The technique of not using your thumbs

reply to post by Aleister

But the real question is, can you remember your 21st birthday? If you do, you weren't doing it right. edit on 13-2-2013 by Aleister because: (no reason given)

I remember Vegas ! That's about it.

Oh and a hooker and a tiger and Mike Tyson and a rich ass gay Chinamen.

And four Jews.

reply to post by randyvs


Yes, it looks like your avatar is a self-portrait taken at the Luxor. But back to topic...

One reason for posting this thread is to give others an idea for a technique to expand their brain capacity a little bit. When the body/brain mechanism has to do something as different as not using a vital part of its machine - the thumbs in this case - it has to do work-arounds. Those consist of neuron connections. Do that something different long enough and those work-arounds become hard-wired. It's like playing the guitar, for example. Doing repititions of finger movements eventually creates a dexterity in the fingers, wrists bones, and all the other muscles engaged in the act, as well as firing up new parts of the brain connections. Not using my thumbs meant I was using other fingers in very new manners, and the body adapted quicker than I would have guessed, although I didn't know what was going to happen. But back to the important stuff, the Luxor...now that place connects up some new neurons!!!

Excellent thread. Too few experiment with the body-tool, as it were. When I teach people any sort of weapon or martial arts training, If they have indicated they want to be competent in both hands or feet, together or separate I always teach their "weak" side first. The dominant side already knows, but will under-perform if taught first, in a whole body approach to training.

Really strange circumstances there if true, but I really like your experimental ideas as well as your story. Introducing change in our normal patterns allows us to see more clearly and perhaps find better ways to do things.

I've always tried to use gloves when possible to keep my hands in good condition.

There was a time when I use to ski nearly everyday and it got to the point that walking was more awkward than skiing as my muscles and brain had adapted. Believe it or not I used to be able to feel the crystals in the snow passing under my feet as the sensations were transferred through my skis & boots to the nerves in my feet and ultimately my brain. Still to this day I am an excellent glider on the snow having both hypersensitivity to the surface as well as gravity, velocity wind and weather.

In that respect that is how athletes become so good as they focus not only on their bodies and conditioning but every aspect and detail of what they're involved in while experimenting making changes and learning how their body and mind reacts including their performance if competitors.

Originally posted by matthewgraybeal
Excellent thread. Too few experiment with the body-tool, as it were. When I teach people any sort of weapon or martial arts training, If they have indicated they want to be competent in both hands or feet, together or separate I always teach their "weak" side first. The dominant side already knows, but will under-perform if taught first, in a whole body approach to training.

Thanks. The weaker side (even the eyes, I have a slightly weaker eye and have thought of putting a patch on the strong eye for a few days) has a tendency to let the other side do all the work and layabout. Related: Lots of people don't know that their arms are connected up to their opposite leg, useful if you are doing effort exercises (tightening the right arm and left leg, letting them relax, tightening them again, relaxing, etc). I've never gone the martial arts route, lots of those effort-release exercises though.

This is the most unusual thread I've read on ATS. Two thumbs up!!

The dream the OP had about living in the jungle was interesting. Is it an indication of a past life memory or maybe something related to evolution, where traces of old modalities are still stored in the body/brain somewhere and can be triggered by certain activities? Interesting experience. Thanks for sharing.

Originally posted by ipsedixit
This is the most unusual thread I've read on ATS. Two thumbs up!!

The dream the OP had about living in the jungle was interesting. Is it an indication of a past life memory or maybe something related to evolution, where traces of old modalities are still stored in the body/brain somewhere and can be triggered by certain activities? Interesting experience. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks. The dream was very vivid. I took it as a throwback dream, an evolutionary storehouse in our dna or someplace (there are entire systems of awareness which open up early evolutionary feelings and emotions and work on those to help free us up more in present time). It was a jungle dream, complete with color - green leaves, etc., and other senses. Quite a pleasant and unexpected bonus.

I'm surpristed that several people have found this thread so unusual. I started it to relate an interesting life experience and what I gained from it so that maybe others could try it too (not for as long as I ended up doing it, but hey, you may like it enough to do that.)

I forgot to mention that it's a good technique for guitar players as well, as it connects the neurons together of the other eight fingers a bit more than usual use may do.

Then again, I never met anyone else who did the "two thumbs up and leave them there" thing, so I can't imagine what it's like for people who have inquistive minds hearing about the "technique" (I called it a technique because it worked for me, and it's not that hard to do.). for the first time. It'll be "more better" when a few people try it themselves and report their results on this thread (by the way, if you do try it, please do come by and tell us what occurred for you, thanks).

reply to post by Aleister


It seems to me that not using something which differs us from the rest of the species in our world is conterproductive! We need to evolve and not regress to primitave lifestyles! Though I can understand
experimenting by trying to exist without such things! Before I was a teen I used to blindfold myself to try and undersand what the world was like for the sightless but never went for more then several hours before fustration lead me to give in to regaining the world of sight! Though these experiments lead me to have much appreciation for all things which make life easier! Whenever I would take something for granted I would think back to my childhood days walking through my house bumping into things! I don't however believe that going without using ones thumbs for 2 years is a good idea! This is entirely too long for such an experiment and may end up losing the ability or use of your thumbs due to atrophy! It's always good to apreciate what we have and who we are but not to sacrifice our abilities! Goodluck whatever it is you do with or without your most valued digit.

Originally posted by nosacrificenofreedom
reply to post by Aleister

 

It seems to me that not using something which differs us from the rest of the species in our world is conterproductive! We need to evolve and not regress to primitave lifestyles! Though I can understand
experimenting by trying to exist without such things! Before I was a teen I used to blindfold myself to try and undersand what the world was like for the sightless but never went for more then several hours before fustration lead me to give in to regaining the world of sight! Though these experiments lead me to have much appreciation for all things which make life easier! Whenever I would take something for granted I would think back to my childhood days walking through my house bumping into things! I don't however believe that going without using ones thumbs for 2 years is a good idea! This is entirely too long for such an experiment and may end up losing the ability or use of your thumbs due to atrophy! It's always good to apreciate what we have and who we are but not to sacrifice our abilities! Goodluck whatever it is you do with or without your most valued digit.

edit on 15-2-2013 by nosacrificenofreedom because:

Nah, the thumbs work fine. On the blindfolding thing, you likely have to do it for a few days to get good results - the brain has to "trust" that something has changed to really hook up the neuron connections.

When you mentioned childhood, here's another one I do so automatically I don't think about it. When I noticed a child climbing up the stairs, and going up pretty easily, I realized "Hey, that stair is pretty big for her size!" and from then on I always go up two stairs at once with each step. It's a good and easy way to exercise.

reply to post by Aleister

The weirdest thing of this sort that ever happened to me occurred when I thought I was going deaf. I kept putting off going to the doctor for weeks as my hearing got worse. Finally I went in for a check-up and the doctor said I had a build up of wax in my ears and he was going to have to flush them out with a large sized syringe full of water.

He flushed out the wax and for several hours afterward, everything sounded really loud. When I got home, putting the key in my apartment door sounded like the coupling of railway freight cars. The leaves of trees, blowing in the wind sounded like poker chips rattling. It was like having the hearing of an animal. It made me think that maybe in ancient times our ancestors could really compete with the animals, physically.

So what did you used to abstain your thumb from everything? Especially when you shower or sleep? Sounds interesting no doubt.

Originally posted by ipsedixit
reply to post by Aleister

 

The weirdest thing of this sort that ever happened to me occurred when I thought I was going deaf. I kept putting off going to the doctor for weeks as my hearing got worse. Finally I went in for a check-up and the doctor said I had a build up of wax in my ears and he was going to have to flush them out with a large sized syringe full of water.

He flushed out the wax and for several hours afterward, everything sounded really loud. When I got home, putting the key in my apartment door sounded like the coupling of railway freight cars. The leaves of trees, blowing in the wind sounded like poker chips rattling. It was like having the hearing of an animal. It made me think that maybe in ancient times our ancestors could really compete with the animals, physically.

The same thing happened to my dad. He thought he was partly deaf for years, went to the doctor for something else, was asked by a nurse if he'd like his ears cleaned, and he could hear like a kid again! I wonder how many of us and people around us could benefit from an ear wash.

Ah, of course you can compete with the animals, you now have the hearing of an owl and the eyesite of a tasmanian devil, and will walk on all fours into the high trees and all the others will scatter at your approach. Thanks for the sharing, and maybe one other person will clean out their ears and will truly have "have ears to heareth".

Love this, OP! I think I will have to try this!

I like to do this sort of stuff too. I don't think I've ever done anything *this* extreme, but just off the top of my head I can remember that I forced myself to start writing the lowercase letter "a" and the number 2 how they are written in this font, instead of how I was taught, just because, in like 4th grade (and I still write like that!), I trained myself to walk with one foot directly in front of the other (to give me that awesome feminine walk ) when I was like 16, and I still do that unless I actively try not to. I know there's more... but that's all I can think of right now.

I wish I could remember to correct my posture! That one I always forget.

Originally posted by samara11278
Love this, OP! I think I will have to try this!

I like to do this sort of stuff too. I don't think I've ever done anything *this* extreme, but just off the top of my head I can remember that I forced myself to start writing the lowercase letter "a" and the number 2 how they are written in this font, instead of how I was taught, just because, in like 4th grade (and I still write like that!), I trained myself to walk with one foot directly in front of the other (to give me that awesome feminine walk

) when I was like 16, and I still do that unless I actively try not to. I know there's more... but that's all I can think of right now.

I wish I could remember to correct my posture! That one I always forget.

The lower case "a" is a good one, nice. If you do try the thumb thing please let us know what happened. I think you'll be surprised how easy it gets (but maybe not, and no spoilers). Before I did lots of this stuff I had years of kind of yoga training mixed with other training (I'm going to do a thread about my teacher at some point) so I sort of knew the way to keep going with something even when the brain/body connection was urging the thing I was doing to stop, because it likes its comfort zone and likes its habits the way they've always habited. My "teacher" said if you change even a few percentage of your set-patterns, well, things happen. I like the post somewhere above where the user talks about the body as a tool, and how we can work with it. An apt metaphor, although maybe not a metaphor. I ramble.

Originally posted by Mizzijr
So what did you used to abstain your thumb from everything? Especially when you shower or sleep? Sounds interesting no doubt.

You're bringing back some memories, thanks. When awake it was easy, just held the thumb out, and when going to sleep - haven't thought of this since I did it - I held the thumb away from my hand enough so it was hanging by itself. When showering it got wet, I guess (if not, gross, although in memory I seldom if ever washed it, but that's got to be wrong? I can't remember washing it on purpose, very gross, so I had to. Hmmmm, I really don't remember). But the sleeping part was easy, I'm one of those who don't toss and turn but stay in one position until I wake up and turn consciously. Thanks for the memory expanding questions!

I've read that brushing your teeth with the wrong hand forces your brain to create new pathways and increases the health of your brain somehow... I wonder what other effects not using your thumbs might have, other than what you've mentioned here... Thanks for sharing bud!

Originally posted by 3n19m470
I've read that brushing your teeth with the wrong hand forces your brain to create new pathways and increases the health of your brain somehow... I wonder what other effects not using your thumbs might have, other than what you've mentioned here... Thanks for sharing bud!

Or holding the phone with the "other" hand, or forks and spoons. Even changing ones diet breaks patterns. There is a buddhist technique of conscious walking, where the person walks as slow as they can for three hours. Their feet and legs have to keep moving, but moving ultra slow. I've never tried that one, although I've known about it for a long time.

On the thumbs endeavor, it did help in playing guitar, as the other fingers gain more dexterity. There are likely many effects which went along with that gain of dexterity (i.e. connecting up on neuron pathways) that the "practicioner" (a catch-all term if there ever was one) experiences. The lack of callouses on the thumbs also brought a magnifying glass effect to things that I'd very gently rub the thumb over, something I didn't do all the time or even daily but did on purpose for the exploration.

BUMP

No thumbs thread has made my day.

Sorry, can't do it...I've been told I'm "all thumbs".

a reply to: zazzafrazz

Thanks. Two thumbs up for you.

The thought that started it out, after realizing I had never 'not used' my thumbs, was that it would be a good guitar exercise. And it was. So all you guitarists out there, maybe do at least a week of this so your other fingers get more brain connections built up. Tis my advice, and I'm sticking to it (and if this shows up in some guitar book or magazine, you saw it here first - and second!).