Heal Your Mind, Rewire Your Brain

Heal Your Mind, Rewire Your Brain: Applying the Exciting New Science of Brain Synchrony for Creativity, Peace and Presence Paperback – July 15, 2010,by Patt Lind-Kyle  (Author)

LOOK INSIDE CLICK HERE GET TO READ PAGES 27 - 32.

"Understanding how your mind can heal your brain."

Hope for brain injury.

What is "brain?"
-Chemicals and electrical signals in that lump of
meat that sits in our skulls.
-A part of the nervous system that is distributed
throughout the body.

What is "Mind?"
An embodied relational process that regulates the flow of information and energy. -Dan Seigel

Mindfulness is the mind's ability to be gently aware of this process.

Two key ways the mind can help the brain rewire:
Neuroplasticity

Neurogenesis

What is neuroplasticity?
"Neuro" Greek for nervous system "Plasticity" means plastic or malleable (like clay, it can be shaped).
Thus neuroplasticity is having a malleable nervous system (brain) - for better or worse (eg. kindling vs the dalai lama).

What is neurogenesis?
"Neuro" = Brain/Nervous system
"Genesis" = to be born
Neurogenesis is the birth of new brain cells.

Yes it's possible!

What is Reptilian Brain?











What is the job of the reptilian brain?
"The reptilian brain was the first part of the 
modern brain to develop in evolution. It 
operates behind the scenes, regulating our 
survival needs: food, oxygen, heart rate, 
blood pressure and reproduction, among 
many others.
The brainstem is like a bodyguard who's always
watching your back, constantly scanning the
environment for potential threats. The reptilian
brain also decides whether you will move into 
fight or flight."

What is the limbic brain?
The emotional brain or the "seat of the
unconscious" holds the amygdala and the
hippocampus.
The amygdala (size and shape of an almond)
can often be overactive in MTBI and PTSD. It
plays a role in emotional learning as well as
procedural memory.

The Hippocampus
The hippocampus regulates cortisol, a hormone
that is elevated by stress and fear/anxiety.
Too much stress leads to imbalances in cortisol
that can be related to the shrinking or lessoning
of the hippocampus (atrophy).

The Unhappy Hippocampus and the
Overactive Amygdala
The hippocampus is responsible for memory to
have a sense of past, present and future.
It is the seat of declarative/explicit memory
(factual information).
It is important in filtering what information is
important and what is irrelevant.

The Hippocampus and Neurogenesis
 We once thought that the brain cells one is
born with were all that you had to work with and
that they died off as one aged.

By tagging thymadine with a dye we have
discovered that the hippocampus is where new
brain cells are first born.

Even in 90 years olds and even with brain
injury.

The Power of the Mind
By using our mind (spirit/will) to
effort calming ourselves the new
cells born in the hippocamus can
help the brain forge new pathways
(neuroplasticity).

How to help new cells not do the
same old thing.

One way in which the mind can help heal the
brain can be found in developing a strong skill
set of mindful based tools.

Mindfulness is one powerful way to help the
brain (part of the nervous system) to regulate
cortisol levels and achieve homeostasis.

The Mindful Brain: A Key
Having mastery over ways to be calm is one
way to help new brain cells being born in the
hippocampus not be drenched in cortisol so
that they do the same ole thing.

Mindfulness is a key to reverse atrophy in the
hippocampus so it can be robust and an ally.

Mindfulness assists the emotional
brain in regulating.

A happy hippocampus:
-helps with working memory,
-differentiation between the past and present
-filtering important vs ineffective information
-keeps the amygdala from going bonkers
-constructs a resilient narrative

How to develop a mind that can help
heal the brain:

1. Research shows changes in the brain after
ten hours of focusing on the breath in short
sittings (fifteen minutes).

2. Being successful does not require being
focused. Rewiring happens each time we bring
the wandering mind back to the breath.

PT for the brain!

When your mind wanders come back
to the breath.

Inhale 1 2 3 4 5
Exhale 1 2 3 4 5

Being with the Breath
Inhale (count), hold, exhale (count). 

Don't feel defeated every time you
catch your mind wandering.

That's the important part. When you catch
yourself and come BACK to the breath you
strengthen the brain muscle.

Brain muscle?

Mindfulness exercises help strengthen muscles
for positive neuroplasticity like the insula which
is part of the prefrontal cortex.

The dalai lama has Arnold Shwartzeneger
muscles in the insula.

The neocortex embraces the
emotional and reptilian brain.

When the limbic brain is flooded then the
neocortex cannot be accessed.

When this happens guess what we lose?

Executive function.

Executive Function tasks include:

Planning
Working Memory
Attention
Problem Solving
Verbal Reasoning
Inhibition
Mental Flexibility
Task Switching

Executive function is sometimes
called a non-cognitive skill.

This is because emotional regulation (noncognitive
skill) is the balance between a happy
hippocampus and a hearty prefrontal cortex.

Multiple variables that can make
executive function difficult to use.

1. Developmental obstacles (eg SES factors)
2. Attachment (e.g. caregivers with depression,
substance abuse, a hx of trauma)
3. PTSD/dissociation
4. MTBI/TBI

These are all ways the brain can be injured

Indeed MTBI and PTSD symptoms
are often the same.

Common examples of PTSD include:
AVOIDANCE
-Avoiding things that bring up memory such as
movies or tv that have images that remind you
of something
-Avoiding peole with red beards or hamburger
joints if something distressing happened. 

The dark side of neuroplasticity

The limbic system can kindle. Or one fear
based or avoidant thought re-enforces another.

This can lead to isolation because men with red
beards and hamburger joints can lead to
avoiding all men with facial hair and all public
eatery.

Thus fear and anger can wire our brains in a
way that is a disservice to our well being.

Thankfully our mind does not only exist in the
brain but just as much in the heart.

And there is a lot of of science to this statement
specific to the vagal nerve and to
neuropeptides such as oxytocin and
vassopresin but let me cut to the chase.

The Heart is an Intelligence
Processing Center

It's electromagnetic field is measured at five
times greater then that of the brain!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1XqPhoRKPWw

One amazing tool of mindfulness practice is
cultivating heart intelligence.

For example, the heart may have a habit of
racing when introduced to a stressor. (Low
heart rate variance [HRV]).

By working with the breath and slowing down a
frantic brain the heart's intelligence can be
accessed (High HRV).

Mindfulness repatterns the heart.

Research finds the more steady and even your
attention can make the heart the more willpower
rather then impulsivity can guide your
life.

Will power is intrinisic to agency (person-hood),
volition (choice). These "non-cognitive skills"
are at the "heart" of executive function.

The Reflective Self

Becoming heart centered means we are able to
feel with others in a way science calls "Flow"
that is at the heart of healthy relationships.

The mind is responsbile for flow. The brain and
heart are the minds "helpers."

Lovingkindness

Another major way the mind can
heal the brain with the heart's help is
through a practice called loving
kindness.

What is lovingkindness?

Lovingkindness is a practice in which we wish
others and ourselves well being. Practiced by
the dalai lama.

You don't have to be the dalai lama
to know this kind of happiness.

Research (Richard Davidson) shows that eight
minutes a day of loving kindness practice
rewires the brain.

Let's practice together now.

Sharing my experience of rewiring

I was first introduced to the ways the mind can
heal the brain through a neuro-scientist named
Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz. Dr. Schwartz discovered,
with brain imaging, the ways in which 21 days
of mindfulness based behavioral therapy and
his own process called "The Four Steps" could
rewire the brain.

The seed was planted

I was so impacted by Dr. Schwartz I gave up a
successful career in the film industry to study
psychology, particularly the field of trauma.

Thus I came into my experience with
a deep certainty that I was not stuck.

This is the first step to share with you:
To believe in your own potential to transform
and to perservere in trying and trying and
trying.

Here are are some keys tools that helped me
rewire.

Somatic Experiencing

Created by Peter Levine, this is a form of
therapy that helps the nervous system calm
and heal. It is not talk therapy. It is a subtle
and powerful tool.

The person I worked with:

There are different styles and ways to offer S.E.
My experience was lying on a massage table
and being well nurtured by someone named
Sally Thomas, an OT who was trained in a four
year program by Peter Levine. I asked Sally to
be available today so that, if you are interested
you can connect with her. Sally, will you stand
up?

Neurofeedback

Neurofeedback is a kind of therapy in which
electrodes are put on your head. They do not
stimulate you, they read your brainwaves.

Then you listen to tones and watch a computer
screen for feedback This feedback teaches
your brain when it's in it's optimal zone. 

The qEEG controversy.

There are lots of ways to do neurofeedback but
if you have TBI you know your brain is not
typical. Thus it is important to take great care
before you start altering the electromagnetic
field of your brain.

It's important to have your brain
imaged with a qEEG.

Although many wonderful programs exist that
are automatic, when using neurofeedback with
TBI, though it is an expense, it is not safe or
wise to work with a practitioner who is not
reviewing your qEEG and tailoring treatment to
your own unique brain's needs.

Crystal Bowl Meditation

I also utilzyed a form of sound therapy in which
someone played large bowls for one hour each
week to help me repattern my nervous system.
Crystal bowls are not just sound therapy.
Being lined with crushed quartz they have a
strong electromagnetic vibration. Not for the
faint of heart but very powerful.

Crystal Bowl Resource

I asked Kelly Maccinnis to be here today so
that you can find him as a resource.

Kelly plays weekly at Om Time and Body
Dynamics. He has a table out in the resource
area.

So, as we conclude let's revisit
where we began.

We began by taking a moment to connect with
one another. We then talked about the ways
the brain can wire/connect in new and
constructive ways you can direct with your
mind.
Revisiting Mind

Mind REGULATES information and energy.
This is a Relational Embodied Process. -Dan Siegel

MINDFULNESS

By following the guidelines of mindfulness practice (slowing down, focusing on the breath), the brain can learn to make new
CONNECTIONS.

LOVING KINDNESS

By becoming heart centered we get out of our
miserable egos and learn how to be more fully
and vitally connected to the world around us.

Having a "broken brain" does not
mean having a diminished heart.

If anything, those who have been through the
hardship of TBI have a much bigger and more
generous heart.

Loving kindness helps us CONNECT to the
world around us in constructive and meaningful
ways.

As you can see, it is all about
CONNECTION.

Suffering comes from a sense of isolation.

As we conclude, look around you. Think back
to the beginning of this presentation when you
connected with a neighbor.

As you go into your day, connect with one
another with a generous spirit. See what new
connections might be possible.

Yes, you can teach your old brain new tricks! Breakthroughs in the scientific understanding of how the brain works have shown us that our brains are constantly rewiring themselves in response to events in our lives. This handbook applies this new science in practical ways, by giving us a training program to re-pattern our behavior and thereby change the ways our brain is wired. It interrupts our suffering, sharpens our mental abilities and corrects our cognitive imbalances. As we learn these mental skills, the neural patterns of our brains begin to change and we literally reprogram the neural networks through which information and energy flows. If you've heard about neuroplasticity, epigenetics, psychoneuroimmunology and other scientific advances, but didn't know how you could apply these breakthroughs to improve your life, you will find Heal Your Mind, Rewire Your Brain a treasure trove of resources. It provides a clear, step-by-step program that shows you how to correct the imbalances of the stressed-out brain, and install a peaceful state of mind.

Heal Your Mind, Rewire Your Brain: Applying the
Exciting New Science of Brain Synchrony for
Creativity, Peace and Presence
Author: Patt Lind-Kyle
Publisher: Energy Psychology Press
ISBN: 978-1-60415-056-8

The Brain : Is there a more fascinating and complex organ in the body? Often studied and just as often misunderstood, science, medicine and psychology have made great strides in the study of the brain.

Author Patt Lind-Kyle offers the reader a fascinating and indepth look at the last decade of the scientific breakthroughs in brain studies. The reader is given a better understanding of how the brain works and how it is constantly evolving. New studies have shown that by using mental training practices, we can transform our life and increase our emotional balance and wellbeing.

The first part of the book serves as a strong starting point to understanding the human brain, how it developed and how it affects all aspects of our lives. Part two teaches the reader meditations and tools to deal with challenges and changes. You will get a thorough understanding of brain wave patterns, the key neurotransmitter chemicals and the various brain centers.


The author has presented this work in an engaging and well organized style. Written with the layperson, student and professional in mind, it will be of tremendous aid to understanding how to help your mind work for you, your needs and areas you may feel weak in. Anyone with an interest in how our brain works and how thought processes can change our lives will thoroughly enjoy this book, and find a vast amount of new knowledge.

Author Lind-Kyle takes the reader on an extensive neuro-anatomy expedition; introduces Enneagram personality typing, and some eastern thought, before getting into the actual meditation exercises she recommends to alter brain wave function. Carefully omitting the word yoga, Lind-Kyle explains the physiology of meditation by exploring its chemical and physical substrates. The last third of the book explores the meditation exercises that Lind-Kyle recommends for balancing brain patterns based on her work with meditation techniques and the electroencephalograph. The author recommends the methods to reduce stress, alter obsessive thoughts and correct personality anomalies.

The scientifically minded will be annoyed at her continued use of the word evolution both as a word to describe the true Darwinian “survival of the fittest” and the chemical changes that take place in the individual human brain as a result of learning. They will also be put off by Lind-Kyle’s reference to DNA and genes as separate units of heredity. However, anyone truly interested in neuroplasticity and meditation will be fascinated by the effort to bring healing and change to the average person.

Easy to understand, explains evolution, function, and patterns of different areas of the brain, neurotransmitters' impact on behavior, electro-chemical processes, and the mind-brain relationship. "The mind is what the brain does." Still reading . 

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science

by Norman Doidge

An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.

IN NOTHING BE ANXIOUS

All through the Bible we are told not to be anxious, not to be fearful, not to hoard or save, because an invincible, invisible power is at man's command to supply every need. But we were told that it would not work unless we believed in it. "If thou canst believe in this God Power, all things are then possible." It is difficult for man to believe in this power, because he has had a right training in unbelief. "I'll believe only what I can see," was supposed to be the height of wisdom. We lived in a world of externals, where we thought everything "just happened." We did not know that back of every happening was a cause, that we, ourselves, started in motion the machinery which produced good or evil in our pathway.

We did not know that words and thoughts are a form of dynamite, and should be handled carefully, with wisdom and understanding. We hurled out into the ethers, words of anger, resentment or self-pity, then wondered why life was so hard.

Why not experiment with faith; trust this invisible God-Power and "In nothing be anxious," but "In everything by prayer and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." Could anything be more simple or direct? Anxiety and habit have become habits. The old thought- forms you have built up in the subconscious, hang on like barnacles on an ocean liner. But the ocean liner is put in drydock once in a while to have the barnacles scraped off, so, your mental barnacles will have to go through the same process. The drydock is a big situation.

I know of a woman who had been a coward all her life, particulary about finances. She worried all the time about money. She came into this Truth, realized how she had limited herself, and suddenly made the giant swing into faith. She commenced to trust God and not the external for her supply. She followed her intuitive leads about spending. If any of her clothes made her feel poor, she would discard them at once, getting something new to make her feel rich. She had very little money, but gave one-tenth (a tithe) to good works. She was winding herself up into a new vibration. Very soon, things commenced to change on the external. A woman, on whom she had no claim, who was merely an old friend of her family, left her a thousand dollars. A few months later, another thousand came in. Then a big door opened for her supply and many thousands came in. She had tapped her invisible supply from the Bank of the Universal. She had looked to God only for her supply, then the channels opened. The point I am bringing out is, that she had lost all anxiety about money matters. She had established in her subconscious, the firm conviction, that her supply came from God, and it never failed.

Man is an instrument for Infinite Intelligence to work through. It will express through him as success, happiness, abundance, health and perfect self-expression, unless fear and anxiety make a short circuit.

If we want examples of fearless faith, go to the circus! The circus people perform seemingly impossible feats because they think they can, and see themselves doing it. Faith means that you can see yourself receiving all these things that you desire. "I will give to thee the land that thou seest."

You can never do a thing you cannot see yourself doing, or fill a place you cannot see yourself filling—not visualizing, making a mental picture (this is a mental process and often brings wrong and limited results); it must be a spiritual realization, a feeling that you are already there; be in its vibration.

I was very much impressed with the story of a great football player who was the greatest all- round athlete in the world, who trained in a hammock. One day he was lying there drowsing in the sun and the trainer came up to him with tears streaming down his face and said; "Jim, for the love of Mike and your country, won't you get up and out of that hammock and do something?" Jim opened one eye and said; "I was just thinking about that. I was going to send for you." "Good," said the trainer. "What do you want me to do?" "First," said Jim, "I want you to mark off twenty- five feet there on the ground." The trainer did so. "Then what?" said the trainer. "That's all," said Jim, and he closed his eyes and swung happily. After at least five minutes he opened them and looked at the marks for a few seconds and then closed his eyes again. "What's the idea?" yelled the trainer. "What are you doing?" Jim looked at him reproachfully and replied: "I'm practicing the broad jump." He did all his training in a hammock: seeing himself doing the broad jump.

Without the vision my people perish, in lack and limitation. You may work very hard on the external and accomplish nothing, if you are without vision. Vision means to see clearly where you are going. To keep your eye on the goal. All men who have accomplished big things have done this.

James J. Hill, who built the Great Northern Railroad, said before a rail was laid, he heard with his inner ear the rumble of the trains and whistle of the engines. He had many obstacles to overcome, but his vision was so clear, it possessed him. One thing in his favor was that his wife believed in him. It is said that it takes two to make a dream come true.

Henry Ford, speaking of his mother-in-law said she was a fine woman, "She believed in me."

"When two of you agree, it shall be done." If you believe in yourself, others will believe in you. As you believe in yourself and the God-power within, fear and anxiety drop away. You establish the vibration of assurance. This is true of an intuitive person. Every move is made under Divine guidance and he never violates a "hunch," therefore, he is always in his right place at the right time. However, it often takes great courage to follow intuition. It takes a Viking, who is unafraid, to sail in unknown seas. Claude Bragdon says: "To live intuitively is to live fourth-dimensionally." The magic path leads you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. It is invaluable in business.

Never submit a hunch to someone on the reasoning plane. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear their intuitive leads, and give instant obedience.

"Whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee." This is true of each one. But if we have not received all the blessings of life, we have neglected to ask, or have not "asked aright." The Bible is teaching spiritual law and we must study and use it from every angle in order to set the great machinery of asking and receiving in motion. Every machine must be greased and oiled to be kept in good working order. Active faith and expectancy keep the machine of asking and receiving in perfect order. The following are some of the lubricants which keep it working. "When ye pray, believe ye have it." "In nothing be anxious." "Stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord." "Do not limit the Holy One of Israel." Realization is manifestation.

 Pray with praise and thanksgiving. Some people pray filled with anger and resentment. A woman wrote to me the other day saying: "I have just had a good talk with God and I told Him just what He ought to do about it." She was in the habit of ordering people around and looked upon God as someone she could bully into doing something for her. God is the Supreme Intelligence within each one of us and we are the channels for It to express Itself. We must be non-resistant, poised and peaceful, expecting our good to come to pass. We are the receivers, God is the Giver, and He must create His own channels. We find there is quite an art in praying aright. God must have right of way, His way, not your way. The moment you make your demand Infinite Intelligence knows the way of fulfillment. If you decide how your prayer shall be answered, you have blocked the divinely designed channel. Then you are apt to say: "I never have my prayers answered." We must acquire a technique and send out a sincere desire, which is a prayer. We are free from all clutch or anxiety when we say: "If this is according to the divine plan, we will receive it, if not, give us its equivalent." Be careful not to force anything not divinely planned.

We must know, that linked with God-power, nothing can defeat us. "God's ways are ingenious, His methods are sure."

Two of the most beautiful Psalms are the twenty-third and the one hundred and twenty-first. Both give one a feeling of absolute security and were written by a man who had experienced the working of spiritual law.

The God within protects, guides and provides when fully trusted. Most people lose what they love most through fear of loss; they take every precaution on the external, not trusting the protection to the "Eye which watches over Israel." Put whatever you love under the law of divine protection.

The most important part of demonstrating is showing fearless faith. "I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight! I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut in sunder the bars of iron." The Bible is talking about states of consciousness. "The gates of brass" and "bars of iron," are your doubts, fears, resentments and anxieties. The gates of brass and bars of iron are of our own making and come from our own vain imaginings, a belief in evil. There is a story of a herd of wild elephants: they were corralled in an enclosure but the men had no way of keeping them in, so they dug stakes and put a rope all around the enclosure. The elephants thought they could not get out. They could have just walked over the rope and stepped out but they had the illusion that the rope kept them in. This is the way with people: doubt and fear is a rope stretched around their consciousness. It makes it impossible for them to walk out into clear thinking.

Clear vision is like a man with a compass; he knows where he is going. Let intuition be your compass and it will always get you out of the woods. Even a man without a compass, led by intuition, would find his way out of the jungle, or be able to steer a ship at sea. Intuition will tell you to walk over the rope. It is amazing how people have overlooked their most important faculty—intuition. Always on man's pathway is his message or lead. Often our leads seem trivial and silly. A person purely on the intellectual plane would dismiss them at once but the Truth student always has his spiritual ear to the spiritual ground, knowing he is receiving orders from the Infinite. The Bible speaks often of "the still small voice." It is a voice which is not an actual voice, though sometimes actual words are registered on the inner ear.

When we ask for guidance and lay aside the reasoning mind we are tapping the Universal supply of all knowledge; anything necessary for you to know will be revealed to you. Some people are naturally intuitive and are always in contact with Universal Intelligence, but by taking an affirmation we make a conscious contact. Prayer is telephoning to God, and intuition is God telephoning to you. Many people have a "busy wire" when God telephones and they don't get the message. Your wire is "busy" when you are discouraged, angry or resentful. You've heard the expression "I was so mad I couldn't see straight." We might add, "I was so mad I couldn't hear straight." Your negative emotions drown out the voice of intuition.

When you are discouraged, angry, or resentful, is the time to make a statement of Truth, in order to get out of the woods of despair and limitation, for "Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be delivered!" There is a way out — "Reveal to me the way."

We must stop planning, plotting and scheming and let Infinite Intelligence solve the problem in Its own way. God-power is subtle, silent and irresistible. It levels mountains and fills in valleys and knows no defeat! Our part is to prepare for our blessings and follow our intuitive leads.

We now give Infinite Intelligence right-of-way.