You know Tina Turner’s famous song – What’s Love Got to Do with It?
Love was the topic of almost everything.
Now everywhere you turn, in the news, on Facebook – it’s your brain this, your brain that.
So what does your brain have to do with it?
Well, everything.
Scientists tells us to think of our brains as this dynamic, interconnected power grid with billions of pathways that light up anytime you feel, think, and act.
I like this idea, but I don’t personally have much familiarity with power grids.
Since I love going hiking in the woods, I prefer a simpler way of thinking of my brain as the woods with many hiking trails.
New neural pathways are like the established hiking trails in the woods. Some trails are really well worn and there is a clear path. Others are paths that are just beginning to be walked upon and you have to really pay attention to stay on that path. Then there is all the nature/woods growing up around you for which there is no pathway yet.
Let’s think of your neural pathways in the same way.
Your brain uses the well-used pathways – the deeply grooved, clear pathways – the most. These are your habits or ways of acting automatically – meaning you don’t have to think about it. They are established ways of feeling, thinking, responding, doing, and acting.
Every time you think a certain way, feel a specific emotion, or do a particular task, your brain travels along an established pathway and reinforces this ‘hiking trail’. Every time this happens, it becomes easier for your brain to travel that particular pathway, do that particular task, feel that emotion, or think that way.
The hiking trails that are present but less worn are possibilities, but you have to be more attentive and aware in order to do that particular action.
The ‘woods’ where there are no trails represent possibilities where you can create new neural pathways. This requires learning something new. Like learning a new language or how to play a musical instrument, a new activity like a sport or dancing, or thinking in a new way.
Or doing something you already do, but learning to do it in a more refined way.
Say you want to have a stronger and more flexible back. How can you use your brain and new neural networks and create new pathways in your brain to do this?
Do new, different, and a variety of actions or exercises so that you use your back in a new way. It will be important to know how we, as humans, are best built to move and use our backs well. You can do this by learning and doing new movement patterns. The Anat Baniel Method NeuroMovement® group and private lessons can provide you with these experiences.
So you can:
- Rewire your brain.
- Rewire for fitness success.
- Replace old habits with New Neural Pathways.
This is known as brain plasticity or neural plasticity.
And that’s What Your Brain’s Got To Do With It.
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