What Hindus did for thousands of years is now rediscovered in the name of "Super Brain Yoga" by the West.
Super Brain Yoga helps to balance the left and right brain of a human being. As we know the left brain is for Logical reasoning and the right brain takes decision based on emotions / intuitions. For a healthy balanced life the working of both sides of the brain should be balanced and this is exactly achieved by super brain yoga or thoppukaranam.
As per Indian tradition, Lord Ganesha is the First God we pray to start any activity and to start anything better, you need to have the balanced approach. We obtain it by doing this simple exercise called super brain yoga or thoppukaranam
For what Hindus know and do for generations after generations, Master Choa Kok Sui's Institute for Inner Studies at Manila has the patent for this. Dr. Eric Robins, a medical doctor in Los Angeles, calls it “a fast, simple, drug-free method of increasing mental energy” and prescribes it for his patients.
"Thoppu Karanam" - is a Tamil (a South Indian Language) word, which means to hold the ears. From ancient times this practice has been evident in the Indian Culture, where people practice this in front of the image of the Lord Ganapathy (a symbolic representation of supreme energy in the form of an elephant which actually signifies wisdom. Thus also connected with the brain. "Ga" representing Intelligence, "Na" representing Wisdom and "Pathy" representing - Master, so ideally meaning the Master of Wisdom and Intelligence). It is said that this practice is a request to stimulate the wisdom and intelligence. It is also said that the practice has been evident in the ancient Gurukula Systems, where the seers asked their pupils to practice this technique in order to stimulate and energize the brain and its functions. The practice of ear piercing too has its real reasons being the stimulation of the pituitary and pineal glands, due to the effect of the pressure in the ear lobes.