Incredible Brain

Introduction

Our site is a dedication to the ability of the human mind to learn. Understanding learning challenges cannot be possible without a reasonable appreciation of this ability of our minds. The seat of the mind is the brain and there can be no understanding of the mind without first knowing the brain. This section is consequently meant to help you better understand the powerhouse which controls us - the human brain.

Basic Facts

Sigmund Freud, the famous psychoanalyst, after a lifetime spent studying human behavior said " We are aware of only 10% of what goes on in our Brain".

Today, neuroscientists tell us that we use probably only 5% of the potential of our brain.

Indian sages had identified the primacy of the brain eons ago. They identified the brain as the seat of intelligence and intuition and called these faculties "Buddhi" and "Siddhi".

Buddhi is the ability to reason and think logically. It is a faculty which is learned and accumulated over time. We can pass on this amassed wisdom of the past to our succeeding generation.

Siddhi, on the other hand, is intuitive power. It is innate and manifests itself in our experiences of unusual insights and understanding. This faculty is bestowed by divine grace!

Coming back to the present, in the last decade human beings have made inroads into how the mind actually worked. Some of the deepest understanding has come about through the use of scanning equipment (MRI, CAT etc.) and Transcranial magnetic simulators /PET.

The latter are devices which can be worn on the head and powerful, focused magnetic fields can be directed to specific parts of the brain to stimulate the electric activity in that region. The resultant physical or mental activity and related sensations show what the role of that part of the brain is. While this understanding is far from complete, we now dare to talk about "neural computing", i.e developing computers with processing characteristics modeled on the neural paths of our brain.

The seat of the mind is the brain and there can be no understanding of the mind without first knowing the brain. This section is consequently meant to help you better understand the powerhouse which controls us - the human brain.

Some interesting facts about our Brain
A new-born child's brain has about one hundred billion neurons. Neurons consist of a cell body with an axon with thousands of branch-like fibres called dendrites. The cell body is gray (and so 'gray matter') while axons and dendrites are the white matter of the brain. Neurons communicate with thousands of adjoining neurons at points where their dendrites come close to each other. These junctions are called 'synapses'. Passing signals across these synapses with the aid of neurotransmitters is how the brain processes information.

Eight weeks after a baby is conceived, its brain is half the total length of the foetus (half an inch). Nerve and brain cells multiply at the rate of at several thousands every minute ! Clearly nutrition and oxygen are vital at this stage.

The human head grows four-fold in size after birth. By the age of 5 the skull will be 90% of it's adult size. Full adult size is reached by the age of 10.

An adult brain weighs only 3 pounds but require 20% of the body's oxygen supply !

Each neuron makes between 100 to 10,000 synapsial connections. It is difficult to imagine the sheer number of synapsial exchanges, considering that we have a 100 billion neurons in our brain ! The signals generated by these exchanges are sent to muscles ('open that jaw') and other parts of the brain in a complex and truly awesome web of parallel processing. Parallel processing means that, unlike normal computers, the brain processes inputs simultaneously. This is why, while the brain operates slower than a 8086 chip, it can understand (understand mind you, not perform mathematical work) things faster than a super-computer can run through it's fancy search databases. Because understanding things calls for processing multiple inputs from various sources (eyes, ears, other parts of the brain with memories) - and when they are done at the same time, you realize things faster !

The process is a brilliant dance of signals; rising, falling, spreading, contracting, never-ending, eternal. Surrounding it all is an underlying rhythm, calm and poise. We believe this to be one of the best representations of what Indian sages captured in The Cosmic Dance of Shiva.

Brain - Basic Functions

Let's have a look at some of the functions and capabilities of the brain. This will give an idea of the brain's direct and indirect influence on our lives. While some of these functions are controlled by the brain automatically -the autonomous nervous system - such as heartbeat, others are conscious - such as thinking and spiritual development. Scanning through the list we can easily see the unparalleled might of the brain

Our body parameters - control of Blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, saliva, sweat
Our movements - hand, leg, body, muscular responses, reflexes
Our metabolic functions - hormone production, digestion
Our sensory functions - vision, touch, hearing, taste, smell its recognition and interpretation
Our emotions - set up belief systems, aggression, fear, laughter, desire, sexuality, crying, dancing, evaluating emotional significance of events.
Our memory - keeping old memories, refreshing new memories, recall of modified memories
Our analytical capacity - to reason think, discern, judge, plan
Our self image - Retaining our "Ego", charting our life experiences
Our conscious experiences, perception, imagination - pain, pleasure. colour, spatial layout, creativity
Our religious experiences - sense of world view, righteousness, cultural alignment
Our healing capacity - capacity to heal ourselves and others, compassion
Our spiritual development - capacity to overcome baser emotions, ability to transcend to a higher level of consciousness

Left Brain, Right Brain

The left side of the brain controls and receives sensations from the right side of the body and vice-versa. This was recorded centuries ago by Indian Ayurvedic doctors and Egyptian physicians.
The left and the right brain have certain specialization's. The domination of any one factor often influences our learning ability and reaction patterns.

In practical terms :
When we are into language, math, logic, numbers, linear sequences, words of song, left brain dominance is useful. When we look for spatial understanding, music appreciation, images, pictures, tunes, forms and patterns, right brain dominance is useful