Winter Qi Chats | Week 11
It’s time to settle…
This week we go over mindset training reminders you can take with you this Winter Season.
Keeping Your Thoughts… Yours
Lately, I have been hear a lot of AI “fears” and warnings, but this one grabbed my attention. I read that Meta has acquired patents and technology aimed at non‑invasive mind reading — cue the eye roll. But this kind of work isn’t entirely new.
Non‑invasive brain‑reading techniques have already been used for medical communication. People who’ve suffered strokes have seen real benefits from devices that use magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG). These systems measure the brain’s magnetic and electrical activity with sensors on the scalp. Recently, researchers at UC Berkeley and Japan’s NTT Communication Science Laboratories combined AI models with MRI scans to take this further: essentially decoding thoughts from brain activity.
However, when I read that Meta is developing AI to reconstruct thoughts into text from brain scans, my immediate reaction was “Wow. I should learn how to quiet my mind for the future".
Watching the Clouds
But what I find even more silly is we are more fearful of this dystopian future than we are of our own decisions that will most certainly affect out futures. A busy mind is not healthy. Our nervous system get trained in to survival, fight + flight and inflammation arises as a result.
However, when we set a daily (yes, I said daily) practice of stillness, then we’re training our mind, nervous system to heal. Stillness is the greatest medicine and so few of us reach for this handy anti-inflammatory tool.
My favorite ways to begin to teach my mind to be still is to watch the cloud for 5 minutes.
Watching slow movement can actually still your mind, slow your breathing rhythm and calm the nervous system. As my son will pout “it’s BORING” and my response is “Good!”. We need to slow down and get uncomfortable with out inner thought. Seeing, acknowledging and letting it go. I remind you of passing clouds to not only inspire you but to use the clouds as a reminder for stillness, letting go and restoration of the mind, body and mood!
Neuro-Qi Tip o’the day!
Watch the clouds go by…
“Zuo Wang” Sit + Forget Meditation - brush away the mental clouds
Demo: Qigong “Brushing the Clouds” - practice moving the clouds
