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I spent all night at the disco. Seriously, there’s a disco on Sunset Boulevard at the Standard Hotel on Saturdays called Giorgio and somewhat reluctantly- as I wanted to spend yet another night reading and studying- I called for an Uber very late night to meet friends to dance and dance and dance.

It was the best LA night with friends that could ever be imagined…

I just took a two hour nap after an early morning of Buddhism…

Somehow I have, in the midst of all this, had a more focused and productive day than I could ever have dreamed of having.

We need to rest.  To have fun. To not “think” all the time.  From now on, I am thinking of calling this the Disco Cure. And here’s some recent science  to back it all up…! 

You Have To Take Breaks From Your Everyday—Especially From Working All The Time!

A very brilliant article in Scientific American- Why Your Brain Needs More Downtime–  says it all in terms of getting enough downtime from work. While this is only an exerpt of the long and fact-filled piece that you can and should read HERE, the pieces that most made be applaud my computer screen are right here:

” To summarize, Americans and their brains are preoccupied with work much of the time. Throughout history people have intuited that such puritanical devotion to perpetual busyness does not in fact translate to greater productivity and is not particularly healthy. What if the brain requires substantial downtime to remain industrious and generate its most innovative ideas? “Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets,” essayist Tim Kreider wrote in The New York Times. “The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration—it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.”

In making an argument for the necessity of mental downtime, we can now add an overwhelming amount of empirical evidence to intuition and anecdote. Why giving our brains a break now and then is so important has become increasingly clear in a diverse collection of new studies investigating: the habits of office workers and the daily routines of extraordinary musicians and athletes; the benefits of vacation, meditation and time spent in parks, gardens and other peaceful outdoor spaces; and how napping, unwinding while awake and perhaps the mere act of blinking can sharpen the mind. What research to date also clarifies, however, is that even when we are relaxing or daydreaming, the brain does not really slow down or stop working. Rather—just as a dazzling array of molecular, genetic and physiological processes occur primarily or even exclusively when we sleep at night—many important mental processes seem to require what we call downtime and other forms of rest during the day. Downtime replenishes the brain’s stores of attention and motivation, encourages productivity and creativity, and is essential to both achieve our highest levels of performance and simply form stable memories in everyday life. A wandering mind unsticks us in time so that we can learn from the past and plan for the future. Moments of respite may even be necessary to keep one’s moral compass in working order and maintain a sense of self.”

That said, sleep tips are also plentiful on the blog!  HERE is some feng shui to help you to sleep much more soundly!

Dancing Is Good For Your Brain!

The opening to this piece in Psychology Today – Why Is Dancing So Good For Your Brain?- says it all in one statement paragraph:

“Dancing improves brain function on a variety of levels. Two recent studies show how different types of practice allow dancers to achieve peak performance by blending cerebral and cognitive thought processes with muscle memory and ‘proprioception’ held in the cerebellum. Through regular aerobic training that incorporates some type of dance at least once a week anyone can maximize his or her brain function.”

I might add that dancing is also amazing for your body!

Dancing Enhances Your Creativity

For all the creativity work I have done with hundreds of people at a time over the last 10 years, the role of movement and creative self-expression through movement is undeniably powerful.

Dance raises your feel-good hormone levels, boosting your mood.

Improvized dance wakes up the parts of your brain that are called upon to fill in blanks, helping you to become more comfortable in the gap between idea and actualization that is the scariest part of the creative process.

And… you can literally dance emotions and experiences out of your body in a therapeutic way!

Idea for the week: turn on your favorite music and dance around the house.  Really dance.  Dance like crazy and feel the music and get lost for a while.

Want to take this to the next level? Score the experience with a theme, meaning: pick music that relates to an emotion or a situation you are dealing with and set and intention before you dance to “dance it out.” Don’t stop until you feel great.

Please drop me a note in the Comments section below or email me and let me know how it goes. I am pretty sure the Disco Cure s spectacularly next-level energy healing!  xoxo Dana

 

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And, if you want to dive in to your own personalized feng shui in a modern, practical way, Say hello to Feng Shui 101.  Its the guide I made for you to create your own personalized feng shui at home, in the office, wherever you may be… in 8 weeks.  It’s not filled with strict rules or what you “must” do.  Its filled with information, questions, exercises and even videos and classes to help you confidently create amazing spaces with killer feng shui and live with more flow.   Learn more about the 8-week feng shui adventure & grab your copy to get started right HERE…   And, as always, please let me know what happens!