Loads to achieve – let’s get busy!
Stand on one leg and notice how wobbly you are. If not very wobbly, shut your eyes. If impossibly wobbly, stand on both feet, but with them together.
Remain in your wobbly position.
With your right thumb draw a SLOW, smooth circle, moving only from the base of the thumb – your thumb moves as if it were a pen. Be precise. Notice how this is affecting your balance. Now circle the left thumb instead. You will notice that one thumb makes balance better and the other makes it worse, irrespective of handedness.
We’re working on the thumb that improves the balance. For simplicity, I’m going to assume the left thumb gives the better balance. If your right thumb was better, you’ll need to reverse the lefts and rights below: no need to sigh! This is a bonus brain work out.
Moving the left thumb activates the opposite side of the brain. To make the drill more powerful, we’re going to add more inputs to the right side of the brain. (Or left….) ((The technical stuff: moving an extremity like the fingers or toes/ankles/wrists involves the lateral part of the cerebellum. The cerebellum is in charge of many things, including co-ordination, accuracy and balance. The cerebellum has the highest number of neurons in the brain! The cerebellum is divided into four parts, the largest being the lateral cerebellum. This connects to the fingers and toes – and to the parts of the brain involved in movement planning, tremor control, and even thinking.Working away at your lateral cerebellum is a terrific idea. It partly explains why learning a musical instrument is so good for you)) Read the footnotes for more details of why we’re doing what we’re doing.
Go to the kitchen and get something nice to smell – a sprig of mint or maybe vanilla, for example. Circle your left thumb precisely, whilst sniffing the nice smell with the right nostril (if working on the left thumb). Retest your balance. Should be getting better. ((Nice smells talk to the cortex through cranial nerve one and do not cross to the opposite cortex. Smelling stuff has a strong link to the memory centres of the brain))
Now turn yourself so that light is coming onto your face from the left side. Ideally, the light is coming from below, but directly from the side will do. Do more slow, precise thumb circling whilst smelling the smell. How’s the balance coming along? ((Vision is extremely complicated and is dealt with on both sides of the brain. However, light from one side crosses to the opposite side of the brain. Light from below stimulates the movement part of the cortex, the parietal lobe.))
Next input: try poking your tongue into your left cheek, whilst circling the left thumb, enjoying a whiff and light streaming onto your face from the left. If that didn’t work, try circling your tongue around the outside of your teeth with the lips closed. ((Tongue movements are partly processed in the lateral cerebellum. All tongue drills are a big deal for the brain.))
Final input to add: rhythm! You can use a ticking clock – or download a metronome app for free and set it at 60bpm. ((Rhythm matters in all sporting movements – even just running – timing is everything. Rhythm is processed in various brain areas – cerebellum, motor cortex, brain stem.))
Now you circle the thumb precisely at exactly 60bpm, enjoy a nice smell, have glorious light streaming onto your face and you are getting a tongue work out as well.
Not all these inputs will work for everybody, but use as many of them as are effective for you and you are giving your brain huge stimulation. Of course, you can work through the other fingers of the same hand.
Do not do it again reversing sides or you completely and utterly negate the considerable benefits.