M4 : Lesson 8: Limitations of Brain Retraining
Transcript
Destinate limitations of using brain retraining alone. I’d like to speak of some limitations of brain retraining programs, excessive inner dialogue, Sometimes we can become obsessed with talking to our limbic system, and this internal talking to your cell I think is part of the original issue that we’re in our mind too much and not in our present experience. So I see that some processes do not move quickly enough into the body and into the creative state. So just keep that in mind as you’re doing brain retraining practices. Also, another limitation is some programs not have somatic in body presence or a bottom up regulation component.
This is important because body based trauma and emotional reactions are stored in the body, and it’s hard to get there with brain retraining especially if these things happen at a young age. This is not something you can consciously think or just imagine using your mind alone. You must learn how to become embodied somatically, which we’ll talk about in the next module with your triggers, with your emotion, with your sensations to be able to send a message of safety from your body back to your amygdala that you’re okay with the felt experience. Also, I’ve also found that doing too much meditation too early in retraining can be a problem for some people. Meaning meditation can be challenging for those that are stuck in a limbic loop because they’re obsessing and fearing how they feel in their body while trying to meditate and drop into awareness of the body, and their emotional state is so hyped up that they’re just in a limbic threat mechanism and being still without redirecting their brain is too much for them at the moment.
I find for these people that guided meditation can be better than non guided if you choose to meditate while stuck in excessive fear. However, I recommend Stick with brain retraining for a little while first, and then move on to meditation as you calm down your limbic system response. And then meditation can be a wonderful tool. It’s a tool I use every day now, but there was a period where I got more limically stressed when I tried to meditate. So you just need to use your own discernment of how that works for you.
Also, brain retraining is not a replacement for lifestyle management. Brain retraining helps you to build up your capacity to tolerate stress, and it is not an end all approach. It doesn’t trump your need to make lifestyle changes throughout the day to decrease your overall stress loan One thing I see as a coach is that some people do their brain retraining practice every day is instructed, but then they spend the rest of their day overreacting to triggers, complaining, and blaming, or suppressing their emotions and their truth, engaging in dysfunctional relationships, avoiding life and avoiding doing things they love. They are doing everything right just as instructed, but They are not changing their lifestyle. This continues to build up stress in the nervous system, and people wonder why they’re not experiencing any change.
They do the brain retraining, and then they’re completely emotionally dysregulated. The rest of the day, running excessive stress chemistry with their lifestyle. They’re wanting their tool to replace the responsibility of addressing their overall stress load. The tools do not save you. They help you regulate, but there are hundreds of other choices all day long that are needed to rewire the brain and the nervous system.
You still have to make choices throughout the day and most importantly, choosing to live a life you love. Brain retraining alone might not uproot deeper contributing issues. We often have core beliefs, judgments, and relationship wounding that is driving our unconscious stress response. Brain retraining can help reframe our conscious judgments, but often an inner journey is needed to get at the root of our unconscious programming. This often requires inner work known as parts work, and inner attachment repair.
In primal trust, we focus on our attachment with ourselves first so that we can have healthier attachments with others. Despite what I’ve just said, doing brain retraining alone will often result in significant and changes for people, and I have witnessed that even in myself. Personally, I never did brain retraining alone. I originally combined brain retraining with the functional neurology, vagus toning exercises, and the breath work you learned in module 3. And within a few months of retraining, I also added in somatics and energy medicine, so I had a combination approach in my process.
After you learn to self regulate using the brain retraining, bagel toning, and somatic tools offered in this program, I suggest you consider moving through my level 2 program, the primal trust mentorship, to take you on the deeper journey of healing. More on this in module 7. Next up, we’ll go over module 4 summary and homework.