By Gillian Brod, Neurofeedback Program Manager
“Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives.” ~Anonymous
Our bodies are incredible and complex, with so many systems - some of which operate without our conscious awareness. We have countless protective signals and mechanisms that are constantly supporting us for success and overall wellbeing. This makes it very important for us to take time to connect to our bodies and listen to the signals it shows us when we have something imbalanced or out of sorts.
I am endlessly in awe of, and completely fascinated by our bodies and our minds in how resilient we are as human beings. Our bodies are constantly creating new cells and healing our physical bodies, and our brains record the experiences we have to keep us safe. We are all familiar with the concept of fight or flight, but have you ever learned the process our brain goes through in order to protect us? If you are a brain nerd like me, you will find this really interesting!
Here is the process broken down simply: First, our eyes and/or ears take in our sensory experience, like brake lights or a car horn, and send it to the thalamus to be tagged and sent to the proper place in the brain. When this information is tagged with a fear marker, it travels to the amygdala, which is a part of the brain involved in our emotional processing. In an effort to protect our being, our amygdala will then send signals to the hypothalamus to trigger a fight or flight response so that our body can receive the signal to stomp our brakes or jump out from in front of the car. These are just two very simple examples of stressful or fearful situations that our brains will use to keep us safe from cars in the future, but there are many more traumatic things that happen in life that create more intense and extreme responses that can greatly affect our day-to-day life.
The significant experiences we have gone through can affect us more deeply than we realize. Emotional trauma can cause our amygdala to be overactive, putting us in a constant fear mode. When we feel fear, our whole body responds, so if we are in a constant fear mode, it can take a significant toll on our bodies and our brains, causing all kinds of health problems and cognitive deficits.
We have all gone through times in our lives where we have had to take the lemons and make lemonade. I think we all can agree that 2020 added some extra sour lemons into the mix. We do what we must to make life work, but the reality is that we can’t carry the weight of the world on our own. We need to find the support systems and resources that are comfortable and work for us.
Our neurofeedback system has the capability to directly affect the amygdala and bring it back into balance. When our amygdala is balanced, our fear responses will also be directly affected, allowing for a more peaceful life. If you are interested in learning more about our Emotional Rebalancing Program, please do not hesitate to contact our office at (315) 741-5774. We all go through times of needing a little help making our lemonade just right. We look forward to supporting you in your journey.
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