For the longest time, I thought that our brains are hard-wired. I figured that any dream you wanted to accomplish is all based on your family genetics. As a teenager, I assumed that my dreams of becoming a professional athlete relied on stellar genes for the best muscle fibers and lung capacity. Or if I wanted to be a math genius, I needed intelligent parents and a natural gift.
I also thought that after the age of 25 or 26, I would be fully developed and at my strongest potential both in intelligence and athleticism. I figured that around that age, I would be at my prime, every year after my neurons would slowly degenerate until my last moment on earth.
After those prime years came and went, and my professional athlete dreams were discarded, I started working as a physical therapy assistant in the stroke program at a local hospital. There I got to assist with rehabilitative therapy for patients who have recovered from a brain injury, a brain bleed or a brain that is deprived from oxygen. During my first few years, I was amazed and excited to see our therapy team train stroke survivors to rewire their damaged brains again and again. It turned out that these patients’ brains were adaptable, and their outlook was hopeful.
My original theory about having a hard-wired brain was wrong. It turns out that our brains are more soft-wired, and that they’re constantly rewiring themselves. The technical term for this is “neuroplasticity.” As BrainLine’s Celeste Campbell explains.
“Neuroplasticity is the brains’s amazing capacity to change and adapt. It refers to the physiological changes in the brain that happen as the result of our interactions with our environment. From the time the brains begins to develop in utero until the day we die, the connections among the cells in our brains reorganize in response to our changing needs. This dynamic process allows us to learn from and adapt to different experiences.”
In the stroke department, we used “neuro therapy” to train each patient to regain their sensory map, their movement map, their balance map, their interoception map and above all else their vision map. In the upcoming months, I will explain a lot more about these maps and how neuro therapy works.
Most patients made amazing progress after only about six weeks of intense, ninety minute neuro therapy sessions. I saw stroke survivors regain function of limbs and become comfortable with their social skills again without fear of mispronouncing or forgetting words.
After getting some experience and comfort in this field, I start to wonder…. If stroke patients can make this kind of progress, why wouldn’t this type of therapy work for other people seeking to improve their own skills or recover fully from their chronic injury?
It turns out you can!
Understanding neuroplasticity has opened up so many pathways for self-improvement for me. Sure, I may be limited based on my genetic structure at 5’11, you won’t find me making slam dunks with ease on an official NBA net. But I can train my vision to see more clearly from both eyes and train my balance system to improve coordination and prevent injuries.
Imagine yourself, walking on an icy sidewalk. Are you looking down at the ground, worried about falling, creating a high stress response the whole time? Now imagine walking that same sidewalk with ease and grace, feeling more confident with every step to take.
Neuro training can help you improve your awareness of your body, both internally and externally, so that you can feel more relaxed in any high stress situation, such as talking in front of a group, making a game winning goal or even facing a phobia that you might have. When you feel more relaxed, you will find that you are stronger in that situation and can make decisions and react faster than ever before.
Making these kinds of neuroplastic changes-rewiring your brain-takes effort. Getting better at any skill requires training to create new habits. I wish I could say neuro training has some “magic” effects. But the reality is that you have to “use it” by activating the brain, or you will eventually “lose it.”
I ask everyone who reads this article, to write down your top one or two deepest values and spend more time nurturing them everyday. You can and will achieve the ability to create and solidify the neuroplastic change. You may also want to try removing “distractions” from your daily time. This can be a great strategy to keep those habits going and create lasting changes in your life
If you need help to create a neuroplastic change in your life, or to improve your daily habits and skills, I can assist in providing options that can work for you.
I would love to hear your feedback. Thank you so much for reading.
Mack Rutherford – Owner Neuro Training Performance LTD
“Keep on learning.”
References
Campbell, C. (2009, February 4). What is neuroplasticity? BrainLine. Retrieved from
https://www.brainline.org/author/celeste-campbell/qa/what-neuroplasticity
