It’s true that our brains are an absolute wonder with unlimited potential for progress  and change. I have firmly believed this for a very long time and have always known there was so much more that our brains are capable of besides ordinary everyday use, be it conscious or unconscious. It never ceases to amaze me how truly helpful and miraculous our brains are, especially in my work with hypnosis when clients experience tremendous shifts from negative beliefs or achieve exactly the outcome they are looking for when they use their minds to focus in a particular way. Being the critical thinker and perfectionist that I am, I am always excited to read about proper clinical study that explains in scientific terms what is actually happening.

About 10 months ago I came across a book that I knew I just had to buy but I put it back on the shelf at that time and added it to my ‘wish list.’ Last week I was having coffee with my good friend Chanel and the topic of the book came up in conversation. We had been talking about the similarities between hypnosis and meditation and she mentioned ‘brain plasticity,’ how many previous theories on the brain being fixed and unchanging are being overthrown by new studies of the past 150 years about the brain’s ability to transform itself. I promptly rushed into Borders and bought the book that had been on my list for the past 10 months, ’The Brain That Changes Itself’ by Norman Doidge MD.

I excitedly devoured the truly heartwarming stories about stroke patients regaining the use of  their bodies and radical improvements in cognitive ability into old age. Here were proper clinical studies at last (Although there have been for the last 150 years or so but with claims quashed by the more traditional neuroscientists) about how truly malleable our brains are and how different parts of the brain can develop to continue functions previously executed by other, now damaged parts. Something that, for centuries, doctors and scientists thought impossible.

For a long time I have been a believer in this because of the fact that everything in the universe is in constant flux and it has reflected in the kinds of hypnosis I choose to work with. Our physical bodies are constantly changing, every minute of every day and our minds fluctuate even more quickly so I have always worked towards creating new, more constructive pathways in the brain that become more frequently used than the old, unhelpful ones. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis, so when you think about the negative self talk you have given yourself  in the past, know that it is completely possible to turn that around and begin a new pathway that begins as a conscious thought and becomes a constructive part of you life - as natural as smiling when you come into contact with a loved one.  Eventually, you don’t even need to think about it!

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