Has it been many years since you undertook specific new learning?
Are you too old to learn? Is it too late?
Is the brain set up for learning only when we are young?
What about memory, does it really get worse as we get older?

These are some of the questions that come up when adults of all ages, from 20s to 70s, take on learning Touch For Health Kinesiology.

Lets get some things straight first. If at your first attempt to learn something new you feel awkward and uncomfortable – that’s a good sign. You are in your learning mode. If it was easy and comfortable you would be using existing brain networks and programs, still in your comfort zone, and not stepping out into new territory. Congratulations for your bravery!

How old do you feel when you are feeling awkward and uncomfortable? Please be aware, what this new learning right now can do is put you back into early childhood when you first discovered that you couldn’t do something and felt inadequate, or slow, or out of step with others, or behind in some way. It usually goes with criticism or judgment by a parent or other authority like a teacher, or a sibling, or someone, or even yourself.

So if new learning was a stress to you when you were little then you will play out that stress pattern again now. You will feel as helpless and inadequate as when you were three or five or seven or whatever. All your confidence, built up over many years of doing things, increasing your ability and mastering skills … will disappear … in an instant … as if you have never learned a thing since early childhood. Just note, as soon as you feel like a child you may also readily behave like a child.

Be aware – just know – that’s a good sign. You are being real. That part is good. The feeling of incompetence is real. It feels awful, but its real – recognize it – acknowledge it – own it – welcome it.. “Wow! That’s amazing! That’s how I felt as a child.” “How awful for me back then.” “And its come back, emotions, body sensations and all”. As soon as you do that you, the adult you is back in charge and compassion for the little you is on line and available.

What has surfaced is the memory of the you of long ago who needed reassurance but was too scared to ask for it, or didn’t know how or had no verbal skills to ask, or didn’t have anyone around who understood how bad it felt and how to help you. That’s why you are doing TFH now – to learn the skills that would have made growing up less traumatic and more enjoyable.

Welcome to Touch For Health. Welcome to new learning.

Now let me remind you that with your basic TFH 1 skills you can deal with it:

– evaluate how stressful this situation is for you, 0 to 10
– take a deep breath in … and breathe out slowly
– put your hand on your forehead, take another breath in … and out
– now tell your front brain under your hand the feelings you are dealing with right now
– how it feels, what part of the body is feeling it, the degree of discomfort, what it reminds you of in the past, where were you then, who pops up in your mind as part of the recall …
– and any sounds, sights, sensations, smells or tastes.
– take a deep breath in … and slowly out
– tell your front brain again about your discomfort and what it seems connected to
– do this several more times, with a full breathe in and out at the end of each recall
– now check in and re-evaluate the stress level compared with at the beginning
– if you still feel uncomfortable, do this process again.

– if you feel calmer, you are ready to explore what you want to experience instead
– look for a time in your memories when you did actually learn easily, without feeling judged, and as you took all the time appropriate to you.
– example: when you learned to walk, fell down multiple times, failed to walk without being concerned about the failure, just had another go … until you mastered walking.
– Or when you learned to feed yourself, or brush your teeth, or dress yourself, or ride a bike, or … many skills everyone of us had to learn through trial and error, till we got it, in our own time.

– acknowledge you have very effectively gone through the process of learning new skills and information
– visualize yourself in the future, how you look having mastered the learning, notice how confident and at ease you look, how easily the words flow out as you explain what you are doing, how readily you gain cooperation and agreement with your participant, how well you work together
– go through this scene several times

– take a deep breathe … and breathe out slowly …
– and bring your awareness back to now, rub your feet on the floor, look around the room,
– re-evaluate how you feel about new learning
– know you can revisit this scene any time you feel like a boost, hold your forehead as you do that.

You now have access your whole brain to support you in your learning endeavours.

Have a whole TFH balance on a goal like “I easily and readily learn new information/concepts/ techniques (whatever you need right now) engaging my curiosity with great enjoyment.” This will align 14 meridian energy system with your goal. Swap with a fellow student or go see a kinesiologist with the skills to help you through it all.
Have fun
Cheers
Anna