LEARNING TO DANCE

August 28, 2008 by dr. lam

Actually, this blog has little to do with dancing. I will explain in a moment why I am talking about dancing. This blog is about exercising your mind. We all talk about exercising your body, which you should do but we don’t talk about good exercise for your mind.

I was listening to David Fabricius a few weeks ago and he said he can spot the corporate leaders on a plane. He said look at those in first class versus economy class. Those who sit in first class are reading books on leadership, working on their laptop, and engaging with each other in fruitful conversation. Those in economy are listening to sugar-pop on their iPod, watching a mindless DVD, or reading Us weekly. Now, understand. I am not being elitist here. In fact, I usually fly economy. This blog is little to do with which class you are flying in the air but what class you are in your attitude and desires.

I think it is always important to engage in a little mindless activity. Relax and zone out. In fact, I have written blogs about that. But that is not what I am talking about here. We all should engage in a little bit of mind exercise to make sure that our mind is quick and agile.

I often here, “Boy, my mind is really out. I forget everything so easily.” Besides Alzheimer’s which is a serious condition, the reason that we become forgetful is that we don’t exercise our mind. Like our body muscles that are not subjected to good exercise, the mind also goes limp.

Every time I get a haircut from Nataliya in my José Eber salon, I learn a few more Russian phrases. First off, I really have fun doing it. Second, it helps me keep my mind sharp. Nataliya is always shocked that I can remember every single phrase she has taught me in the past year without even trying. She will teach me a very complicated sentence. Then I will promptly put the sentence out of my mind after repeating it 10 times. Then toward the end of the haircut, I see if I can remember it. In most cases I can. In fact, I can remember the phrase the next day. Now, do I have a natural facility with languages? Perhaps. However, I have trained my brain to adapt and remember things quickly. Trust me. Memory is a critical skill.

Here comes the dancing part. During my second year of residency at Columbia University in head and neck surgery, I had a 6 month block of research. I took that opportunity to spend almost every weeknight learning to do ballroom dancing. I mean everything from cha cha, meringue, hustle, waltz, foxtrot, tango, etc. When I first started learning ballroom, I couldn’t remember the third step after I learned the first step. That continued for a couple of weeks. I thought that I would never learn 10 steps, and if I learned those steps I would absolutely suck at them. What was interesting is that as the months progressed, my synapses started to become used to the movements. By the time I was done, I could literally learn about 20 to 30 steps almost the first time I was taught them. Was that a miracle? Perhaps. What it really was is the application of my mind and body through hard work and getting used to opening my brain synapses to be receptive to those changes.

My recommendation for you is to try to fill your brain with something intellectually stimulating hopefully every day whether it be reading something, working on a mental puzzle, engaging in intellectual banter, or something so that the old noggin doesn’t start to rust too prematurely.

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