MIND ON GRAY MATTER

Article by Thom Wise, The Denver Rocky Mountain News

Neil Slade doesn't just wake up in the morning. He clicks the amygdala in his brain. The enthusiastic Slade, a brain researcher for nearly 20 years, is deeply concerned that children know more about computers and cars than they do about the one machine that's most important to them: good ol' gray matter. Consequently, he's used to giving crash courses on its physiology.

"The back of your brain is your reptile brain," Slade says. "It' s what directs your basic survival skills, where thoughts of self- defense, fighting and competitiveness come from. The center is called your mammal brain, which controls your emotions and gives all the basic social skills. And then there's your frontal lobes. Spread your hand over the forehead - they're everything under your hand. The frontal lobes are where you plan and conceptualize abstract thoughts. I call what computes there 'CICIL' short for Cooperation, Imagination, Creativity, Intuition and Logic." Slade gets more animated by the minute, like a preacher who has confidently been spreading the good word for many years.

"When you get up in the morning, energy starts to flow forward starting with the reptile brain,'' he says. "A trickle gets through to the frontal lobes, which is basically what people are talking about when they say we only use 10 percent of your brain. All I'm trying to do is help people learn how to increase activity to the frontal lobes."

So what about the amygdala?

"Think of it like a light switch," Slade says as he pops up from his chair to demonstrate how a switch clicks up and down. "The amygdala (uh-MIG-duh-luh) is part of your brain, at the center of your mammal brain. You actually have two of them, about one inch inside from the temples. One controls the right hemisphere (of your brain), the other the left. "(To `click' it) close your eyes and imagine you have a feather in your hand. Then visualize one of the amygdala inside your brain. ... Slowly pull the feather in your hand back toward the inside of your head ... and tickle it."

"What you're doing is pushing all your positive electrochemical thoughts forward, at least momentarily, toward the frontal lobe. You' re turning on the most advanced part of your brain, which can then reward you with pleasure. Insufficient frontal-lobe activity is what creates the Unabomber; it's what generates anger, rage and war. The solution is to shift gears and start using more of the best part of the brain."

Slade began his study of the brain with T.D.A. Lingo at his Dormant Brain Research and Development Laboratory, near Black Hawk. Lingo died in 1993, but Slade has remained one of his most dedicated students. "Most of the formal research on how to turn on your brain ended in 1987," Slade says. "(Lingo) was an incredibly intelligent man, very intense and well-read but very eccentric. I listened and learned and, I think, have found a more palatable way to get the information out. I realized that people like to have fun, and if you make it fun you can actually motivate people."

Slade has written several books on brain study, mostly because he didn't enjoy having to "repeat himself" at book signings. Titles include Brain Magic, Frontal Lobes Supercharge Book and Have Fun: Anti-Rules for Life, Learning and Everything Else. He's recorded original music as well, which runs from classical to jazz genres.

Things were moving along fine, the books were selling and Slade enjoyed an occasional live reading or musical performance until 1997. That's when nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and paranormal aficionado Art Bell - along with his estimated listening audience of 15 million to 20 million fans - got wind of Slade.

"Being on the Art Bell show has been unbelievable, way beyond anything I'd ever imagined," Slade says. "In the two weeks after I was on last July, I sold 15,000 books and tapes. And only four have been returned. People are listening. I've probably been on at least a dozen times. I did six shows last summer alone. I think Art is a total genius. He's not into politics, he's interested in anything that's different - and he doesn't make any bones about it. He treats everyone with respect, even the guests who are totally nuts.''

In turn, Bell has only kind words for Slade. "His clicking the amygdala forward works," Bell says emphatically. "From the simplest experiments to the more serious experiments involving millions of people creating rain where rain was not forecast, it works. It's all reflective of the power of the human mind." As for those showers, during one of Bell's shows Slade had listeners focus all their attention on making it rain in a drought-stricken area of northern Florida. Within days, the area received 10 inches of rain. (The experiment is documented on Slade's Web site: www.Neil.Slade.net.)

Whether it was a coincidence or mind over matter, Slade remains realistic about the recognition he has received. "It's given me the means to survive as a musician," he says. "I have no illusions, but folks are hearing about (the brain research) all the time. It's growing exponentially."

"There has to be a positive for every negative. That's how the universe is put together. For myself, I don't like being stuck in my reptile brain, where everything is black or white. I think that everything is black AND white."

INFOBOX

NEIL SLADE

Education: Graduated magna cum laude with music education degree from Metropolitan State College of Denver.
Personal: Single, with one goldfish.
Occupation: Musician, author, artist and "brain educator."
Brain educator? "I give people the basic information on how the brain works and inspire people to do more with it. Then you can use that information to change your own life and do whatever you want to do a zillion times better ... because your motor is working on all cylinders."