The skullhinge is a name for the general area where the skull and the spine meet. The bones involved are the skull, and the two top [...]]]> If you’ve tried the skullhinge powernap you know that it’s a mighty good way to catch some midday zzzz’s. But what & where & why & all that jazz?

The skullhinge is a name for the general area where the skull and the spine meet. The bones involved are the skull, and the two top vertebrae, the atlas and the axis. No, nothing evil going on here, just a little rotation. The axis, atlas & skull fit together ingeniously in such a way as to allow the head to turn and tilt to angles limited only by the musculature & the neighboring spinal & collarbones, which are quite far away, after all.

The skullhinge is most easily accessed through the back of the neck, but its components are actually quite deep inside the neck. We always think of the spine as being on the back, but in fact those points that poke out your backside are simply that: points. The vertebral column itself is actually quite deep under the back muscles, and goes forward to about halfway through your body, to about the widest point. So it’s much larger & much deeper than most of us think.

Why am I going on about this? Because the skull is balanced on top of the spine much in the way a ball can be balanced on a finger: at the centre of gravity. The face extends down below the point of the skullhinge, which creates the illusion of weight at the front of the head, but in fact the heaviest thing in the skull is the brain, which extends far enough behind it so that, with good posture, the head balances perfectly on top of the spinal column.

And there’s the rub: good posture. So many important things run through the skullhinge that the difference between good posture and bad posture can affect our sense perceptions, reflexes and strength for better or worse. This list is by no means complete, but important things that run through or directly touch the skullhinge include major blood vessels, the windpipe, esophagus, and main trunk of the central nervous system.

When the neck is tense, all of these things are constricted, meaning there is less space for blood to flow to the brain, for communication between the brain and the rest of the body to occur, for air to enter and leave the body, and for food to be swallowed. On the other hand, when the muscles of the neck are loose, breathing is easier, blood flows more freely to the brain, and the central nervous system functions better. The vocal chords are also involved here, which means that our voice can change dramatically depending on the relative openness of this whole area.

Of all the effects above, the most important of these (in my view) is with the nervous system. When it’s constricted the entire nervous system—central, somatic and autonomic—is compromised.

When the central nervous system is constricted, it effects our sight, hearing, taste, and ability to distinguish subtleties of smell and touch. The vividness of the RED flower above is, well, not so vivid. When the somatic nervous system is squeezed at this juncture, our reflexes are slowed. When the autonomic nervous system is compromised in this way, the fight-or-flight response is activated, putting us in a constant state of stressed-outness.

Heck, if there were no other reason to relax the skullhinge this would do it for me!

That’s a cursory introduction, which you are more than welcome to add to or debate. Next time I’ll focus on a few ways to relax the skullhinge, then go on to a few rants about posture and the scourge of the computer…

Post by Aaron Bihari, Trainer & managing partner
Cross-posted at Cross-Pollination.

Post by Geoff Crinean, Senior trainer & business coach Crossposted at Business-insight.biz

Post by Geoff Crinean, Senior trainer & business coach Crossposted at Business-insight.biz

First, what are the things you want to do every day? What daily habits do you want to cultivate? Most people say something like – eat properly, exercise, meditate, [...]]]> Many people are overwhelmed and stressed. What can we do to minimize the pressure? When clients ask me this I address two things:

First, what are the things you want to do every day? What daily habits do you want to cultivate? Most people say something like – eat properly, exercise, meditate, get to bed at a reasonable time, floss my teeth, read, listen to music, etc.

Reducing your overwhelm & stress begins with deciding what you need to do (or not do!) to sustain you each day. Make a list of those things you want and need to do each day to sustain you. Looking after ourselves properly – body, speech, and mind – is the first essential for business success. True, you can get away with not looking after yourself, for a while, but sooner or later you get sick, or bad things begin to happen.

Second, what do you need to accomplish this week? Sit down on a Sunday (or Monday morning), review all that is on your plate, and decide what must be done, then schedule it in your planner or schedule – and guard this time fiercely! If you make the time to accomplish some of the things that must be done, and you look after yourself well, stress and overwhelm usually decline. Work on it for a few weeks and you will have greatly improved your life!

As Stephen Covey says – “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

Post by Geoff Crinean, Senior trainer & business coach
Crossposted at Business-insight.biz

Before every workshop I spend some time thinking about my [...]]]> I train mainly in soft skills such as management, customer service, assertiveness, conflict resolution and negotiation. Planning training sessions and writing manuals is the easy bit; the real challenge is to engage each learner and encourage them to explore new ways of thinking and doing.

Before every workshop I spend some time thinking about my new group of learners: what difficulties are they facing, what do they want from this course? I try to consciously open my mind to them. The last thing I want to do is to replay a workshop that was needed by a different group of learners with a different set of problems and challenges.

Engaging each learner requires powerful listening and respect for the participant’s prior experience. Enabling people to articulate what they feel are their problems and challenges in the workplace, is usually the first step to enabling them to explore more productive ways of acting and thinking.

Fresh insights precede acceptance of new ideas or new models of thinking and acting, and to develop those new insights the trainer needs to tap into the experience of others in the group. The trainer facilitates group interaction by modelling a way of interacting respectfully, by introducing trigger questions or exercises that stimulate productive discussion, and at the appropriate time, introducing new models, ideas and techniques. And a powerful part of this group dynamic is the trainer’s own experience and observation.

The process of active learning is accelerated by exercises that stimulate thinking on a number of levels and by combining an experience of doing something oneself (for example, acting as the team leader in a role play) with the experience of observing and giving feedback on someone else doing that same thing.

As people gain new insights they instinctively want to revisit difficult situations from the past. So at some stage in the workshop a string of questions will arise about what could have been done or said differently in given situations. The trainer and the rest of the group now act as a sounding board, and have the opportunity to both challenge and refine ideas. And it is this stage, when people are deepening their insights and developing more powerful and productive action plans, that makes me passionate about training.

Post by Anne Watkins, Principal Trainer