06:36
06:36

How to Rewire Your Brain for Selfgentleness

by Dr. Femke E. Bakker

Type
Activity
Meditation
Suitable for
Everyone

In this short video, I explain what happens in your brain during a mantra and visualization meditation, and why it works. We cover the concept of priming: how intentionally directing your attention, through meditation, imagery, and a personal symbol or token, trains your brain to notice more of what makes you feel good about yourself. This is the psychological foundation beneath self-gentleness as a practice. If you want to experience this for yourself, try the meditation "What Your Intuition Knows | A Selfgentleness Meditation" here on my Insight Timer profile.

Transcript

I just want to explain something about this process.

So first we brought your attention to the here and now.

Then we used the Bhidya Mantra,

Aham,

To connect with yourself.

This is not so much in the here and now,

But this is a meditation form that can help you to transcend,

For instance,

But it also helps you to feel that you're part of everything.

It releases your stress and it can connect you really,

Really well to your intuition,

Because that is basically what remains.

So after using this mantra meditation and we calmed down,

Let's say the door was more open to connect to your intuition,

And with this you have planted the seed in your brain.

Because you were open,

There was not so much stress,

And you just enjoyed this part as a visualization.

But whatever your subconscious,

Your intuition is showing you,

It shows you that this is a possibility.

So your mind doesn't always make a difference,

Or your brain doesn't make a difference to what you imagine and what is actually what you're seeing.

You might notice by fear that sometimes you can think of something that is not there,

And it can make you really fearful,

Even though you know the fear is not real,

It's just in your head.

So this also works the other way around,

And that was what we're doing.

And by allowing your brain to see that this is possible,

You start to plant that seed.

You start to basically reprogram,

Rewire your brain a little bit,

A tad for now,

To see that that is a possibility.

Then we asked your intuition to connect with yourself and say,

What is good about me,

Something that I didn't know yet,

And I don't know what you heard,

Maybe it's just that you have a beautiful smile that you were actually not aware of,

That you have such a beautiful smile.

It doesn't have to be something big.

It might have been something that you don't understand yet,

And later your quarter will fall.

It might be something else.

And maybe it told you something you knew already,

But that is also fine.

It's about allowing yourself that goodness in,

And then asking your intuition,

Basically your subconscious,

To show you a symbol,

To show you a token or a word or a special song that you could hear.

You're now training your brain to be alert for that.

So I don't know if you ever tried this,

But so you are out in the streets and most cars are black,

White,

Gray,

But you think,

I want to see a yellow car.

There are not so many yellow cars.

And when after you've thought that,

Suddenly you see a lot of yellow cars.

It's basically because you tell your brain,

Hey,

I want to see yellow cars.

So instead of seeing the general,

What you're used for me,

You start to give me the information about the yellow cars,

Information that is normally also there,

But I do not notice it.

So this is the same with the token.

You have now given your brain basically the assignment that whenever the token or that song or that word is anywhere,

You will see this.

And this you promised yourself.

You will then remember that what is good,

What you like about yourself.

And this will happen more during the day.

And the more you do practice like this,

The more this can grow.

And this is manifesting yourself,

Gentle life.

It's basically priming yourself to be more aware of the things that make you feel good about yourself,

That feel easy,

That help you allow to receive,

That there is also rest and ease and not hard pushing through,

Not hard walking through,

Not having to live up to all kinds of expectations.

So and of course,

We did this once.

It might have felt great,

Which I hope that it was.

And of course,

This will not change everything just overnight.

However,

I hope I have let you experience how you can practice these things,

Because step by step,

Remember also self gentleness.

It's a lifelong process.

But that's great because it will support you more and more.

And it's way better to find those self gentle moments instead of finding those worriful moments.

At least that's what I think.

So trust in this practice and just repeat it from time to time and see what it will bring you over time.

Because yeah,

Trusting yourself,

Having your own back,

When you start to practice self gentleness,

It's of course a growing process,

But you will start to trust yourself more because what you learn is in every moment of the day that you can support yourself and that you can feel with yourself,

Oh,

Do I want this or do I not want this?

What is it actually that I want,

Which is sometimes an even harder question.

And when you start to practice this deliberately,

Then at a certain point you will notice that it becomes more automatic,

You will become more sensitive.

So,

You know,

When I do deeper work with people on self gentleness,

Then after some time it's sometimes harder because they feel more sensitive to feeling what they don't want,

But they cannot always yet deal with that.

But that's then the second step,

Because it's OK to feel that awkwardness.

It's OK to know what you don't want and not yet know what you do want or how to get what you do want or how to fulfill those needs.

And that's a process,

But it becomes easier and easier.

So trusting yourself,

That is then the result of that,

Not an end result.

It's an effect that will grow on you,

That you start to trust yourself.

Because,

Yeah,

When you're in transitions,

That's sometimes hard,

Change is hard because there's a lot unknown and you do not always know where it will go and how it will turn out.

But knowing that you have your own back in every moment gives you the trust that whatever will be thrown at you,

You will be able to support you and you will be able to deal with that in whatever way fits you.

So I really hope that stay with that feeling,

That you can start to trust yourself.

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© 2026 Dr. Femke E. Bakker. All rights reserved. All copyright in this work remains with the original creator. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

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