You might read that and think physical environment, but I’m actually talking more about your mental environment. Our brains play a huge role in our health and the healing process. We can change our nutrition, supplements, movement, and even our physical environment. However, if our brain is still operating in a way that is constantly anticipating not feeling well, this makes it hard to feel better. This is a concept I discuss in detail in this week’s podcast episode with Theresa Piela from Living Roots Wellness.
It can be difficult to fully conceptualize how much our brains impact us when we struggle with our health. Theresa simplified this during the episode by describing our brains as constantly collecting data points–good and bad–so that it can become hyper attuned for how you will feel or how you might feel. This is a powerful example of how our bodies constantly try to protect us and look out for us. This is called forecasting. Our brain is trying to predict how we will feel based on its information from our mind and body.
This is called mastering the worst-case scenario and is a limbic system loop. The limbic system contains our amygdala, which helps create responses to things in our environment, especially those that can trigger an emotional response (fear, anger, anxiety, etc.). It’s collecting data points and then forecasting based on those data points. This then assumes the worst-case scenario and projects symptoms. You don’t even have to have the symptoms present for your brain to predict them. I’m sure you can see that if you have been struggling with your health for a long time, it becomes easier and easier for your brain to predict those same symptoms or feelings in the future. After our brain does this data collection and forecasting, that information can actually lead to shifts in our behavior. If you’ve been struggling with fatigue as one of your significant symptoms, your brain can pick up on those data points and then even lead to changes in your behavior that can contribute to more fatigue.
The more we struggle with symptoms and the thoughts and feelings that result from those symptoms, the more they become engrained as a limbic loop and can make healing difficult. How do we get out of this pattern and break those loops? By rewiring our brain. Theresa describes brain rewiring as the following:
“With intentional and deliberate practice, we can actually train the brain to soften its guard and drop it warrior-like armor. By softening and expanding where we place our awareness, we can send new impulses of repair and replenishment, which then triggers rippling signals of health throughout the body.”
Our brains are powerful. They are constantly working to protect us, and over time when we struggle with our health, they can build up this armor, as Theresa describes it. I think this is the perfect word because it embodies protection from harm. That’s the primary goal of our body–it wants to be well and safe. But these safety mechanisms can backfire and lead to more symptoms if we don’t take action and teach our bodies that they are already safe.
What if the only thing standing between you and your health was your brain? While I don’t think brain rewiring fixes everything (you need a solid nutrition foundation–our brains require glucose after all), I do think it’s a big piece of the puzzle for so many of us. We live in this world where we are constantly in a state of fight or flight. Our bodies are not designed to live this way. We are supposed to spend the majority of our time in the rest and digest and then respond to stress when appropriate, but for most of us, it’s backward. This further disrupts those neural pathways and has our brain building that worst-case scenario. That’s why I love Theresa’s work and how she is making brain rewiring accessible to so many. We talk about all the different ways she does this and more on the podcast, but you can check out her website for more info here.
Check out the podcast episode I did with Theresa here!
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