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In the modern world, it is not enough to play sports, regular brain training is also important. We tell you how mind coaches help maintain clarity of mind and why brain exercises are the key to success
What is a Mind Fitness Coach?
A mind fitness trainer is a specialist who helps people develop brain neuroplasticity (the ability of neurons and neural networks to change under the influence of new experience) and cognitive skills using special techniques. Depending on the client’s request, this may be speed reading training, concentration, memory improvement, or something else.
Mind fitness is based on the idea that our brain needs to be exercised regularly. Mind fitness trainers are needed to stay in good shape and unlock the potential of the brain. They are like personal fitness trainers – they accompany and motivate the client, only they work not with the body, but with the brain.
For example, one of the most famous mind coaches, Jim Quick, works with Hollywood actors, top athletes, and companies like SpaceX. He even developed his own methodology for fast learning FAST.
Imagine your mind as a mobile application. Every time you research an item, you make an upgrade that will unlock a better version. This will make it easier to let go of old beliefs and reinforce new ones.
What Does a Mind Fitness Coach Do?
The mind coach conducts tests with the client and analyzes his request to determine the current level and choose the future direction. Then he creates a personal program to stimulate the brain and develop the necessary skills – he selects special exercises, didactic and outdoor games, strategic tasks and techniques.
Mind fitness trainers also work with children who have learning difficulties due to lack of concentration or memory problems. Tests show that after working with coaches, children improve results in seven areas of cognitive activity, and even IQ scores. Cognitive abilities are key brain skills that help you acquire knowledge, comprehend information received, and reason.
Key Skills of a Mind Fitness Trainer
It is important for a mind coach to be well versed in neuroscience, psychology and training techniques, and also to be able to apply knowledge in practice. Here are a few more skills that such a specialist will need:
- logical thinking,
- communication skills and customer orientation
- learning experience design skills,
- stress resistance,
- systems thinking.
Ivan Chernyshev, the founder of the first mind fitness school in our country, Mind Fitness School, and co-author of the coach training program, believes that a mind fitness coach will need the ability to work with a cognitive request, create and accurately execute a program, accompanying the client at every stage. Trainers also work with habits that keep the brain in good shape, so they need to know the basics of neurophysiology.
Ivan Chernyshev:
“Do no harm is very important, so without proper training, you can’t just call yourself a mind fitness trainer. Therefore, we talk about the boundaries of the profession – what tasks can a coach work with, and what other specialists should work with. The coach must rely on scientific data on the development of the cognitive abilities of the brain.
Trends and directions of the profession
There is so much information that often people do not have time to process it. EMC and IDC estimate that total digital data has reached 44 zettabytes (or 44 billion TB) in 2020. If you transfer this data to the iPad Air with 128 GB of memory, you get a stack of tablets two-thirds the distance from the Earth to the moon.
At the same time, with age, the brain becomes less plastic, so it becomes more and more difficult for us to perceive new information, and even more so to learn new things. To be healthy in the future, you need not only to eat right and exercise, but also to maintain clarity of mind, developing cognitive abilities and thinking, which is what mind fitness trainers help with.
The benefits of mind coaching are recognized by major corporations: SpaceX, Google, Virgin, Nike, Fox Studios, and science – studies show that brain training can reduce the risk of dementia. Mind fitness can help you recover from a concussion faster, as well as relieve the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Where does the profession come from?
Mind fitness combines the knowledge of psychology, neuroscience and pedagogy. With the popularization of the profession, many teachers and psychologists will be able to obtain additional qualifications in the field of mind fitness in order to become trainers. The same can be said about HR-specialists – the specialty will help to work with employees, which will certainly be required by large companies. And given recent research on the negative impact of COVID-19 on human cognitive skills, we can say that the demand for mind coaches will only grow.
When will the profession appear in our country
In Europe and the USA, the specialty is already popular, but experts note that mind fitness trainers are gaining popularity in our country as well.
Ivan Chernyshev:
“The popularity of the profession is growing. So far, mind fitness coaches are rarely searched for purposefully, but when people see such specialists in their environment, they actively respond. We are strongly supported by the HR community, because attention, information processing speed, working and long-term memory, flexibility and creativity are the most important elements of soft skills, and without brain training they can remain only beautiful words.”
How to become a mind fitness trainer
There are programs for mind coaches in our country and abroad – basically, these are courses with certificates of a mind fitness trainer, which are issued to participants at the end of the program.
In such courses, they teach techniques for developing abilities and working with people, talk about the structure of the brain and neuroscience. Usually training is available to everyone. For example, abroad these are online schools Brainfirst Training Institute, NeuroLeadership Institute, Spencer Institute or Brain-trainer, and in our country – Mind Fitness School, as well as a general developmental program at the Institute of Continuing Education of Moscow State Pedagogical University.
Ivan Chernyshev:
“The profession is new, and there are still few ready-made solutions, so we create original approaches based on the experience of experts and colleagues. A clear system of work is very important – people of different levels of training and different specialties come to us: career consultants, coaches, psychologists, PR specialists, fitness trainers, even a flight attendant studied. We have no entry requirements other than the ability to communicate with people. Therefore, any sane person can take place in the profession.
If we talk about classical education, then you can choose a university program. For example, the Higher School of Economics has a master’s program in English “Cognitive sciences and technologies: from neuron to cognition”; Sholokhov, the master’s program “Neurobiology” is taught, and at St. Petersburg State University – “Neurobiology of Behavior”. Moscow State University Lomonosov offers a 15-week program of additional education in the direction of “Neurophysiology of Behavior”.