Neuroplacticity

Refers to the capacity of the brain to be “rewired”.  The brain consists of interconnected neurons and nerve cells . Thoughts and behaviors strengthen the connection between neurons. Learning new behaviors or holding new thoughts and beliefs can remove or add new connections and add new cells.

The brain changes.

Substantial changes occur in the brain and these changes profoundly alter the pattern of neuronal activation in response to experience. So thinking, learning and behavior actually change the brain’s structure and organization.

The brain devotes more space to functions the owner uses more frequently and shrinks space to activities rarely performed. So the brain of a violinist devotes more space to the region of the brain that controls the fingers, and a dancer devotes more to the region that controls the feet, then the average person.

In response to behaviors and experiences, the brain forges a stronger connection of neurons and the networks that support one behavior or thought and weakens the connection in others.

The map of your brain, the structure, relative size of the regions and strength of the connections between one region and another reflect your life experiences.

This has profound implications for our ability to re-sculpt our brain map.  Findings suggest that mental activity or thought alone lead to measurable physical changes in the brain.

So thinking certain thoughts can rewire the brain for mental health. By treating negative impulses or thoughts as errant neurochemistry, rather than truth, individuals who suffer from depression can increase activity in on region of the brain and quiet activity in another which serves to redirect the mental path to a positive outcome.

It is simple to see how rewiring our brain would impact our feelings about ourselves, our relationships, our behaviors and our emotions. It is my belief that through positive suggestion in hypnosis, this rewiring can be reinforced for rapid and lasting change.

“When a stimulus is cognitively associated with reinforcement, its cortical representation is strengthened and enlarged. In some cases, cortical representations can increase two to threefold in 1–2 days at the time at which a new sensory motor behavior is first acquired, and changes are largely finished within at most a few weeks.”

Micheal Merzenich