I really have a tremendous amount of trouble swallowing claims that the generic-h-word-sync tapes will really effect a powerful whole brain thinking state with regard to problems.
I also have my doubts about simply engaging in bilaterally involved physical activities while thinking.
Let's say you're cross-crawling or juggling or whatever and thinking about your problem. Alright. Your brain will be working cross-hemispherically to move in that particular way ... but does that mean that your brain is also using those circuits to solve your problem? There is no evidence of this. The only thing I could say you are certainly doing is putting your brain into a state where it has to deal with split attention tasks. Now, this may be a useful state for problem solving, but it doesn't mean the problem is being solved by the whole brain.
Really, to involve more of the brain I suggest that you approach the problem from a variety of perspectives and in a variety of ways. Dream about it. Fantasize about it. Free associate/image stream about it. Talk to your friends about it. Dissect it logically into categories, and think critically about it. Do an interpretive dance about it (only slightly tongue in cheek here, there are kinesthetic modalities to problem solving that can lead to interesting results). Spatialize your thinking. Play act, rehearse various scenarios as an actor. Go into a trance and "sit" on the question. Etc.
This will assuredly activate different parts of your brain in terms of a problem. This will be better "whole brain thinking" in my estimation than simply listening to a tape that everyone is convinced does all kinds of things there is not a jot of scientific evidence for. Pictures of brain scans indicate different brain states, that is all. You can go into a different brain state simply by spinning around or doing jumping jacks.
I have had remarkable experiences with Open Focus and think that, perhaps, thinking about a problem using this technique may be very helpful. But, again, it doesn't mean it will be a "whole brain" solution. Just a solution arrived at from a particular brain state. His technique does very interesting things with mental boundaries. I once had an experience using this technique that truly felt like a little satori. My consciousness was much bigger than my body and I literally felt myself in the tao, flowing with nature and the world. My consciousness was very expanded. All I could do was look at the absurdity of everything around me and laugh and laugh and laugh.
Hope I was helpful.
Stephen
