Category: performance

pain, performance, Uncategorized

Survival vs Performance Mode

Neuro Training Performance

Many people can relate to this concept, especially for people who had a concussion in their life and can’t seem to find a way to get ahead and find improvements in their life.

What is Survival mode?

Think of being in survival mode, as a way of how the brain and body feels when you can’t seem to catch up in life. That there are so many barriers in your life that seems overwhelming and thus making it very difficult and challenging for one to overcome them and find success. It is a feeling where your goals are so far down the road and you either will not risk expending the energy in order to attempt to achieve them or you make the attempt towards it but experience some minor bumps/falls, which causes you to go back to the beginning again. Basically experiencing a downward spiral or cycle for the worse. A 1 step forward – 2 steps back feeling towards your goals.

I have mentioned in a previous blog post explaining that your brain’s #1 job is making sure that you are alive and that your brain is a predictable organ. It is always analyzing how much brain fuel it has for the day and thus will determine how well you can do your objectives/activities throughout the day. If your brain analyzes that your fuel source is very low at any part of the day, then it will bring on any output such as “pain/fatigue/nauseous/dizzy/depression/anxious nociception signal” etc. to the body as a way to say: “I understand that you want to go for a walk/work/socialize etc. but I don’t have the brain fuel capacity/energy to do that activity so as a way for you to not do that activity, I will give you a “Pain signal” or any other symptom listed above in order to have you stop and make a change.

These are the characteristics and behaviour that a typical person being in “Survival Mode” feels like. The brain feels unsafe and would deliver communication signals to the body aka pain or any other symptom described above in order to keep you doing the same routine because it feels more safe and doesn’t need to expend much energy/brain fuel.

Some examples of what it feels to be in survival mode:

Frequently getting injured or re-injuring the same area

Feeling depressed.

Chronic Anxiety, sad, emotionally unstable, Frequently dizzy or nauseous.

Always feeling distracted, disorganized, makes poor decisions

Uncoordinated, poor balance, poor posture.

What is it like to be in Performance Mode?

This is the state of being where everything and anything you are doing is flowing well for you. You are in this state because your brain is analyzing that you have optimal brain fuel/energy, your brain is able to process all the signals that it is receiving such as proprioception, vestibular & visual signals really well. It is able to create better outcomes and you get to achieve your goals faster because there are very few times where you take steps back towards your goals, you are always aligning yourself towards your target in achieving your goals.

The examples of being in Performance Mode is literally the opposite of all the symptoms of being in Survival mode. So you will feel more opportunistic, a risk taker, up to the challenge, feeling more courageous and able to be in a flow state more often.

The great news about about all of this, is that through neuroplasticity, where the brain is able to adapt and change over time, is that YOU are able to change/rewire your brain to be able to overcome from being in Survival Mode. The perfect way to do it is to improve the input signals that your brain receives, in order for it to reduce the “pain/tension” output signals that it has always been giving as an survival mechanism. Once you have discovered what signals you need to improve, then you need to keep on improving those signals and to keep growing on that habit, so that your brain will continue to feel safe. That way you will be more often in performance mode and also you will know how to get back into performance mode more easily if you unintentionally have a minor set back. Neuroplasticity is a remarkable gift that our brains can do, so that anyone can truly overcome from their past trauma/injuries in their life.

Looking for direction on how to improve the input signals that your brain is receiving so that you can actively get out of survival mode and continuously be in performance mode?

One effective way is to Hire a Neuro-Performance Coach. He/she can work with you to help improve those specific inputs that your nervous system is needing in order to help you get out of Survival mode and to lead you to being in Performance mode for good. A Neuro-Performance Coach has the ability to analyse all the different inputs that each nervous system receives (ie: vision, balance, body signals etc.) and provide the appropriate stimulation as a way to rewire the brain to improve and get you to performing better. It is removing the barriers that have been preventing you from reaching your goals and ultimately giving you the opportunity to become a healthier version of yourself.

You can contact Mack to book your free 30 minute consultation:

Email – mack@ntperformance.ca or

Phone – 780-238-6225.

Thank you for reading my content. Please like, share and subscribe if this post resonated with you and you want to learn more. 🙂

Have a great day.

cerebellum, performance, vision

How to be creative?

Neuro Training Performance

Have you ever thought of doing chores such as doing the dishes, or the laundry can be both inspirational and easy for you to get your brain’s creative juices flowing?

Yeah, me neither.

However, I can explain through a neurological lens as to why it can be both beneficial and how it can lead you to wanting to do it again and again.

Part of our brain, there is an area which is known as the “little brain”  called the cerebellum.

It is the size of your fist and lives in the posterior and inferior portion of our brain, right underneath the occipital lobe.

This area is activated when you receive any sort of stimulus such as (sensory, vision, smelling etc. ) It will transmit that stimulus from the cerebellum to the appropriate area of the cortex to be processed.

The cerebellum also makes sure that you are accurately receiving the stimulus and that you are moving the body in an accurate manner.  Have you ever had the opportunity for a police officer to observe you walking in a straight line on a late Friday/Saturday evening?  Well he/she is observing how well your cerebellum is functioning, even when alcohol is involved.

Your cerebellum has a strong connection with your vision and balance but most importantly it has the ability to inhibit unwanted thoughts.

Have you ever had moments in your day where you have a negative thought in your head?

Maybe, you wanted to try something new but after trying it for a brief period of time, you are starting to reconsider attempting that new goal?

Or maybe you are having some negative emotions at the time and you seem like you can’t break off or release from that feeling?

All of this is saying that your cerebellum is not doing its job properly and is not inhibiting those unwanted thoughts.

One way to improve the cerebellum is to move your hands/feet/eyes in a coordinated manner.

When you are doing a tedious activity such as washing the dishes or folding your laundry, you are inadvertently providing activation to that ““little brain”” of yours.  The outcome might surprise you, as you might notice that your behavior has changed during this activity.  You might be feeling more creative, more imaginative, being able to solve for answers that have once made you feel stuck.  You will also have your brain limit the negative or unwanted thoughts that you had in the past.   

You get the opportunity to be more focused on how to achieve certain tasks that you find somewhat challenging.

For myself, I didn’t know what I should write about for my next blog post.  I was in a mental block.

However, when I was taking a break from brainstorming about my subject, I decided to wash the dishes.  When I was about halfway completed, I realized how much my mind was flowing with creativity.

It was like all of the questions I had regarding what to write about were answered at this very moment.

I just needed to clean my thoughts and my dishes in order to make it happen.

Everyone receives a benefit from moving their eyes and body, not only in being productive but also they can be more creative and gather more insight on challenging tasks that they have ahead of them.

As an example,

I had a client who survived a stroke, many years ago.  I was there to help improve his strength, movement and coordination of his affected hand and leg.

After seeing him several times, I noticed that he gets extremely frustrated with himself when he can’t accomplish a task.  I had him try and pick up coins from the table.  He got to the point where he was using his ring and pinky finger but it felt impossible to him and led to him feeling angry and that he would give up and quit.

When I finished therapy with him, I noticed that his family left a plate of food for him to eat.  He mainly ate with his fingers, which gave him an incredible amount of sensory and motor activation to his hands and fingers for each bite. 

I noticed in the consecutive sessions afterwards that his ability to pick up the coins had improved immensely and that he wasn’t showing signs of anger anymore.  He became more excited for any challenge I gave him, which improved his motivation and morale to be able to do more activities using his hand.

Another example is that my parents are dog breeders and love to present their dogs to the national dog shows during the summer.  Last week, they mentioned that they have been busy grooming their dogs, which takes about 3 hours per dog and they have 6 Irish Wolfhounds.

So you can imagine the daunting task my parents have to face when clipping and grooming each dog.  I asked them if they felt creative or inspired during that process.  They actually said yes, we talked about our future and made some collective agreements on certain scenarios.

I was delighted when I heard this because not only did this daunting chore of grooming their loved ones allowed their creativity to flow, they were able to make plans about their future in a constructive manner.

The next time that you feel you are in a rut or experiencing a major challenge in your life, remember to take a break from what you are doing and to do something that you have habitually done several times by moving your hands, feet and eyes in a coordinated manner.  

You might get your brain creativity flowing too and be inspired to do more things.  

Just make sure that when you complete that activity,  that you should enhance the dopamine and endorphin effect by rewarding yourself with something that is sweet to taste or something that you love to experience to keep the cycle flowing and to get you excited to do that activity for an infinite amount of times in the future.

Are you looking for more inspiration or need assistance to keep you motivated to achieve your goals? With my 6 years professional expertise in applied neurology, I can help you overcome the barriers that might be holding you back from reaching your goals. You can message me to book a free 30 minute consultation and to see how well we can accomplish your goals together. Email me at mack@ntperformance.ca

Have a great week!

pain, performance

Everyone’s nervous system is unique towards pain and performance.

Neuro Training Performance

Everyone’s nervous system is unique, a small portion of it is contributed by genetics but the vast majority of the way you think, move and feel are based on the environment that you are situated in and the information that your brain receives from your environment.

Your nervous system receives information from your environment via your senses (eyes, ears, touch, smell, taste etc.), it then interprets that information and makes a decision on what to do with that information as an output. Based on prior experiences, culture, beliefs etc. of the inputs, your brain will either determine that incoming information is “safe” so that you can continue doing what you are doing or “unsafe” and will deliver a nociception ie. pain output in order for you to make a change. 

Imagine you are walking down a path and you see a dog a few yards ahead. If you have a history of having several encounters with dog(s) that were full of fun, calm and happy experiences being with dog(s), then you know that your behaviour with this dog that you are about to encounter with is going to be not anything different. However, if you unfortunately had a horrible, scary experience with a dog, then your behaviour might be different when you come across this canine. Your walk might change to a more stutter step, or you might feel tense more in your shoulders, neck, hands and/or feet. Your breathing rate might shorten, You might have muscles spasms or pain. You might also find that the emotions that you are feeling inside might be too overwhelming, too unbearable in fact that it will lead yourself to look for a different path to walk on, just so you don’t have to cross paths with this dog.

This is an unfortunate scenario, but it happens to several people who have had traumatic or harmful experiences in their past. Your brain remembers all of the moments that it felt unsafe in your past and if each input signal that your brain receives, consciously and/or subconsciously is reminded of an unsafe event, then it will generate a unique output to the body in order to change what you are doing.

Your brain creates these outputs as described in this example, it also can generate other types of outputs such as a startle response, varying your endocrine & immune levels, change of movement patterns, make you feel lethargic etc. All of these are outputs that your brain generates will take place in order for you to make a change.  It feels “unsafe” for what the body is doing or about to do and it generates these types of outputs as a way to communicate to you to say “we have to stop/ make a change of what we are doing.”

Knowing this, you might be asking, “if my brain is creating these types of outputs habitually, how would I change this so that I can walk calmly and confidently down a street or at any activity that I want to perform well in?”

I would say, “great question! The answer to that, is to modulate the inputs that your brain is receiving.”

After a thorough neuro assessment where I am able to assess how your nervous system functions as a whole, I will be able to gather information of what your brain needs in order receive accurate input activation, in a safe manner. These are the type of inputs that your nervous system consciously and/or subconsciously finds threatening. These types of inputs are unique to you, so that your nervous system can feel less threatened, feel more calm & confident in your own body and will have you be able to perform better at whatever activity that you are driven to do well in.

Some examples of inputs that I will be addressing and to provide training to your nervous system are: sensory activation, vision, hearing, smelling, balance and movement activation, breathing exercises to help improve brain fuel utilization.

As you can see, these types of information are what your nervous system receives as inputs constantly, in order to have you feel and move safely in your own environment. There will be one or many different input signals causing a dysfunction or not receiving accurate information, which then challenges your brain to function optimally in your own environment.

If the brain is confused with these different inputs signals, then it has a small tolerance window, so small in fact, that any additional stimulus/input that your brain receives will cause a “breaking point” or the “straw that broke the camel’s back” to your nervous system, metaphorically speaking.

The great news is that any of these inputs are trainable and your brain has the ability to rewire/retrain to have accurate information again. Regaining and reintroducing accurate signals to your nervous system will allow your brain to have an increase tolerance to handle more things in your day, plus being able to move and perform well, without the fear of being hurt. You are training yourself to become more safe and to be more in-tune to your body and the environment that you move in.

Allow me and my professional expertise to help you grow, prosper, and to show you how your goals can be achieved, all by training your unique nervous system.

Let me know if you have any questions, or how we can work together to help guide you from being in “pain/fear/restriction” mode and to lead you towards and to sustain in “performance/excellence” mode.

Thank you for reading. Please like, share and/or comment, if this post resonated with you.

Mack Rutherford