The Light Side Muscle
“I’m burning through the sky.
Two hundred degrees, that’s why they call me Mister Fahrenheit.
I’m traveling at the speed of light” (Queen)
“Wo! I feel good, I knew that I would, now” (James Brown)
“I’m walking on sunshine, wooah.
And don’t it feel good!” (Katrina and the Waves)
“I got that sunshine in my pocket.
Got that good song in my feet.” (Justin Timberlake)
Artists have come up with thousands of ways to describe how we feel when we make conscious adjustments to reach our core desired feelings. And while that sensation feels entirely expansive outside of the limitations of the human body, it is significantly influenced by the science of the brain (and a little bit of cosmic magic, if you believe in that sort of thing).
Our brain is, most simply, divided into two sides: the Left Brain and the Right Brain.
The Left Brain tends toward analytical, categorical, sequential, black-and-white, language-based processing (we talked about her in the last lesson).
The Right Brain tends toward holistic, artistic, creative, pattern-based, emotionally resonant processing. This is where our Untethered Fool usually lives.
Interestingly, though, neuroscience research has determined that the brain produces electrical activity (“brain waves”). These patterns are measured and organized into frequency bands, each associated with different states of consciousness and cognitive function. The two most relevant bands for our Untethered Fool journey are alpha and beta:
Alpha Brain Waves are associated with relaxed, present, non-analytical awareness. You may recognize this type of brain wave as “creative insight”, “flow state”, “high vibrations”, “intuition”, or “aha moments”. Activities that may generate these waves may be nature, meditation, showers, physical movement … and probably anything you put on your Consciousness Chiropractic Adjustments list.
Beta Brain Waves are associated with logical, active, analytical thinking. This is the dominant frequency during focused thinking, decision-making, planning, stress and anxiety, active conversation, and critical thinking. “Left Brain” loves beta, and these are necessary and useful ways of processing information, but this is also where rumination, hustle culture, perfectionism, and chronic anxiety live (aka The Dark Side).
This all means the practices that feel the most indulgent – the slow run, the long shower, the afternoon doing nothing in particular – are actually the ones doing the most important neurological work.
This is exactly why mindset work blended with movement is so powerful.
Research published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology has shown that light to moderate aerobic exercise can significantly increase alpha wave activity both during and after the activity. This is the neuroscience of why some of your best thinking can happen on the run (or on the mat).
If you partner that movement with time in nature, measurable increases in alpha waves are found in comparison to movement that occurs indoors or in urban settings.
When we are in a high-beta state, creative insight cannot happen - you cannot think your way to a breakthrough. And the reverse is equally true - when we are in an alpha state, the tendencies to overthink or over-worry go quiet. “Flow” is not the absence of the brain, it is the temporary quieting of the brain’s self-monitoring system. You cannot force The Dark Side into silence through willpower or persistence – that is a very beta-state strategy. But you can create the conditions (Consciousness Chiropractic Adjustments) that naturally shift your brain into alpha, where The Dark Side loosens its grip.
We are all talented, original, and have important things to say, do, and experience.
The primary obstacle that gets in the way of living an untethered life is not our lack of ability, but the stifling of “The Light Side”. Criticism, busyness, the societal demand to be practical all cause The Dark Side to stand tall with confidence, leaving our Light Side – our right brain, our alpha waves, and creative self – obstructed in the shadows.
I tell you this because it’s not a “you problem”, it’s an “everyone problem”.
Hustle Culture, same-day shipping, fast food delivery, and the surge of AI have made us fall out of the habit of reaching “alpha wave status”. We need more happy idling, dawdling, inefficiency, rest, and moodling; and we need to do it regularly. Just like building muscles in our arms and legs, we have to build our “Light Side Muscle”.
It looks like doing nothing, but it’s actually doing everything.
