The best way to recover from brain injury is to enter life as fully as possible, going “as fast as we can, as slow as we must. These shifts in how we live help us access God’s engineering, which is the mechanism that helps us heal and function as much as possible, no matter what our capacity is. They are radical only in the sense that you won’t hear these ideas from most doctors or society in general. They are all based on the simple, profound idea that when we restore our bodies to the way they were meant to function God’s engineering helps us heal as much as possible, including our brain.

We are what we eat
Let’s start with diet. Perhaps the simplest way to describe the diet that has benefited me and my brain (much more stable brain energy and far fewer rage bursts, among other improvements) so significantly is I eat no processed foods, either in what I eat or what the animals I eat ate. None. The eliminates veggie oils, sugar, grains.

What do I eat? By calories, roughly 70-80% grass fed or wild caught fat, with the balance coming from grass fed or wild caught protein and safe carbs (potatoes, yams, white rice, veggies and some fruit).

In general, I eat once a day. When we fast for 16 hours or more in a given day, our body shifts into a ketogenic state, a fat burning state. Being in this regularly, daily if possible, gives our brains ketons for fuel, a fuel that is much better for the brain than glucose (sugar) for all but a small portion of our brain (which gets the glucose it needs from the body’s natural processes). So, if you can eat all your meal within an 8 hour window, then you are fasting for the next 16. THis ketogenic diet consisting of zero grain or veggie oils or sugar helps the brain heal as much as possible. I’ve been on a version of this diet for the last 6 years, and for the last 2 1/2 years on this exact diet. My brain and entire body function much better because of it.

A great source for understanding this diet, the source that helped me get onto it is the Perfect Health Diet.

Lose the Shoes
More and more studies are revealing the strong connection between our feet and our brain. Modern shoes block this connection in multiple ways. They are cushioned, which prevents the nerves in our feet from experiencing the world. They nearly always have a raised heel, which messes with our posture and our gait. They are not foot shaped, but have a narrow, constricting shape that binds our feet and prevents them from functioning properly. They usually have support of some kind, which further prevents our feet from being strong and functioning as God engineered them to.

For the last 4 years I have gone either barefoot or in simple, flat sandals or moccasins. Despite having constant neurological vertigo, I am able to run mountain trails and ride a bicycle, both of which help me recover when I am able to get out. How? A process called proprioception, in which my feet (unencumbered by the constriction and false support of shoes) tell my body where I am in space, so my brain doesn’t have to try and figure it out.

Taking off your shoes helps stimulate new neural pathways in the brain on throughout your body. Everything functions smoother.

Live on the floor
Furniture needlessly puts our bodies in positions they were not designed to be in and needlessly supports us. Cushie chairs and sofas and beds prevent us from feeling when it’s time to shift position and automatically doing so. The result is atrophied muscles, and patterns of movement that are unhealthy.

Floor live. All the time. Sit on the floor. Eat on the floor. Sleep on the floor. Work on the floor. It’s great! You always have a place to sit, because there is always floor. You will discover your body is both stronger and more limber and agile all the time.

What’s the brain benifit? Far, far less noise from the body’s disfunction. The less our brains have to overcome to interact with our own thoughts and the world, the more our limited brain energy can be spent on what we are doing, on healing, on living. We are much more free to enter life as fully as possible.

Breath Less
Most of us over breathe. At rest we should be breathing about 6 shallow breaths per minute. Breathing more than we need to ironically make our blood oxygen full by expiring out the carbon dioxide. The trouble is, we need CO2 for our cells to access the oxygen. CO2 is part of how the gaseous exchange happens at a cellular level. So when we over breathe, our blood is oxygen rich but our body (including our brain) has no access to it.

When I learned the Buteyko Method for breathing, I stopped having allergies and increased brain energy. My capacity to handle situations that overstimulated my brain increased. Why? Because my brain and entire body now had access to the oxygen I’d breathed in. The individual sessions are expensive. I learned simply by getting and reading their PDF book.

Create Sanctuary
Animals do it. They find a nice quiet place to recover, rest, and in our case as humans, create. Our recovering brains need sanctuary to heal. Yes, we need to engage the world and life as fully as possible. That’s made significantly more possible when we have a place that is distraction free, noise free, and allows us to rest, recover, or create as we need to.

Set aside a room in your home. Insulate it from noise and distractions. Give yourself space to lie down (on the floor of course). Create a desk with a kneeler to work on the computer, write, draw, read, etc.

This space is were you go when you feel your brain getting tired or when the world is bombarding you. It’s where you go to create.

Accessing God’s Engineering
There are countless other ways we can access God’s engineering and maximize our brains capacity to heal and our capacity to enter life as fully as possible. What ways have you found effective?

When you brain (or a loved-one’s brain) is missing connections, what can you do to enter life as fully as possible and heal as much as possible? Learn low-cost, simple solutions that offer radical hope and increased quality of life.

Mind Your Head Co-op Interactive Workshop
This one hour interactive workshop gives you:

• Strategies for living with brain injury long term while entering life as fully as possible
• Tools to design your own Long Term Healing Plan.

Cost: Free.
Well, your time, phone call, or computer.

When:
Pick which works for you (they will be the same except for your questions):

Saturday Morning:
Saturday, December 8, 9-10 am

Weekday Lunch:
Thursday, December 13, noon-1 pm

Note: we will start on time. Feel free to call in late, but know you will have missed some.

Agenda:
15-20 minute presentation
20-40 minute question and answer to explore how to apply the principles in your unique situation

For a preview or more detail on the content, please explore Make your plan.

How to Connect:
No registration required. Just schedule it and call in (any phone or VoiP that can call a phone number works). It is a toll call, but most carriers include domestic long distance in their call plans. Check before you call if you aren’t sure.

Dial-in Number: 1-862-902-0100
Conference Code: 493023

For years I was unable to hold my daughters’ hands while walking. That all changed with the miracle of stick-free walking and running last Feast of Christ our King.

While praying Liturgy of the Hours’ Morning Prayer, I felt called to go for a run without my sticks. Prudence dictated I wait for Barbara to return from Mass in case I misunderstood and was stuck without sticks crawling back home. I ended up running 5k. Without sticks.

Deacon Patrick hiking (prior to starting to go barefoot and minimalist) with “bludgers” weighing 4 pounds each to help compensate for constant neurological vertigo.

I have brain injury, and with it constant neurological vertigo. I still do. Being neurological, it will be with me the rest of my life or until a miraculous healing. In the meantime, God has given me, and us, the miracle of being able to walk and run without sticks. How? God’s engineering. A miracle of God’s engineering. By going barefoot (which I began doing two and a half years before), my body has slowly regained the capacity to use proprioception to know where I am in space. My brain still has no idea where I am, though I run technical mountain trails. But being barefoot, or in huarache sandals or leather moccasins, GOd has given me the gift of walking and running without sticks, starting one year ago today.

Allelujia!

May God startle you with joy this Feast of Christ our King.

May God startle you with joy!
Deacon Patrick

Donate
Send your new or used iPad or iPhone or financial donation to:

Please include the USB and charger cord. If you have accessories you would like to include, (covers etc, they are much appreciated).
Prefer to donate money online?
Do I need to do anything with it first?


You do not need to do anything. When we receive them, we reset them to their original status, which wipes them clean and prepares them for a new user. If you prefer to do this, the steps are simple:

1. Go to “Settings,” “General,” “Reset,” “Erase All Content and Settings.”
2. When prompted to set up your information, unplug it and send it to us. It’s that easy. All wiped and ready for the person you are giving it to.

Brain Injury, iPads, & iPhones
Brain injury is invisible. Here I am, using an iPad. Unless you know me, you can’t tell that I need the iPad to remember how old my children are, when their birthdays are, what year it is (not to mention the day, date, month). You can’t know I’m using the iPad to “remember” a conversation I had with various volunteers seeking help for one of the hundreds of veterans and civilians I work with to help navigate the challenging road that is life with a long term, chronic disability.

iPads and iPhones are prosthetics for the brain. To you, they are a tool you use to free your mind so you can focus on what is important to you. To folks with brain injury, the iPad is how we remember what is important to us.

Life with brain injury means a lot of extra expenses, usually with a significant drop in income. Computers, iPads, and iPhones are not something insurance pays for, even when there is obvious “medical need.”

For a number of weeks now, CSI NY has had Detective Mac Taylor dealing with the aftermath of a loss of oxygen he received due to a gunshot wound. He was trying to address his aphasia (inability to find the right word) himself, not sharing his struggle with his girlfriend, and the lying and deception was beginning to tear them apart. She knew something was wrong, but he kept denying it. In yesterday’s episode, Mac apologizes to her and asked for help. She eventually agrees.

It is rare for a television show to depict brain injury in any way, let alone well. CSI NY is doing this well and accurately, showing the challenges of one simple yet profound loss of capacity. I’m sure you can be forgiven if, life me, your response is, “Oh, what I wouldn’t give to only have aphasia!” Sardonic grin.

If pride is in the way of the help you need or of right relationship with those who love you, swallow your pride and ask for what you need. And may God startle you with joy!

I don't always go online, there are days and weeks that the internet is just not my friend and I get overloaded. I try to keep up on the BIAC newsletters when they hit my inbox. Once of the things I do when I remember, is to go visit your Mind Your Coop site and I learn about new things that you have tried. I have to say thank you for your documenting all that you do because its very inspiring! Over the last year I have been going out more and more with my dog, Tobby. He is an all white husky/samoyed mix. We go for long walks whenever my body allows me to. I cannot do it barefoot right now, but you better believe I have read what you have said about how the nerve endings in your feet transfer info to the brain and I am barefoot at home all the time. And I will be working up to doing some trails here in the late spring/early summer barefoot if I can! And in all honesty, I really hate shoes to begin with. But, I am learning that I seem to pay attention more to my surroundings when I am barefoot? Not sure why, I just do. And taking the walks? WOW!!!! I have always loved being outside as much as I can. Taking the walks, going somewhat slow has opened my mind more and has also made me become more aware of my surroundings. I wish I had a camera to take pictures of the beauty I find. But I have to tell you thank you for inspiring me to take the steps to do this. I find encouragement knowing that someone else with TBI is out there functioning and enjoying life, then so can I.

Also, I take D3 along with several other vitamins and have noticed that my brain functions a bit better. Not sure what it is about it, but the D3 also helps me with depression as well. I find that it has helped me when I am starting to cycle I take a dose and the cycle lasts a lot less than normal. I am 7 years out from my stroke now and the brain that was hit, the left side(cognitive side) will never recover, the damage was pretty bad. But I find that the vitamins really do help. I refuse to take synthetic drugs and have refused for a couple of years now, that was my choice after being so “brain dead” just from the drugs they were giving me. I have looked up vitamins to see what would help instead of the drugs. I like reading about the vitamins you have tried and are taking and the effects they have on you. Thank you for letting all of us know. Yes, I still do as my dr asks me, within reason of course, as long as it isnt drugs, but vitamins instead.

So, in short, thank you very much! I really appreciate your blogs and postings! I have even sent a few people your direction off of FaceBook, were I am a member of an online FB support group for TBI(they are Fort Collins based where I lived in my teen years).

Thank you for reading this and keep up the wonderful work you have been doing!

Stephanie

The following video explores some of what helps my sanctuary, which I call my hobbit hole, accomplish all that. Perhaps it will give you some ideas of what to try in your home. No doubt you will find things that work that aren't mentioned here. Please share them in the comments so others can learn from your experience too.

Want info on the noise cancelation headphones or blue smurf earplugs?

May God startle you with joy!