The "survival story" thread reminded me of something I read once. Two men were traveling by snow machine somewhere in the frozen north. They were cruising along on a frozen river when the ice broke. One of them managed to get out of the water, while the other was stuck. The sled he was pulling floated, and he was able to rest his chin just out of the water. The man that made it out ran several miles to town and returned with help (that by itself is impressive). By the time they got back, the water had frozen around the swimmer and they had to chip him out. After they pulled him out, he said he survived by imagining that he was a walrus. I believe he said this was an Inuit technique, to visualize yourself as something else that could survive in your situation.

Anyone know more about this?

Disclaimer - it was around ten years ago so I could have it mixed up, but I've related it by my best recollection. I think I read it in Field & Stream, and they referenced a book called "Alone". I bought the book, but it had nothing to do with the article. It was an analysis of the coping mechanisms of people that had spent long periods of time alone. It was fascinating, but a different topic. I don't want to hijak my own thread!

Well, Like John sang " I am the walrus, coo-coo-ca -joo" <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> I know this story, it's true. Many cultures learned by mimicking animals or even rocks. Think about the fighting crane stance in karate or stories of children found alive in blizzards " I know squirrels snuggle up in the brush during storms, so I crawled under the log." Visualization is a tested method in pain relief, various meditation exercises and doing taxes <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> The Inuit man controlled his fear and his metabolic rate by becoming the Walrus. Now I am going to mimic the bear and go back to sleep- it's saturday <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Don't know from squat about walruses, but I did have a little trick I was able to do during my younger dating days.

I was able to elevate my skin temperature by concentrating on increasing my blood flow. I would tell the girl I was with to lightly put her hands on my arm and then I would close my eyes and visualize an increase in heart pumping speed to attempt skin surface temperature increase. Every girl I tried this on was amazed at the increase in temperature they sensed. Since the heart was involved, I used to have them put their heads on my chest and listen to my heart speed up and slow down according to my will.

One the sneakier things I did with one date involved a watch. I had purchased one of those watches where the second hand moves in a jumpy digital fashion from second to second. During the course of the date she noticed the watch and asked why the second hand moved in such a weird fashion. I told her it gained its energy by harnassing the power of my pulse and was programmed within the range of normal human heartbeat. I then told her that one of the girls I used to date excited me so much during the course of one of our dates that the watch ended up going five minutes too fast that day. Women are soooooo competative and by the end of that day, I had to secretly move the watch seven minutes ahead to make her feel good about really working to beat the previous time. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I kinda miss being younger because of all the beautiful hair I had, but I now benefit from the saying that: "OLD AGE AND TREACHERY WILL OVERCOME YOUTH AND SKILL". <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Bountyhunter <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

In the "For what it's worth Dept.":

This reminds me of something I was told years ago. A friend had a learning method called "parallel learning." I don't know where he got it originally, and have never heard of it since.

The idea is that when you see someone doing something you'd like to learn, you follow their actions in your mind. Your mind must work along with the actions you are seeing, and you must follow exactly as if you are also doing these actions at that moment.

As an example, I'll use knitting. As you watch the knitter, follow the exact hand movements. Be sure to watch for every nuance as this is part of gaining expertise.

I believe the idea behind it is to implant it in your memory without actually ever having done it.

I can tell you that it is a very interesting experience, and you can learn from it, but it will become exhausting very fast.

I do the same with my competitive swimming. I imagen the whole race and even time my self. I have noticed a differance in my race times.