BioGeometry Shapes and Brain Balancing

By Michael Maley, Ph.D.

BioGeometry Instructor: Wayzata, Minnesota, USA

At Dr. Ibrahim Karim’s Advanced Topics seminar in November of 2011, the conversation at dinner with the instructors and other colleagues wandered into the topic of BioGeometry and Personal Development and the role that hemispheric balance might have on that activity. Ibrahim mentioned that he had discovered some shapes that would balance the two hemispheres, similar to the way BioSignatures work, and he proceeded to draw them on a sheet of paper. We began testing these shapes on ourselves and each other, first testing the ‘openess’ or ‘shutdownness’ of each side of the brain with the Personal Wavelength (PW), and then exposing each other to the shapes.

Our interest increased as we found that even brief exposure to the shapes opened the hemisphere that had been shut down (changed the PW from CCW to CW). Out of that initial exposure, came some ideas about how to further work with these shapes, and in the paper that follows, the results of these initial explorations are described. Ibrahim generously shared the shapes that he had manufactured as wooden statues and Figure 1 below illustrates how we began and what we used as our original test pattern. OL and OR refer to whether the shape ‘opens’ (restores and/or strengthens a CW pattern) the left or right hemisphere:

OL = Opens / Strengthens Left Hemisphere of the Brain

OR = Opens / Strengthen Right Hemisphere of the Brain

Figure 1: The Brain Hemisphere Balancing Shapes

Early testing on many different subjects supported what we had experienced in Asheville—when a hemisphere is shut down (showing a reversal of the PW), exposure to a shape for that side of the brain will correct the reversal and bring the hemisphere online again. This effect was seen in everyone we originally tested. Individual differences began to emerge when we looked at how long the effect would last. For some people it lasted for many hours and for others only a short time.

Hemispheric activation is a very fluid process anyway—some individuals operate with both hemispheres online all the time; others seem to have a dominant hemisphere with the opposite side of the brain more or less permanently shut down; and others, when engaged in a hemispheric specific activity, will somehow render the other hemisphere inactive, but it will come online when their attention shifts or the activity changes. Just like your breathing pattern, the activity you are engaged in will begin to shift the pattern, but it may or may not be a permanent change.

This is quite similar to what occurs with the organ balancing BioSignatures, in that immediate exposure will correct a CCW reversal in the organ, but there is often a need to reinforce that with other kinds of corrections as well to support the organ continuously. To fully correct an organ imbalance, often a consideration of other energy pathways affecting the organ is required (e.g., supporting meridians that move through the area). Other similar BioSignature shapes may also help; other organs may need to be balanced; and it often helps to add other supports (nutritional, homeopathic) as well (1). These procedures represent the effective use of both polarity balancing and Centering for healing physical imbalances.

Our next step was to begin looking at how to make the effect of the shapes more permanent and how to determine the effect of the balancing on the individual’s energy system, subjective experience, and behavior. In this report, we look at preliminary explorations of three different aspects of shape exposure – length of exposure, other supporting interventions to deepen the absorption, and the effects of the shapes on organ imbalances. In Appendix I there is a short summary of the functions of the two hemispheres and how important hemispheric balance is to effective physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and cultural harmony.

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SUGGESTED EXERCISE: See if you can replicate the phenomena of the shapes balancing the hemispheres. Find some subjects, take their PW with a neutral pendulum or the IKUP, place your hand close to the side of their head or point to the side of their head, and notice whether or not their PW stays CW or reverses into a CCW response. Then expose them to the shapes for some time and measure again. Note whether the shapes correct the CCW pendulum response. If you are able, test after some time to see how long the balancing lasts, or ask them to look at the shapes frequently and see what happens.

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One of the first things we tried was to see what happens when we prolonged exposure to the shapes. Exposure time is an important variable in many therapies, and it seemed to be a variable with BioSignatures. We made copies of the shapes for ourselves and others and taped them in locations where we would be looking at them often—on the corner of the computer screen; on their desk; on the refrigerator, etc. It was apparent that longer exposure times affected the outcome—that is, the ‘hemispheric balance’ as measured by both hemispheres showing a CW rotation lasted longer than short one-time exposures. 

Those individuals who continued to look at the shapes for days or weeks reported a shift in their awareness of their cognitive experience. One person reported thinking more clearly, another found it easier to study and recall academic material, and another reported some differences in how they related to their own internal experience. Some individuals whose left brains were more shut down and who looked at the shapes often reported some remarkable shifts in attention, cognitive processing, and the ability to focus—“it’s like a light went on” one person reported…”I could think more clearly and focus my attention and not be so distracted.” The effects reported when the right hemisphere opened seemed to be more subtle and harder to describe, but they did “feel different.” In some younger subjects there was a marked shift in emotional states in the direction of more stable emotional moods.

These are all anecdotal reports, but suggest that exposure time is important for allowing the balancing effect to take hold. Some teachers are placing the photographs of the shapes on their student’s desks to see if daily exposure can affect test performance. It is a simple thing to print a photo of the shapes and place it in a plastic holder and put it on the desk (Figure 2 below). Exposure time had one other interesting effect—as the person learned and could feel the difference between times when both hemispheres were online and those times when one went offline, there was an increased awareness of the emotional states and cognitive abilities that came and went with the balancing. When right hemisphere shutdown was accompanied by more unstable emotional states, the individual more frequently chose to look at the shapes and bring the errant hemisphere back on line. It is likely that this phenomena is a phase of the rebalancing that comes before the hemisphere shifts permanently, but that hypothesis awaits more data. Increased emotional awareness, by itself, is an important quality associated with right hemisphere functioning.

Figure 2: Display Stands for the Shapes

There are a number of other procedures we tried to increase the amount of attention the person paid to the shapes. One of the issues here is that hemispheric imbalance (e.g., a poorly functioning right hemisphere) is hypothesized to be the basis of many attention disorders (e.g., ADD, ADHD) and paying sustained attention to anything is a problem for these individuals. To increase the attention factor, we explored some ways to make the experience more physical by involving the whole body. Movement patterns that aid in hemispheric activation on both sides include walking, doing the the cross -crawl exercise, and the butterfly hug (crossing the arms as if to give yourself a hug and gently and rhythmically tapping yourself on your upper arm alternating sides). We had some people look at the shapes and simultaneously perform the movements to see if it increased their attention to the shapes. It did, and that experiment is ongoing. When using these procedures with children, we explored just taking some short intervals of looking at the shapes while doing the butterfly hug several times a day to see if it would reinforce some hemispheric changes. It would be interesting to be able to do some EEG assessments of hemispheric activation to see what effect these interventions have on brain states.

In the clinical treatment of hemispheric imbalance there are a large number of sensory motor exercises and assessments used to retrain the brain. Involving the whole body in sensory experience, movement patterns, neuroacademic exercises, and emotional stimulation is the usual way marked hemispheric imbalance is addressed(2). In this project, we are exploring the ways in which the BioGeometry shapes and their subtle energy emissions can contribute to this outcome. Like BioSignatures, the shapes themselves and the accompanying BG3 from their placement next to each other appears to provide the necessary stimulation to the deficient hemisphere to bring it back on line. How that immediate correction makes it way into more permanent changes in cognition, perception, behavior, and emotional expression is the data we are seeking.

Many organ imbalances accompany imbalances in the hemispheres. Direct causation is difficult to establish, but even temporarily restoring functioning to the deficient hemisphere can change an organ response from a CCW to CW pendulum measurement. In the literature on hemispheric imbalances, many disturbances in digestion and food sensitivities accompany right hemisphere dysfunction.

In the BioGeometry Foundation Training seminars, we have been using the shapes to assist students in the practicums. BioGeometry training is an interesting mix of conceptual left brain knowledge and right brain immersion in the radiesthesia/dowsing experiences. Skill sets are needed in both universes. Students in the classes have the usual mix of hemispheric dominance, with some being ‘right-brained’ and others ‘left-brained’. We have begun to use the shapes to open the less active hemisphere and see how they can contribute to better learning in both areas. Students that have taken the shapes and tried them with their family and friends have reported interesting results and we are looking for more data from those of you reading this report. Several students have reported how stunned they were to see how few children show dual hemispheric activation, and how often the left hemisphere is the only one consistently functioning. This is also consistent with the theme of one of the finest books on the issue of hemispheric balance – The Master and his Emmisary by Iain McGilchrist (3). McGilchrist traces the changes in hemispheric dominance through the history of western culture, and his ideas mirror the discussions in the Foundation Trainings on the evolution of the brain and the gradual loss of right brain integration with left brain functions.

One further intervention is being tried, and that is broadcasting the shapes using the Human Archetype Ruler (also known as the “BG3 Ruler”, this tool is taught in the BioGeometry Advanced Training.) You can broadcast the qualities into the environment by leaving the witness circle on the Ruler open, or you can use the targeted person’s witness or photo along with the photo of the shapes. The line strip is then placed on the ruler to make it a broadcasting instrument. This is a new intervention so we do not have a lot of reports yet, but it is a way to send the information and energy of the shapes more continuously and does not require the person to be looking at the shapes.

We welcome your participation in this experiment. If you have had some experience with the shapes; have tried them personally or with others and have some results to share, please post them on the BioGeometry Forums.

Footnotes

(1) Recall the discussion in the Foundation Training about the creation of the experimental Hepatitis-C medallion. The BioSignatures for other organs were on the medallion, as well as BioSignatures which resonated specifically with the Liver.

(2) Melillo, Robert. Disconnected Kids (New York, Perigee Books, 2010).

(3) McGilchrist, Iain. The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2012)

Appendix

A Short Summary of the Importance of Hemispheric Balance

In doing my research for this project, three books were extremely helpful to me. Two of them are referenced above in the report on the project. “Disconnected Kids” describes how hemispheric imbalances create so many clinical conditions like ADD, ADHD, Autism, Aspergers, and Dyslexia. These conditions affect families and children everyday in their lives, and are responsible for serious problems that limit the individual’s ability to fully develop their potential.

Iain McGilchrist’s book (1) brought the phenomena of hemispheric dominance into a larger social and cultural context and described how the issue of hemispheric dominance affects cultural development and it’s emotional and spiritual evolution.

The third book is a fascinating and inspiring account of a neuroscientist who experienced a stroke rendering her left hemisphere non-functional and placed her in a totally right brain state for several years. The story of her stroke and her incredible recovery is told in her book “My Stroke of Genius” (2) and offers a first person account and exploration of the worlds the two hemispheres experience.

Both McGilchrist and Bolte provide excellent descriptions of the two different universes that each of the two hemispheres connect to and create in our personal perceptual world. There are two minds inside each of us and many people are aware of those dichotomies—our thinking and feeling selves; our mental and intuitive/somatic selves; our judging and perceiving selves; and the choices we make from our head and our heart. How do you find a balance between these different abilities and choose which qualities to express in any given situation?

Our left brain controls fine motor skills—so we can play the piano, tie our shoes, and speak clearly. It is involved in every conscious move we make, and when we talk to ourselves. It’s the linear, logical brain, the thinking brain, and mediates pattern recognition, working with numbers, computer games, multi-tasking, and finding the meaning in things. It takes all the energy and information of the present moment, all of the possibilities sensed by the right brain, and tries to shape it into something manageable—it can categorize, organize, describe, judge, and critically analyze anything. It is one of the finest tools in the universe for organizing information (2).

McGilchrist describes the overall functions of the left hemisphere as follows: “The left hemisphere is always engaged in a purpose; it always has an end in view, and downgrades whatever has no instrumental purpose in sight…The world of the left hemisphere, dependent on denotative language and abstraction, yields clarity and power to manipulate things that are known, fixed, static, isolated, decontextualized, general in nature, but ultimately lifeless…...The knowledge that is mediated by the left hemisphere is knowledge within a closed system. It has the advantage of perfection, but such perfection is bought ultimately at the price of emptiness, of self-reference.”

When the left brain is off-line early in life, language skills suffer and processing words and sound may be difficult. Reading, spelling, and speaking are affected, and conditions like dyslexia, processing disorders, and learning disabilities can result.

When the right hemisphere is off-line early in childhood, the losses include difficulties in emotional relating and empathy for others; poor skill sets in emotional regulation; difficulties paying attention; disturbances in sensory motor functions like balance and grace; food intolerances; and a less resilient immune system. An even larger view of what is lost comes from McGilchrist’s description of how the right hemisphere contributes to our experience of the world…”empathy and intersubjectivity as the ground of consciousness; the importance of an open, patient attention to the world, as opposed to a willful, grasping attention; the implicit or hidden nature of truth, the emphasis on process rather than stasis; the journey being more important than the arrival; the primacy of perception; the importance of the body in constituting reality; an emphasis on uniqueness…”. Bolte’s experience was similar….”My right mind is open to the eternal flow whereby I exist at one with the universe. It is the seat of my divine mind, the knower, the wise woman, and the observer. It is my intuition and higher consciousness. My right mind is ever present and gets lost in time. Its most fundamental trait is deep inner peace and compassion.”

The right hemisphere is deeply involved in the development of our personal and intimate attachments to others, and relational attachments to our earliest caregivers both develop our brains and are able to manifest through right brain systems. Allan Schore, a developmental neuroscientist (with a very developed left brain), summarizes the role of the right brain in relationships this way…”attachment transactions are critical to the development of structural right brain systems involved in the nonconscious processing of emotion, modulation of stress, self-regulation, and thereby the functional origins of the bodily based affective core of the implicit self that operates automatically and rapidly beneath levels of awareness.”(3)

There is an increasing emphasis on teaching and emphasizing right brain functions and ‘right brain to right brain’ interactions in many fields of healing, especially psychotherapy, and a deepening understanding of how important this hemisphere is for mediating those energy qualities that provide a deeper, more emotional and spiritual experience of the world.

All of the above descriptors show how each hemisphere creates a different view of absolute reality, and it becomes so clear that we need both hemispheres on-line and available to us to fully experience what it is to be a human being. When they work together, our deepest desires can become manifest, and we can articulate and share the subtleties of our inner experiences with others and co-create a richer life. The integration of polarities in our emotional and spiritual life depends on our ability to see the world through both hemispheres and develop skill sets and excellence in both universes. In many of the exercises that we have done, our current impression is that the right brain in young people is more often off-line than the left. Whether the excessive use of modern technology is contributing to that, or because current educational approaches favor the left hemisphere, the outcome is troubling. Our hope is that these simple, but powerful shapes developed by Dr. Karim can make a difference in these trends. We still do not know the long-term effects of shape exposure, but our initial explorations have been exciting and fruitful. We do invite students of BioGeometry to explore these patterns and share them with the community through the BioGeometry Forums.

Footnotes

(1) McGilchrist, Iain. The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2012)

(2) Taylor, Jill Bolte. My Stroke of Insight. (New York, Penguin Books, 2006)

(3) Schore, Allan. The Science of the Art of Psychotherapy. (New York, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2011)