In today's fast-paced world, the allure of quick fixes is ever-present. From fad diets to instant workout routines, the promise of rapid results is tempting. However, when it comes to physical health, brain health and wellness, the idea that you can change your brain in just 15 minutes is a myth. True sustainable changes in brain function and overall well-being require consistency.
Making lasting change in your health and wellness involves a multitude of factors, including biology, psychology, social influences and habits. That said, changing your brain around health and wellness, and changing your body in regards to vitality and longevity is possible, and can be easier with the right dedication and support.
1. Neuroplasticity Typically Takes Time
Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. While the brain is indeed capable of change, this process is gradual. Forming new habits, especially those related to deeply ingrained behaviors like relationship/communication skills, or healthy food and exercise habits requires effort. Studies have shown that it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a new habit, depending on the complexity of the behavior and the individual.
I have found that using techniques like Brainspotting, we can create new neural pathways with much more ease than ever before. It still takes some effort to make the choice to move toward the healthier option, but each and every time you pick the healthier option, you strengthen the new neural connection and crave more of the healthy behaviors.
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2. Change Psychological Conditioning with Habit Formation and Consistency
It is such a human thing to want to avoid honestly looking at where you are, but getting anywhere, including where you want to be in your health and/or wellness goals, can’t be done until you have a conscious grip on where you are.
It isn’t always fun to look back on the origin of your unhealthy patterns—how unsafe you felt at times, how unstable your environment might have been, or how your caregivers couldn’t hold space for your emotions and tried to cover them up with popsicles or potato chips, but being willing to do that work will allow greater ease in dissolving the psychological conditioning.
You can’t change your past, but you can change how you feel about it and your automatic responses. Together, we can work on establishing new safety in yourself and neural connections which facilitate the creation of healthier habits and relationships of all kinds.
I used to feel powerless around certain people who seemed to have a hold on me, and powerless around ice cream or pizza. Thanks to brainspotting, I managed to put my health and wellness above everything with more ease than I ever thought possible, and I no longer feel powerless. I feel healthy, confident and strong.
I’d love for you to take a few moments over the next few days or weeks, to look at your most unconscious patterns, and see if you can journal about where they started. I promise you, even if it is uncomfortable at first, when you get in a flow of acknowledging those things, you will already start to feel and think somewhat differently.
Ready to dive deeper? Sign up for our email series and receive free journal prompts to help uncover and transform your unconscious patterns. Start your journey towards healthier habits today!
3. The Importance of Mental Health
Mental health is a critical component of overall wellness as conditions such as anxiety, depression, and chronic stress can have profound effects on brain function. Therapeutic interventions, such as BrainSpotting, EMDR, nervous system awareness, and mindfulness-based stress reduction, are effective but require consistent practice to yield significant benefits.
BrainSpotting and EMDR help rewire the brain's response to trauma and stress, promoting healthier neural connections and mindfulness-based stress reduction can significantly lower anxiety and enhance overall emotional regulation.
Establishing consistent mental health practices will help foster resilience by providing tools to better manage life's stresses and create lasting positive changes. Remember, professional support is essential, but complementing it with self-care practices like meditation can significantly amplify the benefits.
Take the first step towards better mental health. Sign up for our email series and receive a free guided meditation designed to support your mental health and aid stress-reduction. Start your journey to a healthier mind and body today!
4. Social and Environmental Influences, Lifestyle factors
Brain health is influenced by a multitude of lifestyle factors, including sleep, nutrition, physical activity, stress management and the people we surround ourselves with. Each of these factors contributes to the brain's overall well-being, and optimizing them requires a holistic and long-term approach. For instance, chronic sleep deprivation can impair cognitive function, while regular, restorative sleep supports memory consolidation and emotional regulation. Similarly, a diet rich in antioxidants, healthy fats, and essential nutrients supports brain health over time.
Family traditions, cultural norms, and social interactions all influence our relationship with ourselves. Changing these deeply rooted social cues and environmental triggers is a process that involves not just individual effort but often a shift in the surrounding social dynamics.
I am living proof you can maintain a relationship with your family even if the dynamics aren’t the healthiest all the time, and still make tremendous leaps and bounds in the state of your mind and body. One thing that helps is a strong community of healthy individuals outside your family to make you feel supported and create co-regulation so you can make new choices with more ease.
I also offer two group sessions every week to gather people who want to be in community, meditate and co regulate. Know that you are not alone In your quest for health and wellness. Join us Monday morning at 10am or Wednesday evening at 6:15 for a longer community session.
Ready to explore practical strategies for gradual, manageable changes? Sign up for our email series to receive a free guide on making these transitions smoothly, ensuring you don't feel overwhelmed. Start transforming your environment and
5. How Mindfulness relates to Nervous system awareness and resilience
Many of our habits are conditioned responses to emotional triggers. For example, stress, boredom, or sadness can lead to taking the easy route to eating, addictive behaviors, procrastination, blowing up or other poor choices.
Mindfulness practices can bring awareness to your previously unconscious behaviors. However, developing mindfulness takes time to cultivate and is only a first step. It involves regular practice and a commitment to being present in the moment, and it changes over time as you continue to change over time.
I like to bring nervous system awareness to mindfulness. When we find ourselves stressed, acting too quickly, people-pleasing or frozen and unable to make a decision at all - this is where I like to talk about the nervous system state we are in.
When we know there is a physical reason (the nervous system) that we have a physical response to a stressor, we can be more compassionate with our self AND we can have a plan at the ready for how to move into a healthier state with the capacity to make decisions, hold boundaries, speak with compassion or authority, and/or take any appropriate action.
The relationship between mindfulness, nervous system awareness, and resiliency is a dynamic and interconnected one. By enhancing our awareness of the nervous system's responses and practicing techniques to promote relaxation and balance, mindfulness can serve as a powerful tool for building resilience. In a world where stress is an ever-present reality, cultivating mindfulness offers a pathway to greater well-being, adaptability, and inner strength.
Curious about how mindfulness and nervous system awareness can transform your responses and resilience?
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6. Nutritional Education
Understanding the nutritional value of different foods and how they affect your body is crucial for health and wellness. This education process involves learning, experimenting, and adjusting your diet based on your body's responses.
For the greatest mind and body connection, for the best access to your intuition, to achieve the greatest vitality in your body and mind, I recommend whole, unprocessed foods, Simply put, most Americans need to add more plants to their diet from fruits and vegetables, to nuts, seeds, herbs, beans, legumes.
Every single body is different. That is why there are so many eating plans: Mediterranean diet, paleo, carnivore, vegan, fasting, the list goes on. I hope you don’t hop on any bandwagon just to follow a trend, but experiment instead and practice mindfulness when you eat.
First, eat what you think is healthy, then ask yourself:
How does your body feel? How do you feel a half hour later? How clear is your mind? Do you feel tired or do you feel energized? Your body will talk to you, especially when it knows you are listening.
You can adopt the idea that you can stop eating when you are 80% full and over the next half hour, feel again how comfortable and satiated you are. And if you find yourself craving something sweet after each meal, make it a fruit in the meantime, but know that can be reprogrammed too with Brainspotting. You don’t have to, but believe me, once you lose your sugar addiction, everything changes.
If you are not in the practice of eating vegetables or preparing your own meals, by all means start slow. You can start with a green juice or smoothie in the morning. You can start by introducing super fast, vegetable-rich meals.
Ready to nourish your body and mind with practical, sustainable changes? Sign up for our email series to receive a free guide packed with practical tips, recipes, and insights on how to nourish your body and mind. Start your journey toward better health today!
Conclusion
I know all of this might seem overwhelming, but know that it doesn’t have to be. I like the idea of 10% improvements when working alone: If you can be 10% better today, and maintain that, you can compound that next week. Soon you will be 20% healthier, and then 30% more vibrant!
I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I would get back to this body and this life in the year and a half that I have been working consistently, with ease and joy, but I can tell you that living with vibrancy is worth every single change I have made. EVERY. SINGLE. CHOICE. was worth it! And with these tools that I want to share with you, I never felt deprived, never felt like I wanted to give up. Every day the momentum grew and it still grows.
If you choose to reach out for support, know that will make those choices even easier, take the struggle and failures, turning them into dance moves that help you kick ass on the dance floor of life, no matter what music is playing!
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Embrace the journey and transform your health and vitality—choose the option that’s right for you today!
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