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Learning H.O.W. to Age
®
Honor your past, Open to your present, Welcome your future
WELLNESS PROGRAM
Physical Perception
Participants are asked to estimate the number of steps it will take for them to cover a predetermined distance. After writing their estimate on a piece of paper, the leader counts the actual number of steps it takes while the participant recites aloud a known passage while walking. The difference between the number of steps participants estimate and the actual number of steps it takes decreased by 1.3 steps.
As our abilities change, so must our perception of our abilities. This shrinking gap between what participants perceive their ability to be and what it actually is indicates an improvement in physical perception. An added benefit of the development of physical perception is confidence and increased spatial awareness, which encourages intentional engagement in the physical world.
Mental Flexibility
One introductory course of 1 hour per week for ten weeks resulted in an 89% increase in participants ability to accept new information and successfully incorporate that new information into an existing task. Once the participants accept the initial paradigm of 'layering' tasks (https://blog.innerdrive.co.uk/cognitive-load-theory-basics), not only does their ability to demonstrate mental flexibility among the various task requirements increase but their processing speed increases as well.
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For the purposes of Learning H.O.W. to Age®, mental flexibility is a participants ability to move their thought process from the right hemisphere of the brain to the left hemisphere of the brain at will.
(https:// www.healthline.com/health/left-brain-vs-right-brain#left-brainright brain-theory).
Mind-Body/ Kinesthetic Awareness
Kinesthetic awareness is a technical term for an innate ability that most people have. Intuitively knowing where your physical body is, without reliance on a visual aid is kinesthetic awareness. Exercises that develop muscle memory and spatial awareness also increase a persons sensitivity to kinesthetic awareness.
A 3 step coordination/flow exercise assesses this ability and exercises are demonstrated weekly to strengthen this skill. Moving Meditation, Breathing Basics, and situational awareness games like Blocking, Gate/ Gaze, and Perspective are just a few participants and facilitators will benefit from.
Although few people (with players on team sports or dancers being the exception) maintain a keen kinesthetic awareness, this can be a lifesaving skill and one that needs to be nurtured.