Program helps workers harness brain power
Exercises can reduce frustration, job stress
There are any number of wellness programs that address fitness of body, mind, and spirit — but how many address the fitness of the brain itself?
That’s exactly what Paula Oleska, MA, head of Natural Intelligence Systems Inc., in New York City, purports to do with her seminar, "Brain-Friendly Work Practices."
Her program involves "a series of systems and techniques that help improve brain function by using different movement and touch techniques," she explains.
The seminar program runs a total of about 16 hours, which can be structured as either two days, or one day and two subsequent half days a week apart. The latter structure is ideal, says Oleska.
"The sessions aim to create certain habits employees will develop with their brain function," she notes. "Spacing them out will help solidify their learning, and allow them to apply it to actual [work] situations."
The lectures help employees understand not only how their brain functions, but how the brains of their co-workers function. This understanding, along with the exercises, can not only help employees perform better by boosting their memory and concentration, but it can also lead to improved communication and morale among employees.
How it works
The first part of the seminar is a lecture and discussion that introduces a working model of brain — our right and left brain hemisphere functions — or our emotional brain and our behavioral brain. Each employee also determines his or her individual brain-dominance profile hemisphere — eyes, ears, and hands — and how it manifests itself in daily life.
"This gives employees a much better understanding of how they process information, how they respond to given situations," Oleska explains. "For instance, individuals who have a preference for left-brain processing like structure, time, and focus. Right-brained employees prefer the big picture; they’re good at coming up with creative solutions."
These insights will not only help employees understand why they may be having difficulty communicating with a colleague, but they will also give them a starting point for change in their own brain function.
In the next part of the program, the participants are taught specific exercises that create greater brain integration, so each employee can attain more access to his whole brain. (Some exercises are described in detail, see story at left.)
In addition, the employees are taught more generic stress-busting techniques. For example, there are "stress-release points" located on our foreheads, bony protuberances above the eyes. If you hold them lightly for two to ten minutes, slightly tugging on your skin, "You can reduce your stress reaction to a particular issue," explains Oleska. "If you think about that stressful thing, you will experience a change of reaction."
Once the series have been completed, employees are encouraged to see Oleska for a follow-up, at which point they can review and address any specific challenges that remain an issue.
Techniques help employees
These techniques "clearly help improve productivity," Oleska asserts. "They help boost morale and self-esteem. Most participants report that they now have an easier time responding to stressful situations, and have a much higher stress threshold. They’re not thrown off balance as easily."
One employee who has reaped significant benefits from the seminar is Eva Ochmanska, MS, a programmer for human resources development at American Express in New York City.
"There were some things about my job I found more difficult to do, like filling out expense vouchers," she recalls. "I had to do it as part of my job, but I’d wait as long as I could. I would charge the business expenses on my personal charge card, pay the bill myself, and then wait several months."
Naturally, this affected her emotionally as well as financially. "I felt bad about myself because there were things I had to do that I couldn’t do, and I was stressed out because I had to pay the bills with my own money," she says.
She took Oleska’s class, and started doing some exercises on a daily basis. One in particular, which she started doing several times a day, involved "cross/crawling" — utilizing opposite hands and knees — to integrate both sides of her brain.
"They helped me in a lot of areas to do things I didn’t want to do or like to do," she says.
About two weeks after she began the exercises, Ochmanska, an admitted pack rat, conducted a major cleanup of her apartment. "I felt I was outside of my body watching myself," she says. She also started to go through her files at work, throwing out things she didn’t need. "I began doing my vouchers about a month after I started the exercises, which was a year ago," she says. "The changes have been permanent; and I still do the exercises practically every day."
Her mental state, she says, is "much better." She can do things when she needs to do them. "And if I work a 10-hour day and I’m tired, I can take a break and do an exercise, and then I’m OK again."
Sources
• Eva Ochmanska, American Express, 40 Wall St., 22nd floor, New York, NY 10005. Telephone: (718) 728-1427.
• Paula Oleska, MA, Natural Intelligence Systems Inc., 275 Madison Ave., Suite 2218, New York, NY 10016. Telephone: (888) 200-9048. E-mail: [email protected].
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