Why left-brain right-brain communication is so important and what it means for the anxious person
We usually think of ourselves as having a brain, one brain. However, we have two, a right-brain and a left-brain and while they were designed to work in synch with one another, that’s not always what happens. That original harmony can be disrupted by several things chief among which would be prolonged stress and/or trauma, both physical and psychological.
In an optimal state, the brains hemispheres are fluidly communicating with one another to accurately process our experience and respond appropriately. But, as we’ve said, this optimal functioning can be compromised by stress, anxiety, and trauma.
At times, we may not even be consciously aware of the heavy toll that stress is taking and how anxiously we are responding.
The NeuView Glasses enable us to see, feel, and know how each side of our brain is processing our experience.
Putting on the glasses and raising the left side puts us in touch with how our right-brain is seeing things. Open the right side and you’re able to connect with how your left-brain sees the same event.
Here are a few examples of what can happen when we experience the integration of our left and right brain experience:
One individual who experienced himself as “a Samurai warrior with my sword at the ready” on one side was amazed and comforted to experience himself as “a shepherd tending my flock” on the other side.
The “Samurai” view of himself was so dominant that it kept him in a state of constant vigilance unable to enjoy his life. Connecting and acknowledging his “shepherd” view enabled him to leave a high-pressured job and become – you guessed it – a shepherd.
Today he’s a successful sheep farmer.
Then there was the anxious test taker with the right-brain view that he couldn’t possibly pass the test for which he had studied so hard.
He had failed this test before and on other occasions chose to avoid it altogether rather than risk another failure experience.
However, when he raised the right-side window and accessed his left brain view he was immediately able to tell me, “Not a problem, I know the stuff.” And know the stuff he did – three days later he passed the test, was promoted and got a hefty raise.
9/11, 9/11, 9/11, will it ever end?
Her office was not located in the “twin towers” but when they fell they buried her office seven stories beneath the ground.
Living in a hi-rise apartment on the East River she had enjoyed a spectacular view of lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center every morning before she travelled downtown to work in its shadow.
On the mornings following 9/11 she would waken with severe anxiety, look from her window and experience extreme dread. Now, putting on the NeuView Glasses, raising the side opening she could feel the anxiety subsiding. It didn’t vanish, but it came down to a level where she felt hat she could return to work. No, life would never be the same, but it would go on and so would she.
After having his car towed away from a parking lot, in which he had illegally parked, John was enraged and stayed enraged for days. Unable to sleep or work he obsessed over the incident. His wife, at her wits end, insisted he see a therapist. John agreed that he needed help, but by the time he entered my office he was certain that he knew what to do.
“Revenge! I’ll be ok if I get my revenge.”
John was prepared to travel hours, back to “the scene of the crime” to commit a crime and have his revenge. He would take an ice pick – and puncture every tire in the lot. He insisted that this was the only solution – the only way he could get some peace.
Two minutes later, perhaps three, after using the NeuView Glasses, when asked if he needed to do this, he replied, “Nah, I don’t have to do that.”
Actually, John’s return trip to rationality took only 20 seconds. When he opened the right side of the glasses, he stimulated his left brain and within seconds knew that his plan for revenge made no sense and should not be acted upon.