When you close your eyes, can you still see? With good visualization skills, you will be able to see new worlds, new ideas, new dreams and new possibilities. If all you can see is the darkness of your eyelids, you are missing out on an incredible ability.. but luckily one within your grasp.

The ability to manipulate visual images in our imagination is a key component of most IQ tests and is even more important in everyday intelligence. But what if you cannot visualise?

If all you can see is your eye lids, this doesn't necessarily mean you have no visualization skill at all. It simply means you have difficulty in consciously recognising those visual images. It all happens unconsciously, and when you try to focus your attention on it, it disappears.

This is a place holder for discussions on developing Qi.

This is a placeholder for information on the sense of touch.

This is a placeholder for information on improving smell and taste.

These two are placed together since they are so intertwined they are difficult to separate.

Proprioception exercise will help improve the awareness and coordination of your body. But it will help more than just your athletic and sporting ability: it can help concentration, spatial awareness, reading skills, and complex planning.

What is proprioception?

Proprioceptive receptors in our muscles tell the brain where our joints are positioned, how much tension is present, how much pressure, et cetera. Using this information we can work out the positioning of our joints and limbs, and understand how they relate to each other. It is basically our awareness and control of our own bodies.

The benefits of a good sense of proprioception

Advances in perfect pitch ear training and other ear training has meant that people who consider themselves tone deaf can now work on developing a truly great ear.

Only a few years ago I thought that only those born lucky could have really great relative pitch and even fewer could have absolute (or perfect) pitch. Ear training, I discovered since, was to put way to that myth. Even the chronically tone deaf can develop a good sense of relative pitch and, quite probably, perfect pitch as well.

Just over two years ago, I decided that I wanted to improve my guitar playing by improving my listening skills. I did some research on the Internet for good training methods for developing my listening ability. I found some half decent programs for teaching relative pitch, but I was particularly excited by the claims made by David Burge and his perfect pitch ear training course.

Great visualization skills are probably the most important asset in an improved intelligence.

Why? Because the visual sense is probably the most useful and widely used of all the senses.

It has given us some of the greatest art; helped us to hunt; made it possible to chart the stars; and allowed us to witness the beauty of nature. Without visualization the following would be nearly or completely impossible:

• Games (Computer games, board games, ball games...)
• Mental rehearsals
• Navigation
• Space exploration
• Painting

It also helps with:

• Spelling
• Reading
• Maths
• Memory
• Problem solving
• Creativity

...to name only a few.

Introductory Article to Balance

Training the vestibular system to improve balance.

Please be careful. Balance training relies on destabilising yourself, which obviously leaves you prone to falling over and hurting yourself. Take precautions by giving yourself something to fall onto or something to grab if you lose your balance.

Exercises

Here are a set of basic balance exercises to get started with:

(For these balance exercises you may want to stand near a solid support such as a counter top or a tall chair. If you are concerned about falling you can lightly grasp the support with your finger tips. Then try the exercises by keeping your hand near the support, but not actually touching it.