22. Neuroplasticity - The Brain's Power to Heal and Transform Our Lives

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Ever found your phone taking a dive into the deep end of a toilet bowl? I certainly have, and while that's a story sprinkled with humour (and a dash of horror), it sets the stage for a deeper exploration into the brain's remarkable ability to change — neuroplasticity. This episode isn't just a recount of my bathroom fiasco; it's a journey into understanding how our brains can rewire themselves and how that process is pivotal for mental health recovery.  We take a look at how enhancing our brain's adaptive nature can drastically improve our battle against depression, anxiety, and more. 

This anecdotal adventure becomes a springboard into the transformative power of the mind.  Practices like meditation, regular exercise, and immersing oneself in nature aren't just good for the soul; they're scientifically proven to rejig your brain for the positive.  Reflecting on my own metamorphosis from a negativity magnet to a beacon of positivity, I share the secret sauce to a happier life: a solid relationship with one’s self and a refreshed outlook on the world.  So, ready your brain for an episode that's all about embracing the power within to initiate change, proving that the path to joy isn't lined with just good intentions, but also with tangible and realistic actions that we can maintain, everyday. 

SOURCES

https://www.drugscience.org.uk/neuroplasticity-in-mental-health-recovery-prompting-the-brain-to-cure-itself#:~:text=And%2C%20in%20consonance%2C%20it%20seems,form%20and%20reorganise%20synaptic%20connections.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:11

Welcome to the High Vibe Guide, the podcast where I demystify the concept of raising our vibration. I'm Jenna, a yoga teacher, mum of three and passionate advocate for helping others to just feel happier. Let me explain to you how we can all live more contented and fulfilled lives, and how it's so much easier than you think. Hi guys, welcome back to the High Five Guide. I've had a great start to my day. I was just getting myself ready to come and sit down to record today's episode and I dropped my phone in the toilet. Fantastic, wonderful, but thank God it seems to be fine. I've sprayed the hell out of it with this really heavy duty sanitizing spray that my mum got for me during COVID and I think it's okay. But honestly, this spray, it is so strong, it smells so strong. It smells like purest alcohol and tequila, and my mum still uses it in restaurants sometimes, or if she has to use a public toilet, or if the kids do, she's spraying their hands and wafting it around the table and the whole restaurant then suddenly starts to feel faint and dizzy and woozy. I'm joking, I love you mum. She listens to this and she'll hate that I've told that story, but anyway, thank you all for tuning in Today is all about neuroplasticity.

Speaker 1: 1:58

So who has heard of neuroplasticity? Who has heard of it and vaguely understands what it is, or has heard of it but has absolutely no idea what it means? Maybe you're a keen enthusiast of neuroscience and you know all about it, but for me, I was vaguely familiar with the term. I had been told about it years ago and its meaning and its application to mental health and wellness. But because I'm not always great at retaining information, the term quickly lost all meaning and it became just another one of those buzzwords that are thrown around. I'm like that with books. It's really quite annoying. I'm a really fast reader. I'll get through a good book in a couple of days, but I find that I don't really retain a lot of it. You know, I'll keep the gist and the general kind of message, but then if I want to tell someone about a part of it, I can't. I can't always give it justice because I forget all the small and usually quite important details. I had this recently.

Speaker 1: 3:12

You just look at people who can quote certain books, like actually quote verbatim something from a book they've read. I just think what, how do you do that? The last time I quoted something directly from a book was for my English literature A-level, because I had to meticulously study and memorise quotes from certain books. How on earth do you do that if you're not studying Anyway? How on earth do you do that if you're not studying Anyway? Fascinates me, while also bringing up some jealousy, obviously.

Speaker 1: 3:49

So for those of you that have absolutely no idea what neuroplasticity means or have a vague memory, but it needs clarifying and firming up for you, then here it is Neuroplasticity. It refers to the brain's ability to reorganize itself, and it does this by forming new neural connections in your brain throughout your life. And this capacity it allows the brain to adapt to new experiences, to learn new information and recover from injuries. And there's this article posted on the drug science website. I came across it when I was looking a little bit further into neuroplasticity and it caught my eye because this organisation, drug Science, are all about giving genuine advice and information for the creation of drug laws, and doing so without any commercial or political influence, so that policymakers can then safely enact positive change when it comes to creating these drug laws. And I really like the sound of that.

Speaker 1: 5:07

So I found this article, which I'll put in the show notes for you, and it's called Neuroplasticity in Mental Health Recovery Prompting the Brain to Cure Itself. And the article starts off by explaining how depression and anxiety are the largest burdens of illness in the West. Interesting how it's only in the West, don't you think we really must be doing something wrong over here? And it says how there is a large majority of sufferers of depression and anxiety who do not respond well, if at all, to antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication. And it goes on to say that advances now in neuroscience now considers the brain more holistically. So they now don't just look at certain neurotransmitters in the brain, but what they look at now is how the entire brain networks, as well as the brain's intricate dynamics, just how it works all together and as a whole.

Speaker 1: 6:19

And it's been found that chronic depression and anxiety correlate with this abnormally rigid brain activity. So when people's brains become locked into certain patterns of activity and neuroscientists have now found that to effectively treat depression and anxiety, with medication or not, these treatments have to enhance neuroplasticity and also that virtually all psychiatric disorders involve this rigid brain activity and a loss of synaptic flexibility. So what does this mean? In order to cure or reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. We need to enhance the brain's capacity to reorganise itself, to work differently, think differently, build these new neural connections so that we can build new models of thinking and behaving. And it also means that all, nearly all psychiatric disorders are linked to this rigidity in the way the brain works. Is that a word? I'm making it one. If it's not in the way the brain works. Is that a word? I'm making it one if it's not a lack of flexibility, a lack of neuroplasticity, basically, and there are so many different therapies that they use to encourage this behavior more in the brain.

Speaker 1: 8:01

What? What I found fascinating? There's even emerging technologies like robotic and virtual reality assisted therapies, which just sounds incredible. What they're doing is putting people into these virtual reality situations to help rewire brain patterns. And this VR therapy, virtual reality therapy, is even starting to be used to treat anxiety, depression, ptsd, pain management, addiction treatment, to help people with autism, eating disorders schizophrenia, it's so interesting. The main concept is that it's in a controlled environment where the patient knows they're safe and allowing precise control over their exposure to certain stimuli, where scenarios can be repeated to reinforce learning, but also desensitization, so where they can safely confront their fears and practice skills without the kind of real world consequences say, for example, someone's suffering with addiction. What virtual reality can do is simulate scenarios where they might encounter triggers for their addictive behaviors and they can then practice coping strategies in these virtual settings that can help reduce the risk of relapse and it's showing great success.

Speaker 1: 9:41

A bit of a digression there. I just found it really interesting. But what I also found really interesting was how much evidence there was that supports mindfulness and meditation in these scientific studies to encouraging this neuroplasticity in the brain. So what I've managed to kind of take away from this scientific overload is that to create positive change in our lives, we first need to create change in the brain. So when a person in recovery from anything develops a new healthy habit, the brain changes because it created a new neural pathway which will keep reinforcing this new habit. And as this new positive habit is continually repeated, the new pathway strengthens, and this is being done through neuroplasticity. That's how it works.

Speaker 1: 10:48

So you may have heard of Joe Dispenza Dr Joe Dispenza, I do apologize. He's a very well-known figure in the field of neuroscience and quantum physics, but you also see him a lot kind of talking about manifestation and mindset, because he's got this focus on the mind-body connection and its potential for healing and personal transformation, and he's also really widely known for his work on how the brain can be harnessed to achieve goals, whether they're health goals or personal goals, but through meditation and other mental practices. He's a huge advocate for meditation when it comes to adjusting mindset and he says that if we think the same thoughts every day, everything stays the same in the body, in the body, but new thoughts that lead to new behaviours and experiences begin to change the human biology, including the brain itself. Therefore sorry, the cat's scratching at the door as you hear that. Therefore, when you change, everything around you changes. We all know about the placebo effect and how powerful that is. It's the power of the mind, the thoughts and beliefs that we have. It actually creates biological change. And do you know what this made me realise? Physiological change, and do you know what this made me realise? This is what I've been talking about on the High Five Guide.

Speaker 1: 12:37

All along, like I said, I had this vague memory of what neuroplasticity was and had a vague understanding of it. I personally think it's sadly kind of become a bit of a buzzword, undeservedly so, like mindfulness or self-care. But I have created the High Vibe Guide to help all you lovely lot people just like me who have been stuck in negative thought patterns, most of the time without even knowing, and I've been talking about building these new neural pathways, these new neural connections and how to rewire the brain without really even knowing. There is this very fancy scientific term to support all of it. All of these things that I'm asking you guys to start trying out, you know, meditation, exercise, eating more healthily, gratitude, kindness, mindfulness, spending time outside all of these things are encouraging neuroplasticity in your brain, enabling your mind to reorganize itself, to restructure itself and make it so much easier to start creating these entirely new patterns of thinking and behaving.

Speaker 1: 14:01

And it just keeps bringing me back to the very simple reason why I started this podcast. Why I started this podcast? Because it makes me so sad. It breaks my heart that there are so many people out there that do not know that they can feel happier, that they can feel better, more positive experience, more joy. I know this because I was one of these people. I believe that this was just the way things were for me. That's how my brain worked. These were my struggles and they would always be my struggles, any change didn't feel possible. It was too hard for me. But but look at all this science that is telling us that we can in fact change. We can feel happier.

Speaker 1: 14:58

For those of you who cannot relate to the spiritual, the metaphysical, the woo-woo interpretations, then just listen to the science, because it's telling you the same thing. The power is within you. It's the same universal message, dressed up in many different outfits. I've told you this before and I'm not averse to telling you again. And it hit me again recently where I saw this clip. I think it was from Evan Almighty. I've not seen the film, but I've seen this clip a few times now.

Speaker 1: 15:34

Morgan Freeman who plays God. I have seen Bruce Almighty, great film. But Morgan Freeman, who plays God, says when people pray for courage, do you think God gives them courage or does he give them opportunities to be courageous? Or if someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience or gives them opportunities to be patient? Oh, look at me. I remembered a quote, yes, well, not from a book, but I'm counting it, and it's probably not verbatim, but I'm still counting it.

Speaker 1: 16:12

But whether you believe in God, the universe, manifestation, science or purely mindset, the true source. All comes from one place you. I truly believe that the power of the mind is the greatest power in the universe. It can create things beyond your wildest imaginings. If you want to feel better, if you want to feel more positive, if you want to feel happier, make the decision and start taking the steps.

Speaker 1: 16:52

Will it happen overnight? No. Will it be easy? Uh, no, not every day. Will it take discipline? Oh yes. Will you feel motivated all the time? Absolutely not. But remember, you are the person that you are spending the rest of your life with. Therefore, the most important relationship you could ever have is the one you have with yourself how you talk to yourself, how you think about yourself, what you believe about yourself. And this then cascades onto how you view the world around you, your perceptions, your beliefs. You, your perceptions, your beliefs. How you interact with the world, what you allow to trigger you, how you then act and behave in response to the world and the people around you. It all starts with you. No one else, no one is coming. Fabulous quote from Mel Robbins no one is coming. No one else is coming to do it for you. So how do you want to feel tomorrow? How do you want to feel a month from now, a year, five years, 20 years? How do you want to feel lying on your deathbed? Because the work starts here and it starts with you.

Speaker 1: 18:23

So if this is the first time you're tuning into this podcast, go back and listen to my first few episodes, because I was very early on in my journey to creating this more positive mindset, building new, healthier habits for myself, bettering my outlook on the world, the beliefs I had in myself, and it might feel like a very similar place to where you are or where you want to be. Look, I'm always upfront on here. I am not an expert. I have no qualifications in science, psychology or medicine and I'll be honest, I do sometimes have that little bit of imposter syndrome rising to the surface saying Jenna, who the hell do you think you are trying to tell people how to act and think and behave to help make them feel better? How very dare you do you think you are? But you know what.

Speaker 1: 19:23

I have been where you are and I was listening quite recently ish, to gabby b Bernstein's podcast Bernstein Bernstein, I think it's Bernstein. Her podcast is called Dear Gabby and she was talking to someone I can't remember his name. I'm doing really well today, guys, but he is another kind of life and mindset coach kind of guy, and he was talking about feeling that same way, that imposter syndrome. Who am I to kind of help all these people? And this guy has helped millions of people all over the world. He's big time. What was his name? If I remember afterwards, I'll put it in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 20:16

I'm sorry, guys, but he told this story of how one night he woke up in the middle of the night, crying his eyes out, absolutely bawling. He's this big, burly 50-year-old guy crying like a little boy to his wife, who's lying next to him in bed. And it's because he's woken from this dream where he's had this revelation where, 35 years ago, someone and he doesn't know who helped his alcoholic father turn his life around. And he has absolutely no idea who this person was. It could have been Brian in an alleyway somewhere or Nigel in a bar, but someone, whoever it was, took the time to say something to him, something that then helped him turn his life around, something that someone said triggered something within him to make him realise he had the power to save his own life, to turn things around, before his family left him before he killed himself, and this man's son went on to help millions of people all around the world in the wellness industry.

Speaker 1: 21:41

The ripple effect that this one person had, this small act of kindness. It's extraordinary. And you do not have to be qualified. Was that person qualified 35 years ago who helped an alcoholic man on the verge of a serious breakdown, of completely falling apart and ending everything? No, he wasn't qualified. But do you know what makes you qualified? You are qualified to help the person that you used to be, and I have been where you are, and I'm not saying that one day, maybe someone listening to this will go and be a huge star in the wellness industry and help millions of people all around the world. But hey, maybe someone will. Wouldn't that be amazing?

Speaker 1: 22:36

But what pushed me to actually create this podcast was listening to other people talk about it, discuss similar topics, and knowing that it resonated with me so much and that maybe something I say could resonate with other people who need this kind of talk, I said from day one that if something I have said on this podcast has helped just one other person to realise that they can live a happier life and has sparked some kind of action to turn this into reality, then my job is done. Done because it's this ripple effect and I can't even say it started with me because so many different acts of kindness and other people in the wellness industry not just in the wellness industry, but they've kept me on this journey, and how many people have they gained inspiration from? And how many people have they gained inspiration from? It's just this continuous expanding ripple in this infinite sea of souls who all need some inspiration every now and again to help us out of these old habits that we get stuck in, that we get stuck in. So, with that, thank you for allowing me to keep spreading this message, the message that you can feel happier, you can feel more contented, you can feel more joy in your lives, you have infinitely more power than you'll ever know.

Speaker 1: 24:17

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Have a fabulous rest of your week. Keep looking for the good stuff, the glimmers. They're all there. Just open your willingness to be aware to them, open up your willingness to start rewiring, reorganising the brain clutter, and I'll see you back here next time. Thank you all so much for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode, please share with your friends and family to continue spreading that positivity. You can find me on Instagram at thehighvibeguide. Get in touch, I would love to hear from you. Thank you all so much for listening and I'll see you back here next time at the High Vibe Guide.