Hey there,
I’m stopping by with a small token of appreciation for being a paying subscriber of Sober Soulful. Thank you! I’m grateful for your presence and support.
This downloadable, 82-page ebook is part of an online course that I created for students and practitioners of Chinese Medicine: Shifting Currents, Shaping Mind: Neuroplasticity & Taoism. Don’t worry though: it’s accessible to folks without Chinese Medicine background and training.
Why share it here? And what’s it have to do with addiction? (Or online technology use, for that matter?) Oh, let me count the ways! First, some basics…
Bendy brains
Did you know you have a bendy brain? It’s true! Neuroscientists have proven that our brains are always changing. They are, in effect, plastic until our final breath.
Our brains—along with the rest of us—are shaped by our external environment, internal states, thoughts, and emotions. This “neuroplasticity” encompasses not just function, but our brain’s very structure.
Even better news? Birth-’til-death malleability isn’t necessarily an all-downhill-from-here situation. We can use it in our favour. (More on how, in the downloadable ebook below.)
And yet, as with many things cutting edge, the plot to this story is nothing new. It has simply acquired new names and details.
At least as far back as the 5th century B.C.E., Taoist philosophers already had our plasticity figured out. Like today’s neuroplasticians, these ancient Chinese sages saw beyond rigid constructs and dated paradigms. They recognized continual, cyclical change as the Way, or Tao, of the Universe and ourselves.
Know what this means for medicine, healing, and change? It’s really cool!
For all the elusiveness of Taoist philosophy and all the complexities of today’s neuroplastic paradigm, both embrace accessible application. By being conscious of the brain’s plasticity, we get an enriched understanding of our potential.
We get to see just how much capacity we have to change the course of things and ourselves.
This holds true not only in relation to ancient Taoist principles but also recent discoveries in neuroplasticity and epigenetics. Alone, each offers strong support for health, healing, and recovery. Together, they are all the more powerful.
You too! No exceptions!
Neuroplastic shifts are not exceptions, observable only in cases of significant pathology or prodigy. Rather, they represent the ordinary, everyday nature of our minds.
These shifts emerge within an interconnected body-mind system, but also through interaction of that system with the outside world. The mind is both embodied and relational.
In revealing how environment and experience shape our brains, neuroplasticity research aligns with the science of epigenetics. Literally, “control above genetics,” this field arose from evidence that environmental factors can alter genes without changing DNA blueprints.
Such environmental factors encompass all non-inherited influences, including aspects of the external environment and what we consume…as well as internal states, thoughts, and emotions.
And, as we recognize in Chinese Medicine, external factors and inner states are intertwined and indivisible. Together, they constitute us.
Epigeneticists have shown that our environment, experience, actions, and even thoughts influence whether a gene is expressed.
Taking this further, they assert that modifications arising from environmentally and mental-emotionally influenced gene expression can be passed on to future generations.1
As science editor and writer Jonah Lehrer eloquently summarizes in Proust Was a Neuroscientist2:
“What makes us human, and what makes each of us his or her own human, is not simply the genes that we have buried in our base pairs, but how our cells, in dialog with our environment, feed back into our DNA, changing the way we read ourselves. Life is a dialectic… Our human DNA is defined by its multiplicity of possible meanings; it is a code that requires context.”
Shape your brain, co-create your destiny.
Interplay between genes and environment shapes the embodied brain throughout our lives. Emphasizing its role in childhood, physician and addictions expert Gabor Maté maintains3:
“The three environmental conditions absolutely essential to optimal human brain development are nutrition, physical security, and consistent emotional nurturing.”
And, at any age, existing in a socially and cognitively enriched environment is conducive to neural health and regeneration. Animal studies have shown that living in stimulating settings (as in, cognitively stimulating—not scrolling or passively consuming) or engaging in regular mental training increases brain weight by 5 percent in the cerebral cortex (and up to 9 percent in targeted brain areas), with neurons increasing in size, blood supply, number of branches, and number of connections.4
Other things that move the needle include novelty (rather than repeating the same old thing—as we do when caught in addictive habits and algorithms), physical movement (even “just” walking), and mindfulness (including meditation but also single-tasking and paying attention to one thing at time). These, along with existing in an enriched environment and consuming enriching content, have been proven to promote neurogenesis.
The brain is not a passive recipient of such influences any more than it is of genetic code. Rather, it is an active participant. It takes form and re-forms in response to interactions of the body-mind-spirit within an environmental and genetic context.
This interface and interaction is the stuff of experience, and experience shapes a plastic brain. As we act in the world and are acted upon, new connections are formed and pre-existing pathways light up with new use.
And, as conscious beings able to observe and influence how we respond to environmental stimuli, we co-create our destiny.5
Manifestations include subtle shifts as well as dramatic transformations in cognitive abilities, emotional tendencies, motor skills, sensory sensitivity, and conscious or subconscious habits, patterns, and routines.
Addiction…or agency?
The neuroplasticity of an embodied, relational brain offers promise in the form of expanded possibilities and potential. It means that through learning—and unlearning—we can literally change our minds.
In the process, we alter our physical brains (and bodies) as well as our experiences.
Yet, this inherent malleability is not inherently welcome. It also opens the door to unhelpful patterns, perceptions, beliefs, and addictions. Rather than expand our possibilities, wayward programming may instead result in limited expression of self.
In what’s known as the “plastic paradox,” repetition of unhelpful thoughts and behaviours causes rigidity, stagnation, inertia, and general stuck-ness in body and mind.
How do we avoid such pitfalls? Well, sometimes, we just don’t. As humans, hard things happen to us. We can’t skirt all of plasticity’s perils.
And, we have agency. We can use our understanding of a plastic, embodied brain to actively cultivate and reinforce patterns that are helpful and healing. We can be responsible caretakers of our inner and outer ecology.
The stakes? Who we are…and who we’re continuously becoming.
Where shall we begin?
So go fine-tune your interface between self and world, genes and environment already. NBD.
Just kidding. Thankfully, we can call on ancient Taoists for this part. They had a lot figured out, and they took care not to overcomplicate things. Indeed, they counseled6:
“See simplicity in the complicated. Achieve greatness in little things.”
In other words…
Lean into simple, proven ways to support neurogenesis—literally, “neuron generation.” (I review these in the downloadable ebook below.)
Also…do everything you can to support your embodied brain. An obvious yet vital starting point is eating nourishing, real food. A powerful backup is supportive herbal formulas.
In Chinese Medicine, food and herbs are the Yin side of treating illness and maintaining health and vitality. They provide the nutrients that our Yang side needs to function, complementing any brain-boosting lifestyle tweaks.
The result? Using our biological bendiness for good! Including to step out of painful habits, cycles, and patterns on repeat.
Simple steps, done with consistency, bring big results. Cutting-edge science, ancient wisdom, and our plastic body-mind-spirit pretty much guarantee it.
I hope this ebook supports you in looking at your continuous being and becoming through a new lens or even just asking new questions.
Doing so—especially at first—takes courage. Doing so—especially with compassion—changes everything.
Pssst—want access but still on the free plan? You can upgrade your subscription here (even for a month, which will let you download and keep this ebook as well as the recent one on eating disorders).
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