Our habits have become delegated to an automatic part of our brains - and they can become so familiar, we mistake those automated patterns as ‘us’.

• We are not our problems.

• We are not our mistakes.

• We are not our memorized habits.

Of course we have to deal with problems and we are responsible for our mistakes - but - WE are the conscious being with choice in this moment. 

Our choice can be defined by our former habits, or with mindfulness and awareness, our choice can be by our future instead. We can choose to practice those emotions into our NEW habits that we will intentionally program and willfully delegate into the automatic part of our brains.

In order to truly release old trauma and train new emotional habits, we must clear our body of the former emotional state, and enter a brain state that permits us to communicate profoundly with the subconscious parts of our brain.

Conscious Breathing For Mindfulness

Through our intentional use of breath and meditation - in combination with a guided yoga class - we can detox our emotions, release muscle tensions and quiet our thinking brain into a near alpha brain wave state.

From this state we can feel gratitude, visualize our future and through intentional repetitive practice, imprint new habitual emotional patterns.

New emotional habits that we can call upon, just as surely as we could juggle oranges.

We Are Not Our Mistakes: The Power of Meditation

The concept that "we are not our mistakes" is a powerful realization.

We are often defined by our accomplishments, our profession, or by our mistakes. It can be easy to believe our social status, our roll in an organization, or our problems, errors, and old habits as ‘us’... to believe that is the measure of our worth and the source of our emotions.

We feel as though ‘our personally characteristics’ are some fixed thing.

They are not.

Neuroscience and the science of meditation tell us a very different story.

Who Are We?

We are more than our past and our problems. We are not the mishaps we've encountered, nor the mistakes we've made. Instead, we are consciousness with the capacity to choose, grow, and change. We can decide to be defined not by our past but by our envisioned future.

In fact, our mistakes can be seeds from which we can grow super powers!

Our habits, both physical and emotional, are deeply ingrained in our neural pathways, from our childhood and then through years and decades of repetition.

But these pathways are not set in stone - they are changeable, thanks to our brain's plasticity. This is where meditation, especially mindfulness and guided meditation, plays a transformative role.

The Role of Meditation

Meditation helps us create a new brain. Through intentional breathwork, meditation, and practices like guided yoga, we can detox our emotions, release muscle tensions, and change our brain through thought alone.

This state of calm, focused alertness is where our attention can create physical changes in our brain. With a new brain, we open doors to profound personal growth and transformation!

Releasing Old Trauma

Trauma and stress get stored in our bodies, influencing our emotions, behaviors, and health. The movements of yoga, combined with breath, offer a way to gently cleanse and release this stored trauma. By fostering a state of relaxed awareness, we can begin practicing a new internal voice, fostering compassion, self caring routines and release from anxious feelings.

Cultivating New Emotional Habits

From a neuroscience perspective, meditation supports the creation of new, more positive neural pathways – effectively helping us to "rewire" our brain.

By intentionally rehearsing positive emotions such as compassion, joy, and gratitude during the meditation at the end of a yoga class, we strengthen the neural pathways and hormonal centers into a new emotional habit.

Guided meditation can play a significant role in this process, as it can help us practice holding these… somewhat unfamiliar positive emotional states.

Over time, our mindfulness develops, helping us to repeat this new internal self talk on our own. This creates new emotional habits that can transform how we interact with the world.

Connecting with the Subconscious

The Meditation at the end of a yoga class is especially powerful to help us communicate profoundly with the subconscious parts of our brain.

It's our subconscious that holds onto old habits. By reaching a deeply relaxed state through meditation, we can rehearse new emotions and make measurable changes to the structures of our brain.

A Future-Defined Self

Take 5 minutes to sit in meditation, and you are choosing to actively shape your future.

When we decide to practice new emotional habits, that choice is the energy that creating a version of you that is defined not by past mistakes but by the qualities we want to nurture and the future we wish to inhabit.

This transformation doesn't happen overnight – it takes consistent practice. But, with meditation, it feels good every step of the way, and the results are so worth it.

With regular meditation, we can let go of old habits, heal from past traumas, and cultivate a healthier, happier state of being. So remember, we are not our mistakes, we are beings capable of growth, change, and self-definition.