FOUR NEUROCOACHING PRINCIPLES WILL HELP YOU REACH YOUR GOAL
If you to some degree understand Danish, this video explains the 4 principles
We teach you to respond to anxiety and stress signals, just as you already respond to pain signals. Eg. when you accidentally put your hand on a hot oven: Listen and react. I guess that you don´t just keep your hand on the hot oven while calling the doctor for painkillers either. You listen to the signal – and you act upon the signal by removing your hand. This whole way of thinking is in line with modern cell biology, which states that we humans are societies of cells, all being dedicated to the common good of the organism – that means you. But unfortunately these cells (and the brain centers they are parts of) make mistakes) 1).
A very useful metaphor for the brain is regarding it as an organization, eg. a company. You (the conscious part of the brain) are, of course, the CEO. And we even know that your “office” is placed at the forefront of the brain (the prefrontal cortex). And then you have a large number of employees who just want to do their best, but sometimes they make mistakes. Partly because they are primitive, and partly because they speak a different language than you (because these parts of the brain are formed in a different period of evolution). Therefore, they do not always understand how you as a CEO would like things to be.
This is the communication we have to improve. And as you will notice, this is not so much different from how communication is trained in companies with problems.
The training is built around the following four, simple Neurocoaching principles:
1.WE FOCUS ON CAUSES
instead of symptoms. Our results support the research of professor Antonio Damasio that irrational anxiety, anger, grief and OCD are only symptoms of stressful thought patterns 2). These thought patterns have then made your emotional brain center (called amygdala) hypersensitive. So that it becomes like a hypersensitive alarm that responds to a fly instead of to a burglar.
And our experience also confirms American studies from i.a. University of California and San Francisco 3). These studies show that depression is not a disease in itself, but a poisoning of the brain center hippocampus as well as the brain’s dopamine receptors with cortisol – caused by chronic stress.
So instead of focusing on symptoms, we go right to the underlying causes: Negative thought patterns, family patterns, and traumas that typically stem from early in life. They are the biological causes under both stress, anxiety, depression and other emotional diseases. And our results show that in this way we seem to be able to “reset” your inner alarm – often surprisingly fast.
And luckily there is a fine reservoir of stem cells in the worst damaged brain center, called hippocampus. Together with a growth protein, called BDNF, these stem cells can quite fast rebuild what it lost – once you stop constantly pouring stress hormones into your blood stream.
2. WE FOCUS ON YOUR RESOURCES
instead of just focusing on your problems. Our working hypothesis is that all of us humans have all the resources we need. The problem is that we only use these resources part of the time. Those with social phobia are for example not afraid when they are with their close family. So we teach you to use your resources and your healthy thinking strategies in all situations – and not just in some situations.
Focus on your resources also includes our focus on action: Lots of experiments on both humans and other mammals such as dogs, rats and mice show that the role of the victim is one of the biggest stressors ever. So the first task in every process is to help our customer out of the victim role into the action role. That is also why we call our customers for “customers” instead of patients or clients, which imply a more passive role.
A wise therapist once said that all therapy is a liberation from the role of the child (the irresponsible role of the victim) to the role of the adult (characterized by responsibility and action). In our optic, the traditional approach, where the patient is often kept in a passive state, can therefore often keep the person stuck in his or her problems.
3.THERAPY IN 3 LANGUAGES
This is the third of the four Neurocoaching principles. Today there is a reasonable consensus on the neurologist Paul D. Maclean’s theory of the 3-parted brain. This theory claims that our brain has developed in 3 evolutionary leaps: The reptilian brain, which is about 400 million years old. The mammalian brain (the limbic system) is about 200 million years old. And the human brain (cortex) is about 5-7 million years old. These big time differences seem to have resulted in the different parts of the brain having very different ways of communicating. Or in other words: The 3 parts of the brain have different languages. Simply expressed, the human brain communicates mostly with words, while the mammalian brain predominantly works with images and symbols and the reptile brain primarily communicates with bodily sensations.
Those 61% of our customers who have first been attending a traditional psychologist, tell us almost identical stories: The traditional psychology sessions (which are almost exclusively verbal) have often enlightened them about their problems – the only catch is that the problems are still there.
The neurological reason behind this is that only a part of the brain (the human cortex) understands the spoken word. However, your emotions are produced in the mammalian brain, so adding pictures and symbols to the process makes a huge difference. We will demonstrate that when you sign ups so that you can immediately feel the difference.
In addition to that, the brain – according to psychologist and author Susan Hart – can only communicate effectively with each other when the brain is producing the so called alpha brain waves. Alpha brain waves are created in a state of light relaxation and eyes closed. In ordinary conversation, however, the brain runs in beta and in hypnosis delta and theta, so this alone prevents the different parts of the brain to cooperate effectively.
4. TRAINING:
All change and all learning in the nervous system is dependent on a small chemical reaction in the synapses (where the brain cells meet). And this mechanism works the same way no matter if you have to learn to drive a car, learn German, learn to believe in yourself or learn to feel safe. It’s all about repetition.
Just remember all the things you yourself have become excellent at: You learned some techniques or some knowledge – and then you trained them.
Neurocoaching is therefore a toolbox where you learn to take and use the right tool in the right situation.
You will even partly construct these tools yourself. And then train them on a daily basis until they become habits.
NO MAGICAL PILL (sorry to disappoint you=))
Just as muscles aren´t built while watching Netflix in bed, changes in your brain aren’t created by sticking to old, unhealthy routines. But I am sure you still know a lot of people sticking to bad habits like smoking, drinking, overeating etc. even if they know it is not healthy.
The reason behind this is that there are always a number of “traps” in every training system. Also in our training system. Unfortunately resulting in some people falling short of reaching their goal.
Because all training requires the right effort and the right attitude. And while, of course, everyone wants to feel happy, unfortunately not everyone is willing to make the necessary sacrifices to get happy. Most often because there is too much to lose by following the four Neurocoaching principles. For example the care and lack of responsibility often provided by the victim role.
This is exactly the same mechanism as with overweight people who obviously want to lose weight, but who are not willing to sacrifice the 3 daily McDonalds supersize menus. There is too much to lose.
So you will always experience resistance to change in your nervous system. Otherwise, you would of course have changed already by yourself. So as Neurocoaches, we can help and challenge you, but there is only one person who can decide to override the resistance and make the right choices….you!
A RESOLUTE PROCESS
As mentioned, the essence of Neurocoaching is training the brain. So in order for the process to work, it has to be a relatively resolute and intensive process. Therefore: If appointments and training are not adhered to, the process has to be terminated until the customer is again motivated to make the necessary effort.
Even after you have reached your goal, you have to keep training. Both muscles and the nervous system run on the simple principle: “Use it or lose it”. So just like with any other change, whether it is building muscles or knowledge, your results must be maintained. Therefore we have a following up program of 6-12 months.
NOTES
- Bruce Lipton: “Intelligent Cells”
- Antonio Damasio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wup_K2WN0I
- Lecture by Professor Owen Wolkowitz: “The Biology of Depression” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gFVQGD-aB8
- Susan Hart “The Sensitive Brain”
