tonight or what should you wear this morning?
Take a deep breath in as you relax your eyes. On the next exhale look up and to the right as you imagine the contours of a boat or an airplane that you could build that is nothing like anything that has ever been seen before. Up and to the right is the domain of visualization, imagined images of something you have never seen before.
Notice What Changes
Notice how comfortable your eyes are as you do these exercise. Are there some directions that are easier to look than others? Do they become more comfortable over time? Is it becoming easier to remember things you have seen or heard before? Are you expressing more creativity at work or school?
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on July 12, 2017.
