Thoughts on a Monday morning – 30 MAY, 2010.

We humans interact with ourselves many times more than we do with the outside world (Harris, 1998; Taylor, 2009). So far technology has attempted to enhance our experience with external communication and interaction. This seems to have resulted in an over-engagement with the outside world, naturally at the cost of time spent with ourselves. As A Parallel line of thought, over the past decade, evidence from epidemiological studies and clinical trials has demonstrated a positive association between physical fitness and psychological health. Numerous studies have shown that physical activity and exercise as well as mind-body practice reduce morbidity and mortality for coronary heart disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes and osteoporosis, and improve the psychological status of the general population (Janisse et al, 2004; Chou & Tsang, 2007; Smith et al, 2007; Broman-Fulks & Storey, 2007; Tsang et al, 2008).

Yoga, martial arts and traditional health systems of the East and Far East, have emphasized the benefits of increased internal communication for thousands of years. A heightened awareness of this internal interaction between our mind and body systems has been credited not only with longevity and disease free living, but also with happiness, spiritual advancement and purposeful living well into old age. Even today, people from all walks of life seek out spiritually aware people and “gurus” for advice on problems that medicine and money cannot solve. Those who find a good teacher and ultimately overcome their personal challenges and attain happiness, are still rare in comparison to the general population who are “in search”. Many of us see this everyday in the world around us.

The problem with this heightened awareness of the internal communication, whether through yoga, martial arts or any other system, is that it takes years to achieve, even for perfectly “healthy” people. The question, therefore, is:

Just as technology has made external interaction so much easier, can technology also make the internal interaction, between the mind, the body, the breath and the spirit, easier and more effective so as to benefit people of all walks of life?

Is it possible for us to create a tool that will help us to “see” and “feel” this conversation between our mind and our body, within ourselves as users and in others, as researchers?

I strongly believe that this endeavour will be one of the most powerful quests of the human race later in this century, perhaps more than clean energy and a solution to terrorism.

What will be the first steps in any attempt to seed such a technology ?

• THE first step is to reverse what science and medicine has been doing for the past few hundred years - the separation of the mind and the body - in research and study. Great technologies and algorithms have been developed to study the body, brain, breathing and circulation in the human body separately and individually. It is required to bring all these together in a visible, auditory or kinesthetic form of biofeedback for a person to experience how they work together and how changes in one affects the other.
  
• Next, build curiosity and challenge through a gaming environment which demands a balance in mind, body and breath awareness, rather than just great motor control (PlayStation) or mind control (NeuroSky), as is fashionable these days.
  
• Next, make the technology open-ended so that all sorts of everyday devices, assistive and rehabilitation technologies and even educational software can communicate and take inputs from this technology in a “plug-n-play” format.
  
• Lastly, make it portable and affordable for individual ownership in the third world.
  

While we are doing the above, we must continue the practice and study of yoga and martial arts and search for the obvious meeting points with technology in a more meaningful way. Most spiritual practices around the world, advanced or primitive, believe that once we are aware of the unity (yoga : “union”) of the mind, body and breath, it helps us to gain not just good health but also access to the so-called spirit. This raising of the spirit, I believe, is a primary pre-requisite for independent and fruitful living, irrespective of whether we are children with learning issues, professionally successful adults or senior citizens grappling with problems of ageing.

Technology, if designed right, can be a great tool to help facilitate this union process. This will probably change the world in a manner far more dramatic than the internet or the mobile phone.

References

Harris, J.E. (1998). How the brain talks to itself. The Howarth Press Inc., USA, 19-35.
Taylor, J.B. (2009). My stroke of insight. Hodder & Stoughton, UK, 147-158.
Janisse HC, Nedd D, Escamilla S, Nies MA (2004). Physical activity, social support, and family structure as determinants of mood among European-American and African- American women. Women Health 2004, 39:101-116.

Chow YW, Tsang HW: Biopsychosocial effects of qigong as a mindful exercise for people with anxiety disorders: a speculative review. J Altern Complement Med 2007, 13:831-839.
Smith PJ, Blumenthal JA, Babyak MA, Georgiades A, Hinderliter A, Sherwood A: Effects of exercise and weight loss on depressive symptoms among men and women with hypertension. J Psychosom Res 2007, 63:463-469.
Broman-Fulks JJ, Storey KM: Evaluation of a brief aerobic exercise intervention for high anxiety sensitivity. Anxiety, Stress & Coping 2008, 21:117 - 128.
Tsang HW, Chan EP, Cheung WM: Effects of mindful and non-mindful exercises on people with depression: a systematic review. Br J Clin Psychol 2008, 47:303-322.