Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Head games

Whatever the ailment, conference practitioners preach mind over body for total wellness

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By JENNIFER LIEBRUM
Express Staff Writer

Jill Bolte Taylor, author of “My Stroke of Insight,” a memoir from her brain about her brain during and after experiencing a mind-bending stroke. Courtesy photo

While the science is still endeavoring to catch up to the movement, there is a considerable body of believers in a holistic approach to wellness, as evidenced by the ever-expanding annual Sun Valley Wellness Festival, now entering its 15th year.

The festival is just one component, the largest focused event, that the Sun Valley Institute contributes to the valley year-round as part of a commitment to creating a vibrant and healthy community. The aim is to see Sun Valley as a premier wellness destination.

Starting Thursday, May 24, more than 50 practitioners of healing arts, ranging from touch to sound, movement to stillness, gather to discuss with the curious the various approaches to health that do not exclude traditional medicine, but can be integrated when necessary and replaced when possible with a regimen or curative model.

Board President Nick Maricich notes in an open letter to guests in the program that the organization committed to going year-round in 2011, and as a result is now offering workshops and programs monthly in conjunction with and leading to the annual conference.

"We are making a difference and

continually striving to move energy to a more loving and compassionate level," he stated. "The festival also has a positive economic impact on our community, attracting thousands of attendees, and securing tremendous exposure for Sun Valley."

Keynote speaker Jill Bolte Taylor has become a media darling, and with her best-selling book "My Stroke of Insight," the renowned brain scientist is a frequent contributor to a number of soul-affirming efforts led by people like Oprah and Dr. Mehmet Oz. She was chosen as one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2008, and her story is being made into a feature film directed by Ron Howard.

Taylor, a Harvard trained and published neuroanatomist, whose work emphasizes the nervous system, experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere—the logical, rational, verbal brain—in 1996, wiping out her ability to walk, talk, read, write or recollect. But the impact increased her creative, right hemisphere, providing her unique insight. She spent the next eight years rebuilding her brain from the inside out.

The experience, laid out in her book, has led her to serve as national spokeswoman for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center. She also continues her work with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which she began years earlier to better understand her brother's mental health issues and how the abnormal brain can be reconditioned.

Having learned intimately what she knew about the brain intellectually, she works now to help people understand how both halves of the brain work together to create a seamless perception of reality, and what is going on inside our heads when we experience personal conflict.

She believes knowing more about the brain can help people realize her theory that peace really is a thought away.

Taylor, who will speak Friday, May 25, at 6 p.m., is a busy lady, with her many speaking engagements and advocacy and work with BRAINS, Inc., her not-for-profit educational arm to increase brain health with awareness. She also makes stained-glass brains.

She answered these brief "brain teasers" while on the fly last week.

IME: A thought is neither on the tip of your tongue or the top of your head, true or false?

Depends on the thought.

Where is a thought held?

Depends on the thought, e.g., a visual thought is in the visual cortex.

Are madness and genius the same thing?

A fine line separates them, but I can't tell you where that fine line is.

Post-it notes or memory?

Voice recorder.

I make the most stained-glass brains for ... ?

Special awards that are given to brainy-appreciative people.

Whom do you trust to tell you your head's on straight?

My right mind.

What's better for the brain, hard work or hard play?

A combination and balance, of course.

Who do you want to play you in the Ron Howard film?

Jodie Foster has always been my first choice.

I can get my brain to stop craving something addictive simply by ... ?

If I knew the answer to that, I would be a very rich woman!

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