Thursday's Brain Awareness Week Events

It is truly a "Thankful Thursday" at the Virtual Brain Health Center. It is with an attitude of gratitude that I sit down to write this blog. We have had the great pleasure of people logging on to our Brain Awareness Week events from 14 states and 5 countries so far this week! Our expert instructors joined us today from India, Ireland, and the United States. Having a virtual community as a growing global community is something we are so grateful for this week, as well as, a dedicated time to celebrate all things brain health!

Our Thursday events related to the "Musical Breath" were kicked off from Phoenix, Arizona by Shannon Wallace's Musical Memory Care program. A body in motion stays in motion- and she had our bodies moving and our synapses firing. Shannon shared the science behind her intentionally designed program for both the brain and body that included the purposeful movement of muscled that we tend to neglect. Most importantly, she layers in music to keep our brains and bodies involved in something new and novel. It was truly a sunshiney day with Shannon and it is shaping up to be a bright... bright... bright... sunshiney Brain Awareness Week at the Virtual Brain Health Center.

In the afternoon we explored "Music and the Brain" by Dr. Catherine Jordan, Ph.D., from Dublin, Ireland, and the TIMBRE group. She began her talk by sharing how just listening to music is "fireworks" for the brain in the current field of neuroscience. She took us on a deep dive of learning the brain-boosting benefits of music for adults and musicians. Music is a full-body workout for the brain and leads to sustained brain changes in cognitive abilities in as little as 6 months for aging adults who take-up playing an instrument. It is never too early or too late to learn a new instrument (or a first one)! Music can shape our brains in many ways and research is rapidly growing in this area. May we all find a way to add music to our brain health toolbox beyond its benefits for emotional well-being... it spans our physical, social, and cognitive health, too.

We ended the day with learning about the "Superpowers of Breath" by Parveen Panwar, who joined us from, New Delhi, India. Our life is given and taken by breath. The way we breathe is the way we live; thus, breath is a powerful tool for our wellbeing. Breath is an indicator of our emotional and physical well-being and we can utilize our breath to optimize our brain wellness.

Parveen shared practical ways to use our breath to gain a better state of mind but the main take-away was to focus on rhythmic, nose breathing. We all must find our own rhythm that works for us and build from there. It does not matter what the breath cycle count is to begin. Do not overthink. Parveen encouraged us to have a non-judgemental approach to get the benefit- it is breathing and something we do every day. Practice and do not give up due to having some expectation of what it should be. Just breathe in. Hold. Breath out. In a rhythmic manner such as 4-4-4. Or breath in. Hold. And breath out for double-time such as 4-4-8. May we all practice utilizing our breath to optimize our brain wellness. In essence, it is something we are doing right now and at all times while we are living. Let us thrive together on our paths to brain health.

If you are following along with our Brain Awareness Week events or reviewing our event line-up, I hope you will notice how each theme day has been intentionally planned with different aspects of brain health that you can use in your daily life to optimize your brain wellness. Thanks a mil to Shannon, Dr. Jordan, and Parveen for sharing their brilliant minds and generous spirits to support "The Musical Breath"!

We still have 3 more days of events and topics lined up to celebrate all things brain health this week- Engage Your Brain, Your Amazing Brain, & The Restful Mind. Registration remains open on our website until our events begin at 11 AM, 2 PM, & 7 PM EST.

And our Virtual Brain Health Center provides about 40 programs a month to help individuals, families, carers, communities, and providers optimize their brain wellness throughout the year. If you are interested in learning more, please review our upcoming calendar or email us at [email protected]. We are here for you.