The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body

Description

A breakthrough, drug-free approach to stress and stress-related illnesses--from anxiety and depression to ADHD and chronic pain--using simple attention exercises with powerful results on physical and mental health This breakthrough book presents a disarmingly simple idea: The way we pay attention in daily life can play a critical role in our health and well-being. According to Dr. Les Fehmi, a clinical psychologist and researcher, many of us have become stuck in "narrow-focus attention" a tense, constricted, survival mode of attention that holds us in a state of chronic stress--and which lies at the root of common ailments including anxiety, depression, ADD, stress-related migraines, and more. To improve these conditions, Dr. Fehmi explains that we must learn to return to a relaxed, diffuse, and creative form of attention, which he calls "Open Focus." This highly readable and empowering book offers straightforward explanations and simple exercises on how to shift into a more calm, open style of attention that reduces stress, improves health, and enhances performance. The Open-Focus Brain features eight essential attention exercises for improving health. Dr. Fehmi writes, "Everyone has the ability to heal their nervous systems, to dissolve their pain, to slow down and yet accomplish more, to experience the deeper side of life--in short, to change their lives for the better dramatically." At last readers can learn the techniques that Dr. Fehmi has offered to thousands of clients--the same drug-free, safe, and effective techniques that have led to remarkable and long-lasting results. Review: Open Focus is a breakthrough for me - Having read a lot of meditation books, zen books, power of now and attention deficit books, this book is a very interesting perspective on the subject of focus and attention. First off the book explains what open focus is but it took me a while to grasp it. It wasn't until I read the first exercise that I 'felt' what open focus is about. I feel the book does require a few reads. More importantly, I felt I was very drawn to re-reading it, especially after listening to the cd. Let me try a technique he uses in open focus. So while you are reading this review, imagine the distance of the screen from your eyes while still reading. Then see the edges of the computer screen yet still managing to read. Notice the spaces between each of the lines of words. Can you feel your shoulders? Can you feel if your arms and fingers are tense? Are your eyes relaxed? Still keep reading yet feel your tightness as you are still reading. Perhaps you can soften that tension and still maintain focus. Perhaps that feels more relaxed and now less urgent? So one of the ideas is to still function but we don't always need what's known as 'narrow focus' or 'hyper-focus'. This is the focus that uses a high level of energy, tension and focus. We don't always need this type of focus with everything we do. This type of focus is very effective at getting things done, but unless we have a knowledge of 'different types' of focus, we can burn out. We don't always need to use narrow-focus for every task and every conversation. There are lots of other things we could do in open focus, enjoy them more and maybe even do a better job. An obvious one is reading. When I did the exercise he gave while reading I noticed my tension and softened it, especially the tension I was using to hold the book. There is a cd with the book. The exercises on them are really brilliant. For me, going through the exercises really helps digest the sense of open focus. One of the main themes of open focus training is to focus on space and spaces. Something like the space between your eyes. On the cd there are 15 second pauses between focuses. So imagine the distance from your eyes to the tip of your nose. pause. Imagine the volume of your lips. pause. The idea is not to say "oh its an inch" but more the greater depth of the space, such as the space between the atoms in the space. The first of the two long guided sessions is working the head, shoulders and upper back. The second works the whole body. The voice on the cd is very pleasant. What this book does very well is point out that we are living as if everything is urgent. Yet a lot of the time we aren't aware of it. Our culture rewards this type of focus. We are taught it at school; "stop daydreaming"; "pay attention"; "concentrate". A lot of the time we were paying attention but we look relaxed, or our gaze wasn't looking 'focused' enough. Theres a lot of scientific biofeedback to back up this open focus training to move the practitioner very quickly into alpha waves using what is know as "imageless imagery". Les Fehmi has been working with being "a student of how human beings attend both to the world around them and to their internal world of emotions and thoughts" for over 40 years. He's worked with Dallas Cowboys(American Football), the New jersey Nets, and the Olympic Development Committee. At the time of writing this review there are no other reviews. So to read more reviews use the link in the address bar, delete the .co.uk and replace with .com and that should take you straight to desertcart.com and their 20 reviews of this book. Creator of the Beginner Tai Chi (DVD) Review: One of the Best - This book along with the CD in the back cover, is an ingenious work. I was in a healing class years ago and the teacher could feel the energy of someones body and tell them where the pain was originating. I was astounded how he could do this in a few seconds and then eliminate the pain. I asked him how he did it: he said, "I feel the energy", I said, "How do you do that?", he said I feel it. "How?" I again asked. He thought for a few moments and said, get the book the Open Focus Brain, I think it will help you. I got the book. Listened to the CD. Turns out the left brain, the analytical, judgmental, critical, part of the brain,that is always second guessing everything and everybody: can't comprehend space! When you imagine space, the left brain goes quiet... sounds simplistic, but the ramifications are huge. The right brain is activated and imagination, feelings, intuition, creativity, feeling peaceful, and lots of other things are amplified. The teacher was able to "feel" energy as strong or weak by imagining the space in the persons body and simply feeling what he noticed. Amazing, astonishing, super natural, incredibly simple and easy to do when imagining space. If I could give this book & CD more stars I would. Congrats to the authors who figured this simple technique out. If you do any kind of energy work, muscle testing, kinesiology, etc. this will take you deeper into feeling energy. Track 4 on the CD is my favorite. When you can get to imagine space with your eyes open, it's a good thing. Imagining space drops you immediately into the Alpha state, and being in Alpha with your eyes open and doing your daily routine is living a richer, deeper life. Have I praised this work enough? It's a really great book. It may take many times of listening to the CD to get to be able to stay in this Alpha state for an extended time; however, it's worth the time and effort. There is a book coming out by the end of Nov. 2012, called, Top Secret Healing, which will be on desertcart, which goes into many more details, about using energy to detect and then heal.