Statesman

Issue date: 11/19/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Joe Olivieri Associate Professor Ladona Tornabene, PhD., speaks on the importance of language during her "Why Words Matter Part I" seminar.

Associate Professor of health and physical education Ladona Tornabene, PhD., knows that life can be stressful. She also knows that people go through life changes.

Last Thursday, Nov. 13, Tornabene held an hour-long seminar called, "Why Words Matter Part I," in which she evaluated the science behind how humans have the full capability to train their minds to change how he/she perceives and handles certain situations.

With the help of a book by Sharon Begley called, "Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain," Tornabene explained the old ways in which scientists used to think the human mind works.

"Neuroscientists used to believe that the adult brain was static," Tornabene said. "For example, if somebody was blind, they used to think that their verbal cortex was fixed."

Tornabene went on to tell the story of a blind painter who had a CT Scan run on him. Scientists placed different visuals within the test and the painter's verbal cortex was colorful and vibrant. But how could this be possible?

The man was blind. Shouldn't it be dormant?

"His neurons were like Rice Crispies," Tornabene said. "They went snap, crackle, pop. Hundreds of billions of connections were taking place inside of his head."

Tornabene explained that Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is a way in which people can change their thought pattern.

"You can make a mental choice to be happy," she said. "There are mental training techniques that people can go through in order to get rid of negative attitudes."

According to Tornabene, the biggest way people can mentally train their brain to think positively is through meditation. She said that monks in the eastern part of the world have not forgotten to exercise the brain, but in the West, people don't do it enough.

Another thing people can do is instead of saying "don't" or "I can't," they should ask, "How can I?" One example that was given at the seminar had to do with being able to afford that precious trip.

"Instead of, 'I can't afford this' or 'don't know how I could ever afford this,' people should ask themselves, 'How can I re-budget my finances in order to go on that dream vacation I have always wanted?'" Tornabene said.

Continued...

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