| One day my son ask me when can he take off | | | | that she progressively establishes the necessary |
| the training wheels from his bicycle. I replied, | | | | nerve links between the brain and the muscles. |
| “When I was your age, my father pushed | | | | Just like learning to walk upright is a skill that |
| me. I fell and bruised my knee. But I wanted to | | | | almost everyone can master, we too have the |
| ride my bicycle so badly that I always got up and | | | | mental skills to train our memory to perform |
| tried again”. My son frown at the prospect of | | | | astonishing feats of memory and improve |
| constant falls and said, “Did you always fall | | | | memory. Memory trainers use an array of clever |
| every time you got up on your bicycle?” | | | | techniques like mental association. Such techniques |
| “No”, I replied, “If you practise you will | | | | have been used for centuries by the Greeks and |
| learn, and it will work out fine, soon you’ll be | | | | ancient cultures to amass large amounts of |
| an expert.” My son grinned and he got on his | | | | information long before printing was the common |
| bicycle and tried again. Sure enough, he was soon | | | | enough to hold the massive information required |
| paddling his merry way in a couple of days. | | | | to be pass from generations to generations. |
| Whether you are learning how to ride a bicycle | | | | An example of association is to use a technique |
| for the first time or learning to play the piano, | | | | known as pegging as an anchor or source to hold |
| most of us need time to master any new skills | | | | a piece of information. The body can be used as |
| we desire to learn. It may take some time and | | | | a reference for pegging. For example, the toes, |
| effort in the beginning but it’s all worth it, | | | | the knee, muscle, shoulder, collar to the face. |
| considering we retain the ability to learn right into | | | | Extremely easy to use, it can be the basis of |
| old age. If you want to learn a complicated skill, | | | | more advance methods of association. Soon, just |
| you need time and patience. And as soon as the | | | | like learning to ride a bicycle, anyone can use such |
| right sequence of movements has been learnt, | | | | techniques to master long chains of numbers, lists |
| you can no longer imagine how difficult to take | | | | or mathematical formulas. There are of course |
| those first steps. | | | | many other methods that anyone can use to |
| The human mind and body has an innate ability to | | | | boost his memory. Dominic O’Brien for |
| learn almost anything imaginable. From learning to | | | | example, likes to use the loci method as pegs for |
| play the guitar to juggling balls. In any circus or | | | | his memory feats. Dominic is of course, the world |
| carnival, mind-boggling array of skills and stunts | | | | memory Olympiad champion and uses his jogging |
| are demonstrated. For example, performing | | | | route to help him remember long strands of |
| somersaults in the air, juggling knives, balancing | | | | numbers or long list of items in the hundreds. |
| spinning plates on sticks. If you hold a baby | | | | There is much to be gained from a trained |
| upright with her feet touching the floor, she will | | | | memory. Besides making tests and exams a walk |
| instinctively start making walking movements with | | | | in the park, learning a foreign language or |
| her feet. Almost a year will pass before she has | | | | “cheating” in a card game, a trained |
| found the muscle control to be able o put one | | | | memory has been known to delay the onset of |
| foot in front of the other all by herself. In this | | | | Alzheimer’s disease or other age related |
| time, the baby gradually learns to control her | | | | memory problems. You might want to explore |
| movements, first learning to creep, then to crawl | | | | the different ways you brain can be trained today |
| and finally to stand upright without holding onto | | | | both to improve memory and for a healthier |
| someone or something. It is during this process | | | | mental health. |