Neuroscience Hacks For Your Brain & Body

This meditation draws upon findings from recent research in neuroscience and neurobiology. In it, you’ll be introduced to techniques that harness the power of neuroplasticity in order to help alleviate anxiety, depression and trauma — and for developing qualities such as courage and resilience.

The meditation also includes practices that help you to relax deeply and fall asleep, along with techniques to aid focus, regulate your nervous system and better manage stress.

Transcript

This meditation draws upon findings from neuroscience and neurobiology.

In it,

You'll be introduced to techniques that harness the power of neuroplasticity in order to help alleviate anxiety,

Depression and trauma,

And for developing qualities such as courage and resilience.

The meditation also includes practices that help you to relax deeply and fall asleep,

Along with techniques to aid focus,

Regulate your nervous system and better manage stress.

So let's begin.

Start with your eyes wide open.

Look up and choose something to focus upon.

Then take a full breath in through the nose.

Pause,

Then breathe out through the mouth.

Still looking up,

Pick something else on which to focus.

Breathe in through the nose.

Pause,

Then breathe out.

Continue breathing like this for the next minute.

Picking something to focus upon,

Drawing in a full breath,

Pausing,

Then breathing out through the mouth.

Let each inhalation be relatively energetic.

Each exhalation long and smooth.

Feeling the lungs and chest expand,

And sensing the diaphragm relax as you breathe out.

Make the breaths a little faster than normal.

These active breaths stimulate the nervous system.

They aid concentration and help keep your mind alert.

When you feel sluggish or dull or you'd like to stimulate better focus,

You can breathe in this fashion.

In fact,

Recent research suggests that breathing like this for five minutes a day can even help alleviate trauma.

By taking in full breaths,

You activate the body's stress response.

But by doing so consciously and deliberately,

You create conditions in which it's possible to better manage the thoughts and feelings associated with the traumatic experience.

For now though,

Let the breath return to its natural rhythm.

Allow your focus to become loose and diffuse,

Gentle,

Daydreamy.

And if you haven't already,

You may choose to close your eyes.

Take a moment to appreciate what change is when you do.

Is there a sense of restfulness or quiet or introspection?

Do you notice afterimages or patterns of light playing behind your eyes?

Perhaps you become aware of memories or thoughts?

Or maybe you become more sensitive to sound?

What can you hear?

Nearby?

And in the distance?

You may find yourself trying to identify things,

Perhaps labeling the sounds as unpleasant or distracting.

If this happens,

Pretend that this is the first time you've heard anything at all in ten years,

And that you're simply thrilled to be able to hear at all.

Notice and appreciate the tones and subtones,

The rhythms and qualities unique to each moment.

And as you continue listening,

Reduce the amount of effort you're using.

Trust that your ears will do the hearing,

And that you can just sit back and let the sounds do the work.

From time to time,

You may find that your mind drifts into thought.

That's totally okay.

Trying to stop this natural process is futile.

You can,

However,

Treat your thoughts as inevitable,

Tolerable,

Acceptable,

Or even welcome parts of the meditation process.

Let your mind ebb and flow without judgment.

You might even congratulate yourself for noticing this natural flow of thoughts and feelings.

In fact,

One of the most powerful ways to harness the neuroplasticity of your brain,

For better learning and performance,

Is to attach an internal sense of reward to whatever you are doing.

The more often you can reward yourself,

The more energy and focus you'll retain.

So here's a little exercise to try.

Let go of expectations.

Let the next few minutes be free of goals,

Hopes,

And intentions.

Just sit back and see what happens,

Unconcerned with whether you feel good or bad,

Or whether or not things go to plan.

Affirm that you can handle whatever arises,

And reward yourself each time you notice something.

For example,

If you notice a thought,

You might say,

Good job!

There's another moment of mindfulness.

And if you notice some discomfort,

You might say,

Well done for noticing that.

Becoming aware of tension is one of the fastest ways to relax.

And if you notice some emotion,

You might say,

Hmm,

That's interesting.

It feels good to let feelings be without suppressing them.

Or come up with some statement that seems appropriate,

Something that feels right for you.

Let your self-talk be supportive and encouraging.

This is how you create a growth mindset.

This is how you prime your brain for learning.

But now,

Just rest.

Give yourself a break.

Let your body go loose and limp.

And let your brain power down.

Imagine switching the lights off in the prefrontal cortex,

In the amygdala and limbic system,

In the brainstem,

And the parietal lobes.

As though you've found the hibernation setting for your brain,

Allowing you to rest deeply,

Unconcerned with what's going on outside,

Unconcerned with what's going on within.

You don't even have to try to follow or understand what I'm saying.

Just let everything float on by.

And giving yourself permission to do nothing.

Not trying to focus.

Not trying to listen.

Not trying at all.

Part of you might rebel at this do-nothing attitude,

But research suggests that high achievers in every field are exceptionally good at doing just this.

They know how to manage their energy expenditure.

They know how to consciously relax,

To switch off in the space of just a few seconds.

This deliberate decompression allows them to sustain high quality focus when it's needed.

So just for five or ten seconds,

Imagine that you have no volition,

No ability to change,

Manipulate or influence anything.

All you can do is float along,

Letting the stream of consciousness take you where it will.

And perhaps you can manage this for another ten seconds,

Relinquishing all effort and control.

As though you were drifting along without a care.

Now in your own time,

Draw in a deep breath,

Filling your lungs to about 80% capacity.

Pause momentarily and breathe in a bit more,

Filling the lungs to the top,

Then sigh,

Releasing the breath completely.

This double inhalation followed by a sigh is something we do naturally during sleep and at various other times throughout the day.

It's also one of the most effective ways to calm the nervous system.

If you like,

Try it again.

Breathe in,

Pause,

Then breathe in a bit more,

Then sigh gently,

Letting yourself sink into that restful place that follows the out-breath.

And just waiting until the body is ready to breathe in again.

And you can just watch as the breath flows in and out naturally.

Watching the breath as though you are watching waves lap gently on the beach.

You might imagine that you are sitting on the beach.

Watching as a sailboat glides across calm waters.

You follow it with your eyes as it moves to the right,

Almost but not quite out of sight.

And when it turns around,

You follow it back across the bay,

From right to left.

And you continue watching the boat as it slowly sails back and forth.

And notice if your eyes actually move as you picture this boat.

And if not,

Allow them to.

And as they move,

Notice how much tension you are holding in the face.

Especially around the eyes.

Also notice if the movement of your eyes from side to side is smooth,

As though the boat glides effortlessly across the bay.

Or does it seem to jump or jerk from point to point?

Do whatever you can to make those eye movements as relaxed and as smooth as possible.

And keep breathing easily.

In fact,

You might synchronise your breath with the movement of the eyes.

Perhaps breathing in as you move the eyes away from centre,

And breathing out as the eyes move back.

These gentle side to side eye movements,

Accompanied with a loose panoramic focus,

Can be used any time that you are feeling anxious,

As a way of reassuring and relaxing the nervous system.

For now though,

Let the eyes fall still.

As though the winds have died away,

And the boat has dropped anchor just out from shore.

And it rests in the calm waters,

The tiniest little ripples lapping against the sides of the boat.

Imagine the sounds those ripples make.

And imagine that you are lying on the deck of the boat,

Soaking up the warmth,

The gentlest breeze playing across your skin.

And as you lie there listening easily,

I will briefly summarise the strategies we have explored.

All of these techniques can be used anywhere,

At any time,

And they only require a minute or two.

Perhaps you can try a couple of them out over the next few days.

Firstly,

When low on energy,

You might try up to five minutes of energetic breathing.

This works best when you are looking upwards as you breathe,

When you take the in-breath through the nose,

And the out-breath through the mouth.

Secondly,

Any time you find yourself struggling with something,

Or feel like quitting,

Make sure that you operate with a growth mindset.

To do this,

Simply reward yourself with encouraging self-talk.

Think about why you started doing what you are doing,

And celebrate each little milestone.

In meditation,

You could reward yourself for noticing thoughts,

Or for sitting with your emotions.

Or you could celebrate each breath as a step along the path towards wellbeing.

Thirdly,

Take regular breaks,

Even from the effort of relaxing or focusing.

Learn how to let your brain rest,

Even if just for 20 seconds now and then.

Fourthly,

To calm down quickly,

If that's what you need,

Try the physiological sigh.

That's a full breath in,

Followed by a second in-breath,

And then a long sigh out.

And finally,

If you are feeling anxious,

Look out towards the horizon,

And make some lateral eye movements.

You can do this with eyes open as you walk,

Or within your imagination.

And for more information on these and other strategies from neuroscience,

You might check out the research of Andrew Huberman,

Neuroscientist from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

That's it from me.

Have a great day.

Reviews

Great techniques! It’d be great to take one of these and create a meditation practice with background music around it. Thank you

Nice introduction into this field. Expertises were camping my mind and relaxing the body. I feel refreshed. Thank you

Thank you for this meditation. I found the various techniques fascinating and will put them into practice. I will come back to again to listen. 🙏

This was awesome. He’s got 4 techniques to help calm the CNS.

Really helpful and I will be listening to it again. I'm new to your meditations but I love your style and am working through them all. Thanks so much for all you do.

So relaxed, I didn't hear most of the latter 3\4 ! Thank you 🙏🏼

Very soothing and informative at the same time. Well done, great voice, few sweet tidbits, interesting observations, moments of silence, no music. Glad I listened. Many thanks Much love and light 🙏🏻💖💫😊

I will use these techniques going forward. The self rewarding process is new to me and I think it will be very helpful.

Very interesting. I found some similarities to Andrew Huberman's works. I like it. Thank you. Gail.

Important info but I slept. Will listen again. Thank you

🙏 very relaxing

Great stuff. Thanks Matthew.

Fabulous and super soothing voice….Namaste 💫

A packed 24 minutes and I look forward to returning to it regularly so the information comes to me easily in my day to day. Really useful, thank you 🙏🏽

Includes great strategies to stop racing thoughts and fall asleep! Fantastic 😊

I'm so happy to learn these strategies.

Amazing! Thank you so much for this extremely helpful! 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Very helpful, thanks!

My kind of meditation. Thank you

Wow this was really effective. Thank you ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️