Enchancing Neuroplasticity:
Strategies for Rewiring the Brain
Psychotherapy Networker Symposium
March 24, 2017
Linda Graham, MFT
[email protected]
www.lindagraham-mft.net
The Brain Learns from Experience
The brain is shaped by experience. And based upon everything we
know about the brain in neuroscience, change is not only possible,
but is actually the rule rather than the exception. It’s really just a
question of which influences we’re going to choose for the brain.
And because we have a choice about what experiences we want to
use to shape our brain, we have a responsibility to choose the
experiences that will shape the brain toward the wise and the
wholesome.
- Richard J. Davidson, PhD
Center for Investigating Healthy Minds
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Choosing Experiences
to Rewire the Brain
 Mindfulness – anterior cingulate cortex
 Compassion – insula
 Tools of somatic, emotional, relational,
reflective intelligence – pre-frontal cortex
Wholesome Purposes for
Enhancing Neuroplasticity
 Regulate nervous system, open to learning
 Relate – intra-personally, inter-personally,
connections as resources
 Reflect – broaden perspective, wiser choices
 Respond – cope with external stressors, internal
messages
 Resilience
Five Strategies for Rewiring Brain
 Safety
 Resonant relationships
 Positive, pro-social emotions
 Imagination
 Meta-processing – written reflection
Neuroception of Safety – Autonomic
Nervous System
 Polyvagal theory – Dr. Stephen Porges
 Neuroception of safety-danger-life threat
 Autonomic nervous system – homeostasis
 Sympathetic
 Mobilize – act, create, play
 Over-mobilize – fight-flight-freeze
 Chronic – anxiety, stress
 Window of Tolerance
 Calm and relaxed, engaged and alert
 Parasympathetic
 De-mobilize – calm, rest
 Over de-mobilize – shut down, numb out
 Chronic – depression, dissociation
Ventral vagus nerve –
the “smart” vagus
 Newer “smart” ventral vagus
 Safety of social engagement
 Eye contact, facial expressions, tone and
prosody of voice, “motherese”
 Down-regulate spike of sympathetic
Neurochemical synchrony
 Physcial proximity
 Eye contact
 Shared positive emotions
 Mutual care and concern
 Felt sense of resonance
 Oxytocin
Barbara Fredrickson, Love 2.0
Dorsal vagus nerve –
the “dumb” vagus
 Older “dumb” dorsal vagus
 Fear-danger-life threat
 Dorsal dive – numb out, collapse
 Powerlessness, lethargy, isolation, shame
Tools to Create
Neuroception of Safety
 Breath
 Touch
 Movement
Affectionate Breathing
 Sit comfortably; breathe slowly and gently.
 Incline your awareness toward your breathing
with tenderness and curiosity
 Let the body breathe itself; notice the natural
nourishing and soothing of the body
 Feel the whole body breathe
 Allow the body to be gently moved by the breath
 Savor the stillness and peace in the body
 Gratitude for the breath
Friendly Body Scan
 Kind, friendly awareness
 Scan slowly through entire body
 Hello! Gratitude and well-wishing to every part
 Compassionate acceptance of aches and pains
Physical, psychological
 Awareness of body as a whole
Equanimity for Two
Partner A lies on the floor, and breathes.
Partner B sits near partner A, places one hand
on A’s forearm, and the other hand on the
crown of A’s head.
Partner B synchronizes his/her breathing with
Partner A
Touch
 Hand on heart, hand on cheek, hug yourself
 Head rubs, foot rubs, massage
 Massage back of neck – oxytocin receptors
 One hand on forehead; other on back of neck
 Hold thumb as “inner child”
 Hugs – 20 second full bodied
Soles of the Feet
 Stand up; feel soles of feet on the floor
 Rock back and forth, rock side to side
 Make little circles with your knees
 Walk slowly; notice changes in sensations
 Offer gratitude to your feet that support your
entire body, all day long
Rewiring through Movement
 Body inhabits posture of difficult emotion (40
seconds
 Body moves into opposite posture (40
seconds)
 Body returns to first posture (20 seconds)
 Body returns to second posture (20 seconds)
 Body finds posture in the middle (30 seconds
 Reflect on experience
Resonant Relationships are
Foundation of Resilience
All this talk therapy is just an excuse to hang out
long enough for the relationship to do the healing.
Attachment and Psychotherapy conference
The roots of resilience are to be found in the felt
sense of being held in the mind and heart of an
empathic, attuned, and self-possessed other.
- Diana Fosha, PhD
Ah, the comfort,
The inexpressible comfort
Of feeling safe with a person.
Having neither to weigh out thoughts
Nor words,
But pouring them all right out, just as they are,
Chaff and grain together;
Certain that a faithful hand
Will take them and sift them;
Keeping what is worth keeping and,
With the breath of kindness,
Blow the rest away.
- Dinah Craik
Tools to Create
Resonance in Relationship
 Presence, attunement, empathy, acceptance
 “Given all that has happened….”
 Deep listening
 Client’s self-awareness
 Experience – you hear me hearing you
Compassionate Friend
 Sit comfortably; hand on heart for loving awareness
 Imagine safe place
 Imagine warm, compassionate figure –
Compassionate Friend
 Sit-walk-talk with compassionate friend
 Discuss difficulties; listen for exactly what you need
to hear from compassionate friend
 Reflect-savor intuitive wisdom
Neuroscience is Revolutionizing
Our Thinking about Feelings
 Emotions are essential to vitality and well-
being
 There’s nothing wrong with you if you feel
hurt, pain; it’s human; it’s what the body-brain
does
 Negative Emotions –
 Todd Kashdan: Up Side of Your Dark Side
Positive Emotions
Shift Brain Functioning
 Negativity bias – automatic reactivity
 Positive emotions shift functioning of brain
into openness, receptivity, neuroplasticity,
learning
 Direct outcome of positive emotion practice =
resilience
Benefits of Positive Emotions
 Less stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness
 More friendships, social support, collaboration
 Shift in perspectives, more optimism
 More creativity, productivity
 Better health, better sleep
 Live on average 7-9 years longer
 Resilience is direct outcome



Barbara Fredrickson: Positivity
Sonya Lyubormirsky: The How of Happiness
Robert Emmons: Gratitude Works!
Gratitude
 5-minute free write
 People, possessions, processes
 Gratitude journal
 Gratitude buddy
 Web of life
Take in the Good
 Notice: in the moment or in memory
 Enrich: the felt sense in the body
 Absorb: savor 10-20-30 seconds, felt sense in
body
 Repeat: 6 times a day, install in long-term memory


Rick Hanson – Hardwiring Happiness
Foundations of Well-Being
Imagination – mental play space
of default network of brain
 Brain “plays,” makes new links, new
associations, connects dots in news ways
 Reverie, daydreams
 Imagination
 Guided visualizations, meditations
 Can drop into worry, rumination
 Can drop into plane of open possibilities
 New insights, new behaviors
Wished for Outcome
 Evoke memory of what did happen
 Imagine new behaviors, new players, new
resolution
 Hold network of new outcome in awareness,
toggle back and forth between positive and
negative, let go of negative
 Notice shift in perspective of experience, of
self
Meta-processing
I learned.
I learned that I can learn.
I learned that I am someone who can learn.
Written Reflection
There are thousands of thought lying within a man
that he does not know till he takes up the pen and
writes.
- William Makepeace Thackeray
Journaling for
Post-Traumatic Growth
 Brain operates differently remembering or
imagining, talking, writing
 Journaling effective when
 Focus on recovery and growth
 Place event in timeline of life
 Create a coherent narrative
Coherent Narrative
 This is what happened; these were the consequences.
 These were the resources, practices, tools and coping
strategies I used.
 These are the resources, etc. I would use now if I could
do this over.
 These were the lessons I learned, growth I experienced,
positive meanings I found.
 This is how I re-entered the world and helped others.
 This is what I now appreciate because of the event.
Integrating the Take-Aways
 What tools/exercises could you use with client
 What obstacles might get in the way?
 What resources could you draw on to
overcome the obstacles?
How you respond to the issue…is the issue.
- Frankie Perez, Momentous Institute