The last 12 years in the neuroscience field has been one of amazement and enlightenment. Scientists call it “The Discovery of the Decade”.
What is this remarkable discovery?
Simply put, it’s the fact that your brain is constantly changing and creating new neural connections based on your environment, your thoughts, your feelings, and your experiences. The old adage that “You cannot teach an old dog new tricks” has fallen by the wayside because we now know that you can you teach that “Old Dog” new tricks. Thus, you can release old patterns that have held you back from reaching your true potential. By using the newest discoveries in neuroscience, you can do it easier and faster than ever before.
It was once thought that when we grew up, our brains had a set number of neural connections that made us perform in a fixed way. According to the theory of neuroplasticity (or brain plasticity) you can introduce new thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that actually change the brain’s functional anatomy, and even its physical anatomy, in 12 weeks or less.
The understanding of brain plasticity has roots in animal brain research dating back to studies conducted in the 1950s. These studies were designed to investigate whether environment had any effect on the structure and function of the animal brain. Researchers designed a study of rodents that were raised in two distinctly different environments: enriched and un-enriched.
The animals raised in un-enriched environments were kept in isolation and had no running wheels or toys to play with while the other was given the opposite. When the two groups of rodents were compared following autopsy, results yielded significant differences in their brains. The rodents raised in an enriched environment had a larger cortex, more cellular connections (synapses that help different brain structures to communicate better with each other) and the formation of new brain cells (neurogenesis) in the hippocampus (the structure critical to new learning and memory).
Today, we now know that it is the environment, and not our genes, that predict our future health and wellbeing. In fact, three new studies published between 2005 and 2008 showed that twenty minutes of meditation, positive thinking, relaxation, and mindfulness practice will actually turn on stress-reducing genes. How many genes are affected? 1561, to be exact!
The Plasticity of the Human Brain:
Many studies show that extensive learning of abstract information can also trigger long term changes in the brain: in the hippocampus (which is responsible for memory formation and recall), in the frontal lobes (where important decisions are evaluated and acted on), in the insula and anterior cingulate (which governs social awareness, empathy, and trust), and the parietal lobe (a key structure regulating alertness, consciousness, organization, and motivation).
In one study, brain-scan images of medical students were taken three months prior to their medical exam and right after the exam. These scans were then compared to students who were not studying for an exam. The medical students’ brains showed learning-induced changes in regions of the parietal cortex and the hippocampus. By exercising your mind, you improve the overall functioning of your brain, your performance, and your ability to succeed at reaching the goals you desire..
Even basic thinking can change the brain!
In a recent experiment, Dr. Richard Davidson compared a group of advanced Buddhist practitioners with volunteers who had been trained in meditation for one week. Everyone was told to meditate on compassion and love. At the end of the one-week period, two of the controls, and all of the monks, experienced an increase in the number of gamma waves in their brain during meditation.
When the volunteers stopped meditating, their gamma wave production returned to normal. But the monks, who had logged in more than 10,000 hours of practice, did not experience a decrease. The synchronized gamma wave area of the monks’ brains was also much stronger when compared to the activity in the activity in the volunteers’ brains. The monks also showed significant structural changes in many other parts of the brain which allowed them to feel compassion in even the most difficult situation.
When it comes to “Innercising™” your brain, Use It or Lose It! And the more you use it, the more permanent those changes become.
Stimulating your brain through daily Innercises™ is essential for maintaining a healthy brain. As a 40 year longitudinal study from the Mayo Clinic proved, the “right” attitude will literally add two years to your life. Life satisfaction will increase, and anxiety will decrease. As the new field of neuroeconomics has proven, these same strategies can be used to enhance your capacity to earn more income or grow a business. Specific brain-enhancement Innercises™ have an impact on both your wallet and your health, thanks to the brain’s ability to change and be molded like clay.
When you stimulate your brain through new activities and specific university documented strategies, you can change the functioning of key areas in your brain by as much as 25%, and you can even change the some of the most important structures by as much as 10%. You’ll form new neural connections that will literally change the way your brain perceives reality. When you change these “internal” maps, old habits give way to new behaviors that will change the way you interact with the world. The result? Your outer reality will begin to mirror the dreams you created in your mind.
The neuroscientific evidence is definitive: When you change your brain, you actually transform your life.