"I first encountered Beth's right-mind classes at the Hugh Lane Gallery.
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Gallery Tour Facilitation Testimonial: "The next morning we walked down to the National Gallery and met our guide, Beth O’Hallorn, for our tour. I don’t know what to say about Beth except she was absolutely a terrific professional and a wonderful person to be around. Her knowledge was second to none of the other art historians that we have had over the 20 years we have been going to Europe. Plus, she was extremely prepared to present each painting in it’s context and relationship to other works of like genre. Her description of the Arrest of Christ by Caravaggio was perhaps the most insightful discussion I have ever experience concerning my favorite painter. I could have talked with her for hours! She even gave us a tip on a small Italian restaurant for lunch that turned out to be very special. We give her the highest rating we can and would encourage you to hook your other clients up with her whenever they are in Dublin." – David, Texas These Drawing a Breath with Beth drawing/mindfulness sessions offer a place to take a break from our speedy work lives and let the dust settle.The quietening process of meditation and drawing can benefit our sense of well-being in countless ways, including – our focus, a decrease to our stress levels, our harmonious interactions with others, awareness of our surroundings, our creative thinking and problem solving abilities.
Being in the right brain zone is exactly where our ‘Aha!’ moments of inspiration spring from. |
Facebook employees participated in a variety of exercises with Beth including:
The primary goal for the sessions was to release from desk duties, buzzing phones, and office chatter. Each activity was quiet and slow, offering a break and a spark of energy to the Facebook employees that participated. One participant did a ‘new perspectives’ drawing on a piece of cling film stuck to a window, while soft music played in the background. Afterwards she said, ‘That was like a massage for my brain.' Another participant said that after each session she felt a 'runner's high.' |
Inspiration for the seriesJill Bolte Taylor, neuro-scientist and stroke survivor says,
“Based upon my experience with losing my left mind, I whole-heartedly believe that the feeling of deep inner peace is located in our right brain. To the right mind, no time exists other than the present moment, and each moment is vibrant with sensation.” Jill’s stroke jolted her into a vastly new way of seeing her world – through her right brain. Luckily, we know there are much gentler ways to access her insights. We all need a moment of quiet from time to time. |
The left and right hemispheres of our brain process information in different ways. While we all have a natural tendency towards one way of thinking, the two sides of our brain work together in our everyday lives. The right side of the brain focuses on the visual, and processes information in an intuitive and simultaneous way, looking first at the whole picture then the details.
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The focus of the left brain is verbal, processing information in an analytical and sequential way, looking first at the pieces then putting them together to get the whole.
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Left brain functions include logic, analysis, sequencing, linear thought, mathematics, language, facts, verbal communication, computation.
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Right brain functions include creativity, imagination, holistic thinking, intuition, the arts, rhythm, feelings, visualisations.
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Research on physical and mental health benefits of mindfulness meditation
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In a study of health insurance statistics, meditators had more than 50% fewer doctor visits than did non-meditators
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Brain scans of meditators show increased thickness in regions of the cortex associated with higher functions like memory and decision making.
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