I was made aware of this very inspiring interview between business coach Marie Forleo and Adam Braun, founder of an organization called Pencils of Promise.  

I found this interview inspiring because of how Adam just kept taking small steps towards his dream, even though initially he did not know what it was going to look like when it was realized.

This interview warmed my heart and soul and I hope that it will do the same for you.


http://www.marieforleo.com/2014/03/change-the-world-adam-braun/

As part of Brain Awareness Week 2014 my colleague, a neuroscientist, Kamila Szulc and I presented on the benefits of movement for the brain and learning.

The event was held at the the NYU Child Study Center. Many people came out and it was a lot of fun!

She even brought us a real, plastinated human brain to touch and look at!
It's amazing to contemplate all the things that this brain and all of our brains do!


Kamila always says that she too wants to donate her brain to science, both literally and figuratively.

Thank you Kamila and thank you also to everyone who came out to learn about how to Jump Start Your Brain with Exercise!

As part of my training for my occupational therapy degree, I did an internship in a small town in upstate NY called Elmira.  It is a rather depressed town with two maximum security prisons within a 10 mile radius and the original Tommy Hilfiger store as its claim to fame.

I was living in the housing for hospital interns which was an old creaky house which was down the street from the hospital and across the street from Tommy's first store and an abandoned boarded up house.

At the time I was the only one interning at the hospital, so I would drive an hour or so out of Elmira to Ithaca where there was more life and hustle and bustle.  I had a strange feeling of knowing Ithaca although I had never been there in recent memory.  I wandered into Mollie Katzen's Moosewood restaurant and when the smell hit my nose I KNEW that I had been here before.

I called my mother when I went home and as it turns out, when I was an infant, my mother was a student at Cornell, studying agronomy, and was also following a vegetarian/macrobiotic diet and used to come here to this restaurant to eat.  

Soon after that time, we moved to Japan and my mom left her first love of dirt and agriculture and became a mom to myself and my brother.  We grew up there and what I remember about my mom is her seemingly endless well of ideas, and ability to make friends with anyone.  This lead to always having an interesting international group of characters coming through my house--including Pete Seeger, Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer, and a group of Japanese blue grass players and clog dancers.

Looking back on it now, I realize that she was looking for purpose, meaning and a way to find herself and make her impact in her world.  

Fast forward 30 plus years and a move to the US.  She was looking through some magazines and came across an article on effective micro-organisms and how it was being used for farming.  Something compelled her to call the company up immediately and say, "I want to work with you".  
The person on the phone politely asked, "Are you an engineer?" and she said, "no." and they said, "No thank you" and hung up the phone.

She was dejected for about 2 minutes but in true Linda Miyoshi fashion, called the person back and said, "You work with dirt.  I am a connector.  You need me".  

In the 5 years that followed, she has proven herself to be more valuable than they had even anticipated.  She has quickly built a network of farmers along the east coast who are all having great results in using the effective micro-organisms.  

The only factor that is keeping its use from becoming more prevalent is that the main production plant is halfway across the country and shipping the organisms here is a huge cost to the farmers. 
So she had the idea and is in the process of realizing the dream of creating a manufacturing plant on the east coast to make it more accessible to farmers here.

This is where you come in.
I have been working with Brain Gym and the brain, and have seen incredible changes using these techniques.  However, the one thing that Brain Gym CANNOT replace, not matter how much work you do, is nutrition.  There are simply no movements that can replace trace minerals, vitamins and nourishment that comes from good food.  Good food that is not treated with chemicals and pesticides.  

The thing about the effective microorganisms is that they have many functions, and can replace many of the chemicals that are used in the farming process.  One thing it does is to act as a soil inoculant, which makes the soil almost pre-digested for the plant, which makes it easier for the plant to get the nutrients out of the soil.  When sprayed on the plant, it makes it less appealing to bugs, so it can replace some of the pesticide needs, and it has an immediate and long term effect of keeping the soil nutrient rich rather than depleting the nutrients.  

Here's one other crazy thing.  It is so safe, that you can drink it.  I have a bottle in my cupboard right now, and after a recent use of anti-biotics, I have been diluting it with water and DRINKING it to replace the probiotics(the good bacteria) in my stomach.  

Yes.  These organisms are good for farming because it is safe enough to drink out of the bottle(doesn't taste that great but that's besides the point).  That is what we should be using on our food.  Not these chemicals that are dangerous to our health and nervous system.  

I believe so strongly in this product and my mom's mission to clean up food production and the health of our planet, I am offering the following session special.

For the whole duration of this Indiegogo Campaign, (from now until April 9, 2014) I will be offering a free one on one session to anyone who contributes $100 to the campaign.  

There are no limits and you can have a session for each $100.  

Please support my mother's campaign to make organic farming