Are You Accidentally Practising Pain?
"Brainy What-Why-How"
Your weekly nibble of science-backed goodness to help you move better and feel unstoppable.
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What (the TL:DR)
You know how that every time you practice something, you get better at it?
It's neural plasticity; your brain adapting and rewiring itself to the demands you repeatedly place on it.
We usually think about this in terms of movement: your brain gets better at organising the move, your muscles fire more accurately, your coordination improves, and eventually the whole thing feels more automatic.
But I wanna talk about this:
Your brain can learn the emotional and sensory experience that comes with movement too.
So you can practice much more than the movement. You can practice wiring in fear, tension, expectation of pain to repeatedly come along with that movement.
Why (the geeky neurology)
Neural plasticity can be described as:
Neurons that fire together wire together.
i.e.: When different networks in your brain repeatedly become active at the same time, the connections between them can become stronger.
So imagine every time you do a wheel pose, you get a familiar niggle in your shoulder.
Your brain isn't just learning:
"Oh yeah, wheel pose means this particular movement pattern."
It may also be learning:
"Run the weird shoulder niggle programme."
Because your brain is always trying to predict based on what it thinks is safest for you.
But a predicted sensation isn't always proof that something is actually wrong.
Pain and other uncomfortable sensations are often learned, just like you learn the next step in dance choreography or to push your shoulders to your ears as you go for a handstand.
How (apply it to your life)
Notice if you're already wincing or filled with dread before you even move into an exercise.
Or if you count your reps like:
"3, 4, 5....oh god I'm only halfway"
Or you're already telling yourself how much you suck before you've even tried the handstand.
Then change it.
Go into that uncomfortable movement with a smile on your face
(Seriously that can work. Remember: neurons that fire together, wire together. So if you typically smile when you feel happy or calm, what may happen if you activate all your smiley-face muscles while doing something challenging? 😃 )
Count your reps like:
"3, 4, 5...woohoo halfway already!"
Prepare to kick into that handstand reminding yourself that you're a badass for even trying.
It's simple, but it matters.
Your brain learns through repetition. So make the things you repeatedly think, feel, and experience as useful as you can.
Love this stuff? Want to go deeper?
Check out my Applied Neurology Teacher Training!
Less "oh god" and more "oh YES",
Adell xoxo
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