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Day 39 of 50 ideas in 50 days is Thresholds of the Mind by Bill Harris. Neuroplasticity is a favourite subject of mine, the power to mould and shape our minds to install the changes we want. Bill focuses on the power of meditation and says, “whatever the technique, the effect on the brain is substantially the same: synchronisation of the two brain hemispheres – and after much practice, an experience of connection with the rest of the universe, accompanied by profound inner peace and happiness.” So how does it work? Meditation, as well as hypnosis, slows down the brain to give a greater balance of the two hemispheres and as a result, creates a more peaceful state of mind.

Bill has created a meditation system called Holosync that can hold your brain in the theta state after a few minutes. The theta stage is stage 3 in the slowing down of the brain and it requires many years of meditation usually, to experience. Most of our day to day experience is in the beta state (alertness, arousal, anxiety, fight or flight). When we are in relaxation, meditation or pre sleep state, we experience alpha brain patterns. Dreams, memory and deep meditation are when our brain is in the theta state and delta brain waves are dreamless sleep and the collective unconscious.

Bill makes an important point about using Holosync that is significant with personal development in general. He says, “no matter how gung-ho you are, no matter how eager you are to be in great shape, you don’t run a marathon in the first week.” The results come steadily with daily practice and conscientious discipline. This then remoulds the brain and utilises its plasticity.

Another big idea in Bill’s work is the idea that resistance causes suffering. He says, “it isn’t that change is painful; it’s our resistance to the process that creates the pain…end the resistance and the discomfort ends.” This is an idea that has been addressed by many self-help authors, to resist reality is futile and can cause much pain, both physical and mental. The amazing author and teacher of ‘Hypnobirthing,’  Marie Mongan cites this to be one of the main reasons for the experience of pain in childbirth. Fear creates the fight or flight syndrome which sends oxygen and blood to the arms and legs – away from where they should be in the birthing process. This causes extreme tension which then causes the pain. Breathing, relaxation, going with the flow creates an experience as it should be and one that has been experienced by so many women in other parts of the world for thousands of years due to their positive social conditioning.

Bill says, “not resisting what is does not mean that you cannot want to change what is and the difference is one of the attachment to the outcome.” The secret is to have happiness and contentment within oneself and one that is not dependent on external results.

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!