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Neuroplasticity NEUROPLASTICITY Brain Training For A Better You — LISA WIMBERGER NEUROPLASTICITY Imagine a time you found yourself thinking or acting in a way you thought you had outgrown… Or had an outdated knee-jerk reaction when you no longer felt it represented you . Or gotten frustrated with yourself for “failing” to progress or grow because you were stuck in old thoughts or patterns . These are frustrating, but the good news is this is all quite normal. There is a legitimate reason why old patterns continue to show up even when you don’t want them to. The answer lies in basic neuroscience: NEUROPLASTICITY. 2 NEUROPLASTICITY HOW THE BRAIN THINKS A THOUGHT Neurosculpting® is Let’s consider how the brain “thinks” a thought. The brain a 5-step meditation has between 85 - 100 billion neurons. (For perspective, that’s as many galaxies as there are in the entire known process the can universe!) strategically help Each neuron has dendrites, which look like tree branches an individual and are made of grey matter. Dendrites tend to collect release the grip of incoming information and send it to the cell body for a old patterns and potential action. entrain their brain The cell also has an axon, which looks like a tail and is to create new and made of white matter. The axon tends to take the signal more supportive from the cell and guide its travel to an end point where it patterns, habits, can jump a gap to reach another cell’s dendrites. These dendrites and axons reach out to the next nearby neuron, and behaviors. which reaches out to the next, and so on, ultimately creating a neural pathway. Each neural pathway essentially becomes dedicated to a thought or pattern of thinking. When prompted, the neural pathway lights up and broadcasts that message. This is essentially the brain thinking a thought. 3 NEUROPLASTICITY THE BRAIN IS A PREDICTION MACHINE So how does a neural pathway know used neural pathway. The brain marks when to activate? It predicts! The brain it as important or “bookmarks” it if it is is a prediction machine. There is no visited often. mechanism in the brain that distinguish- es thoughts as good or bad, healthy or You can also think of it like the auto-fill unhealthy, desirable or undesirable. function when you begin to type in a website address of a site you frequently The basis for the significance of a thought visit. The computer’s prediction is based pattern is simply usage. If a neural pathway on your personal frequent activity. Your is used frequently, the brain essentially computer does not judge or evaluate marks it as important and makes it easily the website; it simply predicts that path accessible on a physical, neurological based on your past usage patterns. level. The brain operates primarily on efficiency Think of this as bookmarks in your Internet and predictions. If you bring up the same browser. If there are a few websites you thought pattern frequently, the brain use daily, you can “bookmark” them at organizes itself to make that thought the top of the page to reach them more readily available. efficiently. This is just like a frequently 4 HOW EMOTIONS INFLUENCE NEUROPLASTICITY To add to our efficiency, the brain connects associations wherever possible through strong emotions like fear, joy or love; the five physical senses, especially smell, or recognizable patterns of thinking. Predictions are easier with more reference points like these sorts of associations. This is known as Hebb’s Law: “Neurons that fire together, wire together!” For example, if you’ve smelled lavender in the past with positive emotions or a sense of calm then the next time the olfac- tory system detects the smell of lavender your brain may pull up the idea of relaxation. It detects the smell and reaches to predict the associative emotional response its referenced be- fore. Or if a common pattern of thinking is “This is hard. I can’t do this” how do you think you’ll fin- ish the thought next time if you encounter a task that’s hard? Chances are you will respond to it with your default thought “I can’t do this”. Our neuroplastic system can keep old patterns active long after we don’t need them or con- sciously think about them. Anyone whose ever tried to change a pattern knows that this is the main point of frustration. GROWING GREY MATTER Great news! It is completely possible to harness the power of this system and re-train old patterns into new ones. To break down how this is physically possible, let’s examine what exactly happens in the brain during this process. Remember our dendrites: the tree-like branches growing out of a neuron that are made of grey matter? Neuroscience has discovered that grey matter has the ability to physically grow or shrink in response to usage. You might imagine this to be like working out muscles at the gym and watching the shape of your body change. When a neural pathway is used frequently, the dendrites connecting it will physically GROW more branches as well as further-reaching branches stretching out to more nearby neurons. The neural pathway takes up more physical space in the brain than it did before. This is measured by density changes in the brain. The growing pathway also connects to additional nearby pathways, creating more associations and becoming exponentially more accessible from other entrained patterns. It’s physically easier to access this growing neural pathway due to its size and influence. It is literally, physically easier to think a thought the more often you think that thought. Even if you seek growth and change you are battling the efficiency and speed of old, familiar patterns you’ve grown. NEUROPLASTICITY HOW TO RETRAIN OUR THOUGHT PATTERNS So how do you adapt an existing Your brain’s goal is to be efficient. If neural pathway or even train it into a neural pathway is no longer used something completely new? as much, the grey matter reallocates itself into something used more Fortunately, if we can grow grey frequently. The dendrite branches matter with use we can also prune prune back to be energy efficient. it back with disuse. Just like when With fewer dendrites it’s harder to you stop going to the gym your activate the network; it becomes muscles shrink. Grey matter often physically more labor-intensive to follows a Use It or Lose It rule. think that thought. That means if you stop using a This leads us to the amazing neural pathway frequently, it realization that we can literally re- becomes less accessible. Imagine wire our brains! We can intentionally learning a language in high school and systematically train which neural that you don’t use for ten years. You pathways become more efficient. We will have forgotten how to speak it can choose which patterns of thinking even though at one time you might or behaviors we want to develop. have been proficient. 7 Which outdated pattern are you ready to recycle into something new? Remember, our neural pathways are “Use it or Lose it.” That means one of the most important keys to success is: REPETITION! REPETITION! REPETITION! We cannot expect change simply because we have knowledge. The principles of usage require a practice with repetition. NEUROPLASTICITY DO THE TIME YOUR BRAIN WILL CHANGE You can’t go to the gym once and expect Consistent interruption of old patterns the ideal body, right? We have to treat causes the brain to re-label those net- the brain the same way. works and devalue their importance or relevance. Every day, practice thinking or behaving in intentional ways. Done frequently Frequent repetition dictates which pat- enough, the brain diverts resources to terns are given the most resources and this new pattern. the highest value. Yes, we can intentionally direct how the brain values our own thoughts! 9 NEUROPLASTICITY WE CAN ENHANCE THIS EVEN MORE We can enhance this at even deeper levels so that your desired pattern is readily to compliment this repetition practice. available even if an object or trigger is not. Remember Hebb’s Law: “Neurons In Neurosculpting®, we rely on these that fire together, wire together!” association triggers. Using a simple hand Associations can be used as an gesture during a new thought pattern additional way to mark an experience, creates a somatic link to that pattern. thought, or behavior as significant. Using that trigger by itself later can activate the pattern on a subconscious You can purposefully incorporate an level, if not a conscious one. association into your new pattern in order to strengthen its accessibility. This means you get to exercise the You might choose a sensation trigger neural pathway anytime, contributing to like a hand gesture. the repetition foundation. You can use it while driving in the car, shopping in the It is entirely possible to create a somatic grocery store, working at the computer, link with something like a scent, sound, or anywhere. or object; however, it is not the best option because it may not always be This promotes an additional layer of available. accessibility to the new pattern. Consider these little moments of going to the brain Consider making a connection with gym. something you always have access to 10 NEUROPLASTICITY DID CURIOSITY KILL THE CAT OR STRENGTHEN THE BRAIN? A final tip for neuroplastic success brain is probably paying full attention depends on our ability to be curious. to this new and novel experience. This Neuroscience has also shown us that heightened state of neuroplasticity.
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