You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter
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| Mask in July. And for his role in the third movie, Dumb and Dumber, released in December, Carrey received a check for exactly $10 million. He created exactly what he had envisioned for himself. What all of these individuals have in common is that they eliminated the external environment, got beyond their bodies, and transcended time so that they could make significant neurological changes within. When they presented themselves to the world, they were able to get their minds and bodies to work together, and they created in the material world what they’d first conceived in the mental realm. Scientific studies back this up. To start with, many experiments on mental rehearsal prove that when you concentrate on a particular region of the body, your thoughts stimulate the region in the brain that governs that part 4 —and if you keep doing it, physical changes in the brain’s sensory area will then follow. It makes sense, because if you keep placing your awareness in the same place, you are firing and wiring the same networks of neurons. And as a result, you’ll build stronger brain maps in that area. In a Harvard study, research subjects who’d never before played the piano mentally practiced a simple, five-finger piano exercise for two hours a day for five days—and made the same brain changes as the subjects who physically practiced the same activities, but without ever lifting a finger. 5 The region of their brains that controls finger movements increased dramatically, allowing their brains to look as though the 119 experience they’d imagined had actually happened. They installed the neurological hardware (circuits) and software (programs, thereby creating new brain maps by thought alone. In another study of 30 people over a week period, some regularly exercised their little fingers, while others just imagined doing the same thing. While the group that actually did the physical exercises increased the strength of their little fingers by 53 percent, the group that only imagined doing the same thing also increased the strength of their little fingers—by 35 percent Their bodies had changed to look as if they were having the physical experience in external reality over and over again— but they only experienced it in their minds. Their minds changed their bodies. In a similar experiment, ten volunteers each imagined flexing one of their biceps as hard as they could five times a week. Researchers recorded the subjects electrical brain activity during the sessions and measured their muscle strength every two weeks. Those who only imagined flexing increased their bicep muscle strength by 13.5 percent in just a few weeks, and they maintained the gain for three months after the training stopped. 7 Their bodies responded to anew mind. A final example is a French study that compared subjects who either lifted or imagined lifting dumbbells of different weights. Those who imagined lifting heavier weights activated their muscles more than did those who imagined lifting lighter weights In all three of these studies on mental rehearsal, the subjects were able to measurably increase their body strength using only their thoughts. You may well wonder if studies exist showing what happens when we follow the entire sequence—when we not only imagine what we want to create, but also connect with strong positive emotion. As a matter of fact, they do. And you’ll be reading about them soon enough. Signaling New Genes in the Body with a New Mind To understand more fully why mental rehearsal works, we need to look at just a few points of brain anatomy fora moment and then briefly add some neurochemistry. Let’s start by explaining that your frontal lobe, located right behind your forehead, is your creative center. This is the part of the brain that learns new things, dreams of new possibilities, makes conscious decisions, sets your intentions, and soon. It’s the CEO, so to speak, and even more to the point, the frontal lobe also allows you to observe who you are and evaluate what you’re doing and how you’re feeling. It’s the home of your conscience. This is important, because once 120 you become more aware of your thoughts, ultimately you can better direct them. As you practice mental rehearsal and truly concentrate and focus on the outcome you want, the frontal lobe is your ally, because it also lowers the volume on the outside world so that you’re not as distracted by information coming in from your five senses. Brain scans show that in a highly focused state, such as mental rehearsal, the perception of time and space diminishes This happens because your frontal lobe dials down the input from your sensory centers (which allow you to feel your body in space, your motor centers (responsible for your physical movement, and your association centers (where your thoughts about your identity and who you are live, as well as your parietal-lobe circuits (where you process time. Because you can get beyond your environment, beyond your body, and even beyond time, you’re better able to make the thought you’re thinking more real than anything else. The moment you imagine anew future for yourself, think about anew possibility, and start to ask specific questions—such as What would it be Download 5.46 Mb. Share with your friends:
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