“You’re a genius”

Marco Visscher | September 2005 issue
How do I become a genius?
“Everyone is born with the capacity to be a genius. That particular talent is located in the right brain. But it is precisely that portion of the brain that the prevailing educational system fails to tap into. Schools are unilaterally geared to the left brain, which is rational, linear and selfish, while the right brain is more geared towards intuition and love for others. The right brain has a mechanism allowing it to quickly absorb a lot of information—right at the pre-verbal stage of infancy.”
Babies?
“Absolutely. The fetus develops the right half of the brain earlier than the left half. In their first months, babies are extremely eager to learn and open to new impulses. For example, parents can show their baby flash cards very quickly—one card per second—enabling them to learn to read much faster and earlier as children. Even the ability to calculate, which was always considered a left-brain activity, can be sped up by stimulating the right brain. But this must always be done in a relaxed and pleasurable way. Parents mustn’t force anything.”
What makes us a a genius?
“Geniuses have found the right balance between their right and left brains, while ordinary people only use the left half of their brain.”
Is it too late for me, as an adult, to stimulate my right brain?
“No. For instance, you can read a book aloud while you play the audio version of the same book on a CD player two to four times at a fast speed. This will enable you to read faster, think faster and finish work faster. Or you can close your eyes, breathe deeply three times, exhale completely and count for eight seconds, then inhale filling your abdomen as if it were a balloon while you imagine that everything you do will go well…or start to paint.”
Hmm. And what if I don’t?
“Then you’ll continually think in a rational and linear fashion, which is very common in our society. If you don’t start developing your right brain in time, it will be much more difficult to acquire those talents when you’re older.”
Makoto Shichida has has been researching the way the human brain works since 1951. He founded over 350 schools—primarily in his native Japan, but also in Taiwan and Singapore—aimed at stimulating pupils’ right brains. A few of his books, such as The Mystery of the Right Brain and Children Can Change by The Right Brain Education are available in English through Shichida Educational Institute in Tokyo: inquiry@shichida.co.jp. For more information: www.shichida.jp/education ( also in English beginning in late August).