Heightened awareness is a mystery only for our reason. In practice it is very simple. As with everything else we complicate matters by trying to make the immensity that surrounds us reasonable. (Carlos Castaneda)

Every living being experiences a degree of consciousness, a sense of being – an awareness of Self before being identified, named or rationalised by the ‘thinking mind’. We can only become conscious of this pure awareness when the mind is silent – the space between thoughts where the Self just is, unaffected, at peace and in harmony.

Thoughts are the verbal constructs that the mind creates when identifying with personality, analysing, judging, rationalising, instructing or having opinions. This usually random and uncontrolled stream of thoughts can be positive or negative and might include self-congratulation or criticism, fears, regrets, expectations, instructions, desires and concerns from the past or in the future.

When we experience the optimum mental state of relaxed concentration during an activity we are absorbed, calm, alert, and our senses are receptive. In this state of non-judgmental awareness we experience confidence and trust our ability. (It is worth contemplating the meaning of the word concentration – ‘with centre’ and the word confidence – `with belief’.) We are essentially fully in the present and in a state of active meditation. There is no effort or trying hard involved and usually a sense of deep satisfaction, enjoyment and love for what we are doing.

You can begin to develop greater awareness by focusing on your breathing. You don’t even have to be anywhere near a mountain to do this and in fact many people find that doing this as they go about their daily activities, without too much distraction, is a good way to start.

To become centred and more aware by quietening our mind it is worth understanding something about how our brains function. Our predominantly verbal, logical education has diminished our trust in and our ability to access our non-verbal, multi sensory, silent partner.

BRAIN HEMISPHERE FUNCTIONS

Dr Roger Sperry was awarded a Nobel Prize for his research into brain hemisphere functioning. Our brain is in fact a dual organ, consisting of two identical-looking hemispheres joined by a thick bundle of nerve fibres called the corpus callosum. It is now proven that these two brains function in fundamentally different ways.

In the majority of people the left hemisphere is the home of speech and verbal thinking. We use this hemisphere to verify through logic, understand reality through a linear time record, make decisions and remember names and numbers.

The right hemisphere knows no time but understands spatial relationships, motion and emotion. This is the part that dances, sings, laughs and cries. It is believed to have direct links to our autonomic (automatic) nervous system, receiving information simultaneously in sensory images through touch, smell, sight and sound to create our overall kinaesthetic perception. Its memory is holistic (multi-dimensional) and this part of us is so complex that it is impossible for our verbal, linear thought process to understand. To clarify we could divide the functions as follows:

LEFT RIGHT
Verbal Visual
Linear Spatial
Mathematical Rhythmical
Rational Intuitive
Logical Imaginative
Analytical Multi-dimensional
Decisive Creative
Sequential Emotional
Words of a song Tune of a song

Choosing to go skiing, rationalising the expenditure and deciding which route to take might be the left hemisphere. But when it comes to actually skiing with complex external and internal spatial relationships and a mass of sensory information we need to be able to function in a non-verbal way. Like any good partnership it needs to be a symbiotic, synergistic relationship, centred rather than lopsided, not half-brained but whole brained. Speech is made up of words but there is also tone, expression, creativity and rhythm. In reading there is the literal interpretation of the words but also a whole meaning to grasp, humour, analogy and metaphor.

Our link with our skiing body is through rhythm, sensory feelings, creative use of our imagination, visualisation and trusting its innate wisdom to adapt and learn. I am not advocating ‘mindlessness’ where you chuck out your capacity to analyse and assess danger. This is all about taking responsibility for your experience – making the rewards all the sweeter because they are truly yours.

Copyright Sarah Ferguson 2002

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