Unlock the Secret to Happiness

Many of us deal with depression and anxiety. And we seek relief.

At some time in our lives we may experience despair, we may get caught up in a negative cycle of fear and doubt, and it can become a chronic condition of thinking of the worst case scenarios, replaying regrets from the past, in the cycle of self depreciation, self chastising thoughts…

This negative emotional state can be identified as ‘high-beta’ in brain scans. While our brain is in ‘high-beta’ brainwave state, we can only access the primitive fight-or-flight emotions from our deeper brain.

When Bad Seems Normal

While in this brain state, we feel more ‘comfortable’ repeating negative scenes than if we practice scenes of success.

When we are stressed, the negative conversation seems like ‘the truth’, and the imagined scenes of success are ‘lies you are telling yourself’.

How To Shift Your Thoughts

By the end of an effective yoga class, we have moved our brain from high-beta fight-or-flight state, into a low-beta or even alpha brain state - and we often find that our world-view has changed dramatically as well.

In future posts, I’ll share more about the inner workings that science explains about the way a guided yoga class can change our perceptions, and help us unlock the secret to happiness.

Why Do We See The World Differently After Yoga?

The brain cannot distinguish between a real event and something that is vividly imagined. This includes the bad habit of recalling past trauma, and the better habit of imaging a positive potential future. The first thought-habit will have the effect of strengthening neural patterns of stress, while the second thought-habit will form new, and happier neural connections.

That is, your thoughts can create measurable, physical changes in your brain. Through conscious choice, or by default - we are always reconditioning our mind, and shaping it.

The brain has the natural ability to form and reorganize synaptic connections in response to learning - and new neural connections can be created even from imagined experience, as Time Magazine quotes Neuroscientist Alvaro Pascual-Leone from Harvard Medical School demonstrated with his ‘Practicing The Piano Exercise’.

Through intentional practice of yoga to still our mind, and then the deliberate rehearsal of better feeling thoughts, we can intentionally wire our brain to create a happier life!

It is important to consider our power.

Depression and anxiety are common issues that can lead to even more negative thought patterns, including self-deprecation and fear. These negative emotions can be measured as a high-beta brainwave state, which limits access to positive emotions and success scenarios.

Yoga can help shift the brain into a low-beta or alpha state, allowing for more positive thought patterns and neural connections to foster and thrive.

The brain forms new connections even from imagined experiences.

In other words, the conscious thought patterns and mental movies that we practice while we rehearse emotion, will directly lead to physical changes in the brain!