And that’s exactly what I thought I was doing!
The other day I took a ride over to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry with one of my daughters. A standard locale for field trips in the Chicago area, all of my kids had been there relatively recently, but I hadn’t been for years. I had seen a demonstration of a rather cool display on the news called Mindball and I wanted to check it out.
To play Mindball, two people sit opposite each other at a table which has a small metal ball and two goals. Both players wear a headband that works like an EEG. It measures your Alpha and Theta brainwaves which appear when you relax. The more relaxed you become, the more the little ball moves away from you toward the goal. The game says it’s a “fierce battle of relaxation. Whoever relaxes more wins.”
It looked very cool on the news segment and my daughter and I wanted to try. While we waited our turn, we watched a father/son duo play. These people must be meditation gurus or something because both were so relaxed that the ball was hardly moving in either direction. You can see the brainwaves on a screen by each player and both had a virtual flatline. Ideally, this is what you’d want to win the game, but when both players have that, they cancel each other out. Finally, the demonstrator had the kid start doing math problems in his head to end their turn and that still took forever. Still, It was really fun to watch and I was looking forward to giving it a try.
When it was our turn, I took my seat and carefully put on the headband (you know, so my bangs didn’t look weird), closed my eyes, hit the start button and within two seconds heard the sound of a goal being scored. Yes!!!! Being the queen of anxiety, I have numerous hours practiced in the art of relaxation techniques. I can apply them at the drop of a hat, always remaining completely in control of my mind, body and spirit. Or so I thought.
As it turned out, I’m not such a good mindball goalie. I suppose it’s not surprising. I totally suck at sports.
It was my daughter who scored the goal on me almost instantly and she said she wasn’t even trying. The demonstrator looked at me and said “Wow, you are really anxious!” Anxious? What was she talking about? I actually felt fine, relaxed even.
“I’ve never seen anyone lose at this so quickly.’ Added the demonstrator. Of course she hadn’t. When I do something, I do it right. Not many people take pride in the things they do any longer.
Needless to say, this kind of freaked me out a bit, because I swear, I felt relaxed and calm. Could anxiety be relative to the person experiencing it? I’m thinking this must be the case. Is what I perceive as “relaxed” be a state that might have another person climbing and scratching at walls and seeking relief in pill form sedation? I’m starting to think that I have not mastered relaxation techniques as I initially thought. I have mastered living with incredible amounts of anxiety.
I’ve decided to practice my relaxation techniques and then go back for a little Mindball rematch. I’ll let you know how it goes. Just to be safe, I’m digging out my old “Frankie Says Relax” t-shirt. It can’t hurt, right?!
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The coolest thing about living in a city like Chicago is all the museums and cultural activities that you can attend. I wish I lived somewhere like that. Looks like a lot of fun.
Jay´s last blog ..First Post Of The New Year ….
Hi Jay, Yes, there is a lot of incredible things to see and do here! Unfortunately, none of them are what I’d call “inexpensive”. The museums do have free admission days, but they are usually weekdays when I’m at work! Jessica
Jessica The Rock Chick´s last blog ..Indecent Proposal
Bwahaha! Relaxation as a “sport?” I’ll challenge you. I bet I could lose faster than you can. I’ve never even heard of this… but you know how “well” I keep up with technology.
This Eclectic Life´s last blog ..Are We Addicted To Cell Phones?